American actor Michael Shannon spoke at this year’s last KVIFF Talk. The presenter from the Hollywood Reporter magazine, Scott Feinberg briefly discussed his path to acting as well as his greatest achievements. One such achievement is the play Killer Joe which had changed Shannon’s life according to his own words.
The actor, who originally comes from Kentucky, made his film debut in the comedy Groundhog Day, he attracted attention in the film drama 8 mile and then made his break in Sam Mendes’ drama Revolutionary Road for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. “I love the book, so as soon as I read in the papers that there was going to be a film, I called my agent and told him that I want to play anything in it,” Shannon recalled and also added a story of how he drooled all over Leonardo DiCaprio in an intense scene. “He was so caught up in the work that he didn’t even notice.”
Shannon received further acclaim thanks to his role in the TV show Boardwalk Empire, however television work is not very popular with the actor. “Signing a contract for a TV show is like enlisting to the army. Acting is different, you feel like a puppet. At times I was surprised what the screenwriters had in mind with my character. In films you at least know the whole story from the start, so you can make up your mind whether you want to do it,” stated Shannon.
Similarly, the actor wasn’t too enthusiastic about working with the famous Terrence Malick. “During filming I didn’t know what to do or what was going on, so I didn’t enjoy it very much. We were stumbling along with Ben Affleck and in the end they cut me out,” the actor recalled his experience from shooting the film To the Wonder. Conversely, one of his favourite directors is Zack Snyder whom he knows from the Man of Steel, and above all, Jeff Nichols whom he met through Jeff’s professor and shot five films with him. These include the drama Take Shelter, a film “about living in a world which is vaguely threatening and not losing your mind”.
