He’s the star of Man Of Steel, The Iceman and now the sci-fi drama Midnight Special.
We chat to the great Michael Shannon…
We find Michael Shannon in a reflective kind of mood.
But first, we kicked all that off with an ice-breaking question about being back in London.
How am I finding London?
Mr Shannon responds, before cracking into a derisive chuckle.
You know when I got here?
This morning…
Oh.
And youre flying back out again as well…
Today.
But Ive been to London a lot.
Ive spent a lot of time in London.
My home away from home.
You broughtKiller Joehere, didnt you?
That would have been the mid-90s, maybe?
And we did it at the Bush Theatre, Shepherds Bush.
Then we went over to the Vaudeville at the Strand over here.
I went by the Vaudeville, and I hadnt been there in, you know, however many years.
I did a play here a long time ago.
It just seemed so big I was just terrified.
Then I went back a second time and I thought, Oh.
Its not as big as I remember.
It had shrunk, I guess.
[Laughs] Yeah, well.
And Id done a lot more theatre since then as well.
Congratulations onMidnight Special.I thought it was wonderful.
Beneath the sci-fi, its a really engaging film about parenthood, I thought.
Yeah, do you think thats gonna work for us, though?
Will people, like… because its being couched as this sci-fi film.
Do you think theyll be a backlash?
Like, Wheres the aliens?
Theres an audience for this kind of film.
The people, yeah.
But where are the humans?
Like, havent we seen that?
How many cities can we destroy…
Yeah.
Did you mine your own experiences for that?
Well, I dont know if Roys an ordinary father exactly hes had kind of a strange life.
Hes parents dragged him into this cult.
So he lived on this ranch with these unusual individuals.
Its like he says in the movie, I never really believed in anything except Alton, his son.
Thats the tricky thing, because kids do give you that sense of purpose, but then they leave.
And the truth is, they can handle it, you know?
I mean, its like, kids arent the frail, vulnerable people that we think they are.
Not all the time, anyway.
Theyre actually capable of being quite strong.
This little boy whos in the movie, Jaeden [Lieberher], hes a stellar kid.
Very serious about his work as serious as everybody else was.
But anyway, I digress.
Its a great performance.
Yeah, it could have gone south pretty easily.
Because there was no time to create it… and its not something you might necessarily rehearse.
Its just chemistry, I guess.
I think [Jeff Nichols, director] got lucky in that regard.
Joel I think people know around the business that hes a real decent guy.
Easy to work with, and just real smart.
Joels real smart about movies.
He can write them, he can direct them, he can be in them.
I sawThe Gift.I thought it was fantastic.
And Kirstens been great for years.
We spent a lot of time together on the set.
A lot of night shoots, a lot of driving around.
We kept each others spirits up.
This is the fourth time youve worked with Jeff Nichols, isnt it?
Is there a repertory feel on set, now youve worked together so many times?
Im so curious about his mind.
Now hes making a studio picture basically in four moves.
And I think thats somebody who, without relinquishing any integrity, control… Is that what you look for in your work?
Writers and directors with a distinct, individual point of view?
Because youve worked with William Friedkin, Werner Herzog…
I like people that can only exist unto themselves.
Because theres nobody else like Jeff.
Its the same thing with Werner or Billy or [99 Homesdirector] Ramin Bahrani theyre visionaries.
Is that what you venture to do with your acting?
I dont get real high fallutin about my acting.
I think actors are there to help the artist tell their stories.
Im there in service of Jeff, to realise his vision for the movie.
I dont honestly think that what I do is as hard as what he does.
Thats not false modesty or anything.
I couldnt write a script, and Im pretty sure I couldnt direct a movie.
I mean, its really hard work.
What are your memories of working with William Friedkin onBug?
[Sighs ambiguously] I loved it.
You know, Billy has a reputation for being tough.
I guess from the films he made early on in his career.
But its funny, but I catch people like Billy or Werner when theyre older, you know?
So I think theyve probably mellowed out a bit.
We didnt really have any major disagreements.
He was very supportive, frankly I mean, his intentions were so good, making that movie.
But he always insisted You gotta keep [Michael Shannon] in the picture.
So Im very grateful to him for that.
[Laughs] He liked doing that.
Thats my story about William Friedkin!
With that, were sadly out of time!
Michael Shannon, thank you very much.
Midnight Specialis out in UK cinemas on the 8th April.
