raig Fairbrass has made a career from giving a certain type of person exactly what they want. His films have titles such as Deranged and Hijacked and St George’s Day. There are gangsters. There are guns. There are posters that look like a recently divorced dad’s experiments with Photoshop. His characters have nicknames that come in inverted commas, like Freddy “Dead Cert” Frankham and Malcolm “Mental Fists” Wickes. The films are usually released to little fanfare and lapped up by a small but dedicated crowd, unnoticed by the rest of the world. Fairbrass’s new film, Muscle, is different. It is extraordinary: a black-and-white exploration of toxic masculinity that is as darkly funny as it is outright horrifying. Fairbrass is remarkable in it, playing a hulking personal trainer who sniffs out a lost loner at a squalid gym and immediately sets about exploiting him for everything he is worth. It is an incredible, committed performance that goes to some unthinkably gruesome places. Remember the shock of seeing Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler after his wilderness years? We are in that sort of territory. “Muscle came at exactly the right time for me,” says Fairbrass from his home in Chislehurst, south-east London. “I was going through a tough time as an actor and I was looking for something a little bit more complex to give myself a platform to show what I could do.” Fairbrass, 56, is decades past his glory days on television – he had roles in London’s Burning, Prime Suspect and EastEnders in the 90s and 00s – and his Hollywood breakout as a heavy in Sylvester Stallone’s 1993 movie Cliffhanger. Was he frustrated at the direction in which his career appeared to be moving? “Obviously, I got myself into a sort of …” He pauses to rephrase. “I mean, I’ve always worked and I’ve never shied away from being typecast, because it’s better than not working, do you know what I’m saying? It’s when you know deep down in your soul that you have more to offer, but sometimes you just keep getting put into those situations and playing those same roles.” It is rare to hear an actor talk like this, although the decision to shift lanes had clearly been coming for a while. Last year, Fairbrass returned to the theatre, playing a role in the Olivier-nominated PTSD potboiler Warheads. His last film, Villain, added layers of unexpected nuance to what at first sight looked like another boilerplate gangster flick; his next, Ire, is “a right heavy-duty drama with Stephen Odubola from Blue Story about two guys sharing a cell in prison”. So, is this a full-blown Fairbranaissance? “The films that are coming seem to be more in that vein now, with a little bit more to do than just punching people or whatever,” he says. Muscle’s centrepiece sequence is a dingy, throbbing orgy scene set in a grubby suburban home in north-east England. It is so hypnotically grim that it takes a few moments to realise that the majority of performers don’t appear to be faking it. Sudden, unsimulated sex comes as a shock to the viewer; what was it like to shoot? “Weird,” Fairbrass replies tersely. Then he opens up a little. “It was so weird. I can’t … It took me three days to get over it.” I had heard a story that the film’s director, Gerard Johnson, simply filled a house with swingers, left them to it and filmed whatever stragglers they found when they returned three days later. “Yeah, it’s basically that,” says Fairbrass. “Gerard was inundated with people who wanted to be in this scene. Literally inundated. It was so intense. So intense. You had the people who were willing to go further and the people who weren’t willing to go too far, so it was all orchestrated in a very professional way. Everybody had to consent.” The film’s willingness to push boundaries has won it prestigious favourable reviews – “Sight & Sound, all of the highbrow, real heavy-duty, respectful industry outlets,” says Fairbrass – but the orgy scene concludes with a flirtation with homoeroticism that has the potential to alienate his traditional gangsters-and-guns fanbase. Is he worried about their reaction? “What I’ve learned, right, is that most people regardless of background probably appreciate a good film,” he says. “I’ve got a very eclectic taste when it comes to movies. I love art-house films, I love gangster movies. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a little bit highbrow, Muscle. It is a bit arty at times, you know what I mean? The black and white, the style of it, the pacing. But I really think that a large part of the fanbase will like it.” It is impossible to ignore Fairbrass’s pride when he discusses Muscle. After such a long time grafting away, he is practically giddy about finally getting recognition from his peers. Especially since, in an industry that is increasingly becoming saturated with actors from privileged upbringings, he has always been an outsider on the edge of another breakthrough. “My background wasn’t typical,” he says. “My dad was a docker from the East End, my mum was a machinist from Petticoat Lane. Dad was one of 14, my mum was one of 10. I had problems at school. I had a really good drama teacher who took me under her wing and helped me move forward in life and become an actor. But it’s a slog. You keep going, you keep going.” Muscle has the potential to propel Fairbrass into the most interesting stage of his career. Still, he has been burned before. “Listen to me,” he says. “I’m under no delusions of grandeur. I know exactly where I am in the business, but I’m working and I’m doing what I love and I’m very grateful for that.” Muscle is in cinemas and available on on-demand services from 4 December