Michael Fassbender reveals he nearly died on a boat while listening to ABBA: 'A good soundtrack to die to'

Mamma Mia! Michael Fassbender is sharing how ABBA brought him some comfort during a near-death experience on a boat. 

During a visit to The Tonight Show on Tuesday, the Agency actor admitted that he didn’t consider himself a fan of the legendary Swedish pop group until they became the soundtrack to his frightening boat journey to Ibiza. 

“I never really liked ABBA. And then we were in Ibiza — we were actually in Formentera, and we were getting a boat from Formentera to Ibiza — and we had a late lunch and we were heading back at night and it got really stormy,” Fassbender explained to host Jimmy Fallon. “Like, bad.”

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Getting back to shore wasn’t an option, either. “We’d already taken our little tender boat out to the main boat where we were going to go back to Ibiza, and that started deflating as we were heading out to the boat,” he confessed. “So we just made it back, but that thing sort of sunk and we were laughing about it.” 

It didn’t take long for things to take a turn for the dangerous on their voyage. “We set off on the boat and the storm just kicked up and plates and everything were flying. We had to lock stuff down, but we had ABBA blasting. I was sort of hanging onto the boat and ABBA was playing and I finally understood ABBA,” Fassbender said, holding up his arms and pretending to rock with the waves. “It was like, ‘You can dance / You can jive / Having the time of your life.’” 

A laughing Fallon added, “You’re always safe with ABBA.” 

Fassbender agreed. “I was like, ‘If we have to die tonight, this is a good soundtrack to die to,’” he teased. “Absolutely.”

The 47-year-old is currently starring in the Paramount+/Showtime series The Agency, which follows a CIA agent whose undercover past starts catching up with him after he’s ordered to return to London Station. Produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, the series also stars Richard Gere, Jeffrey Wright, and Jodie Turner-Smith.

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Fassbender previously told Entertainment Weekly that he became fascinated with the world of undercover espionage while filming the thriller, which is based on the hit French series Le Bureau des Légendes, as well as "the kind of personalities who are drawn to that kind of existence, because you can never be your true self."

He even found it a bit relatable in the end, jokingly adding, "I'm an actor, so we lie for a living.”

The Agency is streaming now. Watch Michael Fassbender discuss the series and ABBA in the clip above.

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