Michael Fassbender has a new appreciation for the Swedish pop group ABBA after revealing he had a near brush with death while listening to one of their biggest tunes.
While appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the “Agency” star, 47, admitted that, even though the group was never really his cup of tea, he changed his perspective after their famous song “Dancing Queen” became the score for a terrifying boating trip 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 told Fallon on Tuesday. “Like, bad.”
“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. So we just made it back, but that thing sort of sunk, and we were laughing about it.”
The “Prometheus” star said the storm “kicked up” and “plates and everything were flying” while they were “blasting” ABBA aboard the boat.
Fassbender then quoted the songs lyrics while holding his hands up and pretending to ride the tide, “It was like, ‘You can dance / You can jive / Having the time of your life.’”
Laughing, Fallon quipped that he’s “always safe with ABBA.”
“I was like, ‘If we have to die tonight, this is a good soundtrack to die to.’ Absolutely,” Fassbender joked in response.
The German-Irish actor is set to star in the Steven Soderbergh-directed espionage thriller “Black Bag” opposite Cate Blanchett.
In the drama film, Fassbender plays intelligence officer George Woodhouse, who must make a tough choice between being loyal to his marriage or country after his wife, Kathryn (Blanchett), is suspected of double-crossing the nation.
“Black Bag” hits theaters March 14 and also stars Pierce Brosnan, Regé-Jean Page and Naomie Harris.
Watch Fassbender’s appearance on “The Tonight Show” below.