If you’re a fan of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, then you’d recognize Michael Shannon who made a big impression last season playing prohibition enforcer Agent Nelson Van Alden. His character believed he was doing God’s work; relentlessly hunting down the burgeoning mob element – though at some point he veered off the path of righteousness and onto the road to destruction. Season 2 of this ‘Sopranos’ style mob drama returns soon, and it’s quickly attracting a loyal fan base as word continues to spread.
With the actor garnering more attention, it wasn’t long before the Hollywood blockbuster came knocking, and with the new Superman reboot casting pivotal roles, director Zack Snyder was keen on wooing Shannon to play Kryptonian evil mastermind, General Zod. It’s been more than thirty years since Terence Stamp played the character to perfection in the classic Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, and while they were great in their day, the franchise has been in desperate need of an overhaul since Bryan Singer’s effort failed to ignite interest.
At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub got a chance to speak with Michael Shannon and asked him how he creates his characters and the directors he’d like to work with. He also spoke about the new season of Boardwalk Empire, and his casting as Zod in the Man of Steel.
Q: What is the process like for you when you are getting ready for a role? How much are you rehearsing before your start date? How much do you get ready, look at your character, and figure things out?
Before I get together with the rest of the people that I am working with I feel like there is only a limited amount that I can do… But the thing that is always important to me is the relationships. I feel like until I get around with the actual people that I am going to be working with there is only so much that I can do. I certainly don’t want to have too many pre-conceived notions before I show up because then you might be cutting yourself off from the real lessons of what is going on. I just look at it as a real group activity when you are making movies. There are so many different artists doing so many different things, and they are all interconnected. So I like to see what everybody else is going to bring to the table before I make up my mind too much about anything.
How much fun is he having making the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire:
It is a blast. That writer’s room is mind blowing with having Terrance [Winter], Howard [Korder], Steve [Kornacki], the whole staff, and the new writers they brought on this season. Every script is a surprise, but it never seems arbitrary. Just the way that they are able to continue to find ways to go deeper and deeper into the psyche of the character and to keep making the situation more and more complex is a pretty big gift. If you are going to be on TV for however many years, you want to make sure that you have writers that are giving you something to work with, and I got that in spades.
He was then asked how Zack Snyder offered him the role of General Zod in Man of Steel:
He reached out to me and he asked me to come out to Pasadena. I went and met him at his house. He lives in Pasadena in the hills and the view from his house is stunningly beautiful. He basically sat there and he ran through the whole…it was almost like he was pitching it to me, which I found to be a little bizarre. I felt like the tables should be turned and I should be on my hands and knees trying to get the part. But he was like, “Yeah, doesn’t it sound great? Then this is going to happen! And then this is going to happen!” I said, “Yeah. That all sounds wonderful.” Then we stood up and shook hands. He took me down and showed me some artwork, storyboards, and stuff. I just remember that the whole time he was pitching the movie there were these hummingbirds behind him in the window flying around. It was one of the most surreal mornings. It was in the morning too right at the beginning of the day. I had just flown in the night before and I was little jetlagged. So it was just very…but then I went back when it was going to go further. I did a test with Henry [Cavill] and we did a scene together. That was intense and my palms started sweating a little bit. After the test, a couple of weeks went by and I was at the grocery store with my family when my phone rang. It was a private number and I didn’t even know who it was. I answered it and he says, “Hey, this is Zack. Want to be General Zod?” I was like, “Yeah. Let me just get these cookies over here. Who is this again?” The whole thing was a real trip.
You can listen to the rest of the interview here:
[audio:http://www.fmtaccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Michael-Shannon-Interview.mp3|titles=Michael Shannon Interview]
Boardwalk Empire returns Sunday September 25th 2011, Man of Steel opens June 14, 2013.
via: Collider
No comments yet.