Latest news with #MichaelShannon
Time Out
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Michael Shannon: ‘I think television is garbage – I certainly don't watch it'
Striding biblically into the green room at a London Bridge rehearsal studio, Michael Shannon is a daunting figure. Six foot three, craggier than Mount Rushmore and pathologically unsmiling, the double Academy Award nominated, Kentucky-born actor has the most 'just walked out of a Cormac McCarthy novel' energy to him of anyone I've ever met. 'Are you familiar with the play?' he asks immediately, in what is possibly an innocuous opening gambit, but also possibly an attempt to determine if I'm some sort of lightweight flim-flam entertainment journalist. Because we're not here to talk showbiz. We're here to talk about his role in the Almeida Theatre's revival of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten. And also we're here to talk about my favourite band of all time, REM. You will recognise Michael Shannon. It would be truly remarkable if you hadn't seen one of his films, because according to his official bio there are over 90 of them. Whether you know him from offbeat indie flicks (of which he has made dozens), huge blockbusters (he famously played General Zod in Man of Steel and The Flash) or somewhere in between (those Oscar nominations came for Sam Mendes's Revolutionary Road and Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals), it is a statistical inevitability that you have seen a Michael Shannon film. You'll recognise that rough-hewn face. You'll be aware he has range, but always presence and weight – he's not much of a romcom guy. What British audiences haven't seen for a long time is Michael Shannon on the stage. At home, he's an enormously prolific theatre actor: he does roughly a play a year. He's also a musician: he and musical partner Jason Narducy having spent what one can only assume to be the absolute last remaining seconds of Shannon's recent free time touring America with sets based around the first three albums of legendary indie rockers REM. Now Michael Shannon the theatre actor and Michael Shannon the musician are both heading our way. At the end of the summer he and Narducy will do two nights at the Islington Garage, playing REM's 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction (which was recorded in London, at Wood Green's Livingstone Studios). But first A Moon for the Misbegotten, the great American playwright O'Neill's bleak but redemptive final play. It's not been seen in London since 2006, when Kevin Spacey starred as its cynical alcoholic lead James Tyrone Jr, a character based upon O'Neill's own brother. That performance made Spacey the first ever actor to have played James in both Moon and Long Day's Journey Into Night, O'Neill's most famous play, in which James Jr first appears. Now Shannon makes that a club of two. You played James Tyrone Jr on Broadway in a 2016 production of Long Day's Journey – presumably that was a good experience? 'Oh, that's one of my favourite productions I've ever been involved with. I adored the cast. Jessica Lange as my mum, and Gabriel Byrne as my dad, and John Gallagher Jr as my brother. Just a very, very tight knit group. I love building families on stage. It's one of the primary things that theatre is useful for, I think: we all have families, so we love to see others and how they function.' You must have been aware James Jr was in another O'Neill play: did you have long-held aspirations to do A Moon for the Misbegotten? 'Well, people would come to see Long Day's Journey and they mentioned A Moon for the Misbegotten. They'd say that I should do it. But I had no idea how that would ever come to pass. So it just kind of went in one ear and out the other. And then lo and behold my agent said that Rebecca [Frecknall, director] wanted to speak with me and it was like a gift.' UK audiences probably don't realise what an enormous amount of theatre you do despite your screen success – presumably it's very important to you? 'Film is a director's medium and TV is run by writers and producers and corporate overlords. I mean, I do television, because from time to time there are interesting projects that come across my desk, but by and large, I think television is garbage. I certainly don't watch it. Films are more interesting, but they're the director's medium, they're not theatre where an actor can really do their thing. I like acting, so that's why I do theatre. Do the lines between film and TV feel blurred in the streamer era? Like you have a new Netflix show (Death by Lightning) coming up… 'The thing I've learned about TV is you enjoy shooting it, but my expectations for it are zero. You walk away and you expect them to destroy it. That's what you expect. If and when you ever actually watch the damn thing, you expect it to be hugely disappointing, because a bunch of morons are gonna go in and screw it up.' But the buck stops with you on stage? 'There's no morons that come in who know nothing about art and have no training in the arts whatsoever manipulating the hard work that you've done as an artist and turning it into crap. In the theatre what the audience sees is what I want them to see.' What's a hard sell from you on Eugene O'Neill and this play? 'I think O'Neill is one of the finest playwrights who's ever lived. You know, Long Day's Journey, when he wrote it, he didn't want it to be produced because it was so personal to him, he didn't really think it was anybody's business. He was trying to ease his own suffering and I think it's similar with this play. The depth of the trauma he's trying to exorcise out of his own consciousness writing these plays, I have a tremendous amount of respect for it. We're really lucky to to have O'Neill because he changed drama forever.' James Tyrone Jr is based on O'Neill's older brother – do you find information like that useful or do you prefer to just build your own character? 'I mean I do both, you're a fool not to do as much research as you can. Now, 90 percent of it you may dispense with and say: I don't need to remember that or think about that ever again, but it's not going to hurt you, you know?' Let's talk about REM. You have an REM covers band, which is an unusual thing for a very busy actor to have… 'It was not my choice necessarily. We originated as a one-off show, a one-off performance of Murmur. That's what Jason Narducy and I do. We pick a record, we play the record, that's it. We do it one time. But we did Murmur in Chicago at a venue called Metro, and it was very popular and other venues started reaching out to Jason and saying please come do this here. And so, that was when Jason turned and said, well, what do you think? Should we do it more than once?' And then you toured the next two REM records… 'People were like, OK, are you gonna do the next one, which is very flattering. But I was not writing in my diary one night saying, you know, dear diary: I would like to go on tour with a band that plays REM. It was just kind of manifest destiny or something. We love playing it, people love hearing it, the band has been supportive and they're just the kindest, sweetest human beings you could ever want to meet.' The band recorded Fables in London – I think they famously had a fairly miserable time… 'One of the things I find most impressive was just what hard workers they were, all four of them, just the way they toured, the amount of music they created in such a short period of time. Those first five, six records – it's just unbelievable what they managed before they were even 30 years old.' Michael Stipe's early lyrics are famously indecipherable – as an actor do you feel you need to understand a song like 'Harborcoat' or 'Radio Free Europe' in the same way you understand James Jr? 'It's a different kind of understanding. I think words are not as effective at communicating as we like to think they are, which is why music is oftentimes so compelling. Which is why, frankly, probably a lot more people are moved by 'Harborcoat' than by going to see a play, because something's happening in that compressed period of time that is really at a very high frequency. It's a way people communicate a lot more effectively, than just language. Language is overrated I think. ' What have you been listening to lately? 'As I'm working on the play, I've been listening to a lot of ragtime; ragtime may actually predate this period, but for some reason it's been resonating with me as I work on that.' Oh interesting – I'd sort of assumed you were an indie rock guy… 'My musical taste is not even something you could write about really. It's too far reaching. I love music more than I could possibly express. I am not an indie rock guy. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy indie rock. I love indie rock. But I also love 50 other kinds of music.' You've been in over 90 films, plus TV, plus a play most years, plus a band: you, I mean, do you not ever require a break? That has to be relentless… 'Over 90? Really?' That's what it says in the bio your publicist sent over! 'Oh, well, there's no mandate for working or not working or anything.' You can't be taking much time off! 'I guess mathematically you might have a point, but I don't think much about it. There's a lot of stuff I don't do, where I'm like no, no thank you. But it's all a blur. They asked me to write my bio for the programme and at this point, I just find it kind of scary. I don't wanna even think about it, like it's a mess. Yes, I've done a lot of stuff. Just put: I've done a lot of stuff, the end. And then you write the damn thing and then they're like, oh, it's too long. What difference does it make what anybody's done? Yesterday, doesn't really even freaking matter. All that matters is right now.' A Moon for the Misbegotten is at the Almeida Theatre, now until Aug 16. Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy play The Garage, Aug 22 and 23.
Geek Tyrant
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Michael Shannon Joins David Corenswet in Skydance Sports' John Tuggle Biopic as Coach Bill Parcells — GeekTyrant
Michael Shannon is stepping into a new kind of iconic role as he has signed on to play legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells in an upcoming football drama from Skydance Sports. The film centers on the remarkable true story of former New York Giants running back John Tuggle, best known for being the final pick of the 1983 NFL draft, earning the nickname 'Mr. Irrelevant.' Joining Shannon is Superman star David Corenswet, who will portray Tuggle, and 1883 's Isabel May. The project is being helmed by director Jonathan Levine ( Warm Bodies , 50/50 ) with a screenplay by Emmy-nominated writer Nick Santora ( Reacher , Prison Break ). Skydance Sports is shaping the film to tell a heartfelt and inspiring account of Tuggle's brief but powerful NFL career and the lasting impact he had on his team. As head coach of the Giants at the time, Parcells was instrumental in giving Tuggle a shot. Shannon's portrayal will explore the dynamic between the gruff, no-nonsense coach and the determined underdog running back he championed. Tuggle's story stands in stark contrast to today's most famous 'Mr. Irrelevant,' Brock Purdy, who recently led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance. But Tuggle's legacy predates Purdy's rise and strikes a deeper emotional chord. The original 'Mr. Irrelevant' title was coined in 1976 by USC receiver Paul Salata, who founded Irrelevant Week as a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the draft's final pick. While most of those players fade into obscurity, a few like Tuggle end up redefining the label in unforgettable ways. Shannon, who recently earned acclaim for his performance as George Jones in Showtime's George & Tammy , is on a roll when it comes to portraying real-life figures. He's also set to appear as President James Garfield in Netflix's upcoming limited series Death By Lightning . Now, with Parcells, he'll tackle a very different kind of American legend. No release date has been set yet, but with Shannon leading the charge and a powerhouse creative team behind it, this one's already looking like a play worth watching. Source: Deadline
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The End: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon star in a surprising mix of family drama and apocalypse musical 2024
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
That's me in the spotlight: Michael Shannon on swapping Hollywood for an REM covers band
Michael Shannon was a teenager when he first heard REM. 'I was out at my cousin's trailer; he lived in the country. He put Document on his little cassette recorder, and I sat in his room with him and listened to it. Any art I find compelling is usually because it seems singular, like the people who are making it are the only people that could be making it.' Shannon is used to making singular art himself, as a distinctive presence in notable films for many years: Nocturnal Animals, Knives Out, The Bikeriders, The Shape of Water, Bullet Train and more. But he can also sing – in George and Tammy he played the country legend George Jones opposite Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette, doing all his own performances. Not for him, though, the vanity album. Instead, Shannon has taken to the road, with a band put together by US indie-rock lifer Jason Narducy backing him as he performs REM's back catalogue. First it was 1983 debut Murmur played in full, now it's 1985's Fables of the Reconstruction, a show that is coming to the UK later this year. Shannon turns his face away for most of our video call, but leans in with questions about their London dates: 'What neighbourhood is the Garage in? Is it near the Almeida [theatre]? I want to be there. We're coming over to your flat before the show!' Shannon and Narducy first met in 2014, when the musician Robbie Fulks invited them to help him perform Lou Reed's album The Blue Mask in Chicago. The two took that ball and ran with it, playing a different classic album in that city every year – the Modern Lovers' debut, Neil Young's Zuma and the Smiths' The Queen Is Dead among them. But REM was the mother lode, and for Narducy part of why he started playing music. 'They had a punk rock ethos,' he says. 'They were anti-Big Rock Band, but they didn't sound punk rock at all. So they were mysterious to me, but immediately engaging. And I think a lot of that had to do with the sadness in the music. Mike and I talk about this all the time, about how decades later, this music is still so profoundly moving.' Shannon chips in. 'And I certainly think as a lyricist, Michael Stipe is a truly unique and very effective communicator, considering that people tend to go on at length about the inscrutability of some of his lyrics. I would argue that there's not a more efficient and direct communicator in the history of rock'n'roll frontmen.' Playing Murmur in 2023 got them offers to gig nationwide. When they played at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, in February 2024, the whole of REM turned up; when they returned in February this year, REM didn't just turn up, they all played with Shannon and Narducy. 'It was emotional,' Narducy says. 'There were people crying and screaming. You couldn't help but get wrapped up in the emotion of it.' Shannon is more circumspect. 'Honestly, the main thing I'm thinking when [REM] come up is that I want them to enjoy being there. It's their moment. It's their music. It's their house. It's a big leap of faith for them to walk up there and do that with us.' Narducy says that his and Shannon's versions of REM songs 'don't sound much like REM did when they played them at the time'. Again, Shannon counters this a little: 'We are very faithful to the records. The one exception is me. We're steeped in the source material; we spend a long time studying it before we even get together in the room. Everybody takes a lot of pride in paying attention to the little details: if you listen to early bootlegs of REM live, they sound a little sparse and they're not able to do everything on the record.' Is it a privilege to have the status that you can get a crack backing band – with REM themselves or not – to play these songs you love, for you to sing? 'Everything is a privilege,' Shannon says. 'I'm just glad I'm not on a plane to El Salvador. It's a privilege to be able to walk around freely.' But, he concedes, 'the world is very dark, and the timing of this has ended up being a beautiful thing. We did our first press for this the morning after Trump had won, and we were both pretty despondent. But the tour seemed to give everybody a boost, including us. It's wonderful to remember there's music that can transport people to a time and place in their lives that's separate from all the insanity.' He must really take pleasure in singing to go out on tour doing it. 'Pleasure? I don't know. I sang when I was a boy. I was in a choir. And I've written some of my own music and sung that from time to time. No matter what I do, some people will appreciate it and some won't. It's not a numbers game for me. It's a lot more spiritual than that.' Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy's Fables of the Reconstruction tour of the UK and Ireland begins 19 August
Buzz Feed
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Paul Rudd Just Detailed His Seriously NSFW Live Theater Wardrobe Malfunction, And I'm Genuinely Mortified On His Behalf
Paul Rudd just recalled a seriously unfortunate wardrobe malfunction that he suffered during a live stage performance with Rachel Weisz, and I am mortified on his behalf. While the 56-year-old actor is arguably best known for his movie roles, Paul was asked about his theater career during a recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast. The hosts asked the star if 'anything weird' had ever happened while he was on stage, and boy, did he deliver. 'I did a show where somebody died in the audience, there was a death in the audience,' Paul began, before reeling off other anecdotes: 'Somebody went to the bathroom in, like, the fourth row. That was an interesting thing to get a whiff of that during the scene; somebody lost control of their bowels.' 'By the way, I've also done a show where somebody… In the middle of a scene, I heard a bunch of commotion in the audience, it didn't subside, I was like: 'What is happening?'' he recalled. 'Only later came to realize that somebody in the front row of the balcony leaned over and puked on all the people below them, swear to god.' 'It was a show called Grace, I was doing it with Michael Shannon,' Paul went on. 'Michael Shannon had this long monologue, we're dong the scene, it's just the two of us, we hear this noise, we'e both aware that there's a commotion but it usually dies down and it's getting louder and louder, and Michael is pissed off and starts screaming his lines toward the direction of the noise to make a point.' 'Of course, when Michael Shannon is yelling, it's the most terrifying thing,' he noted. 'That's the thing that did make everything kind of quiet down. Then, after the scene, I have to rush over to the wings to do a costume change, and I asked the stage manager, I said: 'What the hell? What happened out there?' And he said somebody threw up. Somebody was drunk, threw up over the balcony, and puked onto about 10 different people.' The hosts then circled back to Paul's first comment about a patron dying during the show, which Paul said happened during a Broadway performance of The Last Night Of Ballyhoo, which he starred in between 1997 and 1998. 'We learned that after the fact,' he explained. 'Like, oh my god, they had to close down and eventually bring a stretcher to get somebody out of there.' When asked if they had to stop the show, Paul reiterated that they didn't realize the person had died until the end. He said: 'I'm not sure anyone realized until people were shuffling out of the theater, and one guy stayed." Paul then remembered a final theater anecdote, which happened when he starred alongside Rachel in a production of The Shape Of Things back in 2001. 'They're flooding back!' the star said of his theater memories. 'I did a scene, I was lying on top of a bed doing a scene, I was lying on top of a bed, and I'm with this woman, Rachel Weisz was in the show, and I was wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt. All of a sudden, this had never happened before, I heard the audience laughing, and I was like: 'What is going on?'' 'I realized… Because I was lying on the bed, I had my leg up, and kind of realized my balls were hanging out,' Paul laughed. 'Which is worse than actually, like, even your penis. When it's just your balls… By the way, it might have been just one ball. Loose-fitting boxers.' Ron Galella, Ltd. / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Host Will Arnett then poked fun at the fact the play was called The Shape Of Things, quipping: 'The poster should've been your balls hanging out of your shorts." Thankfully, Paul can laugh about the mishap now — which definitely means that we can, too. What do you make of all of his revelations? Let me know in the comments below!
