Movie Talk with Michael Shannon
Description
American actor Michael Shannon discusses his film The Ice Man - the story of Richard Kuklinski the notorious contract killer and family man. Shannon talks of extensive research including hours and hours of an un-editied interview Kuklinski recorded for HBO. Shannon cites the pros and cons of portraying real life people. He mentions that fictitious characters take more work, while there is a particular 'pressure' when portraying someones life. He was worried he couldn't fill Kuklinki's enormous shoes. Shannon's wife in the film is Winona Ryder, he says he is a real fan - having grown up watching her movies. 8 Mile 2002 here he details his experience working on this movie with Marshall Mathers, a film about the rappers life and Mather's not being from an acting background. Bug 2006 a psychological horror film that started out as a play Shannon performed on Broadway, in London and Chicago. Although he has the ability to terrify people on screen, it wasn't his intention when starting out as an actor, saying he began acting simply because he enjoyed it. The next film discussed is Revolutionary Road 2008, in which Shannon plays a lonely mathematician, an idiosyncratic character driven mad by his own intellect. Before the Devil Knows Your Dead 2007 directed by legendary Sidney Lumet, Shannon describes what it was like on set and his unique directorial style. Take Shelter 2011 directed by Jeff Nicholas who Shannon really admires - particularly his 'imagination, intelligence and diligence'. 'He works really hard, he's well prepared and doesn't waste time.' Following this is Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans 2009 directed by Werner Herzog and starring Nicholas Cage. Shannon had one scene with Cage who he describes as 'going to place of looking like he was going completely nuts!' He did the job as a sort of audition for another job with Herzog and got the role in My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done 2009 a very wild experience with the vocally 'sinister' Herzog. Shannon goes on to talk about his acting hero Jimmy Stewart. Then he details his role as General Zod in the Super Man film Man of Steel 2013. He wanted to play Zod less of a villain like his predecessor Terence Stamp and more like a General. Lastly Shannon discusses his role in the TV series Boardwalk Empire 2010 - 2013 saying he was particularly impressed with the high pedigree of writers and producers on the production.