- 2 months ago
Michael Shannon begrudgingly plays Variety's Know Their Lines.
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00:00You can't stump me.
00:02You got me. You got me one time.
00:04Do people usually do this well?
00:12You might hold the card a little bit higher just so you can see it.
00:16Is it high enough? How about right here?
00:18Is this the right spot? Okay, cool.
00:22You figure it's more comfy here in the old hopeless emptiness after all.
00:26That's a line from Revolutionary Road.
00:29You figure it's more comfy here in the old hopeless emptiness after all.
00:39Gosh, you know that was a crazy year because it was also the year that my daughter,
00:45my first daughter was born and my father died.
00:50And then I got nominated for an Oscar.
00:54So that's kind of a strange triptych for a year.
01:04But, yeah, it was certainly a comforting way to end the year, I guess, after losing my father like that.
01:18It was very strange when I went to the Oscars because the person who won the Oscar, of course, was dead.
01:24And I watched his father give a speech on his behalf.
01:27And then I'm sitting here saying,
01:28Oh, my boy, I'm still here, but my father.
01:31It was a weird kind of paradox.
01:36But anyway, yeah, I mean, it was lovely.
01:40It was lovely.
01:41You may think that this thing looks human, stands on two legs, right?
01:54But we were created in the Lord's image.
01:56You don't think that's what the Lord looks like, do you?
01:59I just saw Guillermo the other night, actually, at a, I went to see a screening of Frankenstein.
02:17I always love C&M.
02:20He's such a sweet, sweet man and super intelligent about cinema and everything, really.
02:28My character is America.
02:30That's who my character is.
02:32Yep.
02:36America the monster.
02:38I am relaxed.
02:41That's from Boardwalk Empire.
02:43You can't stump me.
02:45I am relaxed.
02:47No!
02:49I am relaxed.
02:50Yeah, that's from just outside the florist, right?
02:54And I shoot that guy.
02:56Yeah.
02:57Poor old Nelson.
02:59Yeah, that was five years.
03:01Five years we did that show.
03:03Five seasons, anyway.
03:05Yeah, but now, it's been a minute since Boardwalk.
03:12But people keep watching it, or keep discovering it, or I don't know.
03:17I would say it's on reruns, but I don't even know if they have reruns anymore.
03:21Frankly, I never turned the television on, so I don't even know how it functions nowadays.
03:26It used to be you could just turn on the TV and find, you know, the baseball game.
03:31I have no idea how it works now.
03:34When you're on a series like Boardwalk Empire, it's a bit tricky because you don't really know what's coming next.
03:43They don't tell you what's coming next.
03:45I had no idea if Nelson's fortunes were ever going to improve.
03:50I assumed at one point that he would have some sort of second coming, but that never really seemed to take place.
03:59So, it kind of made me sad for him, really.
04:05Because I think he started off with the best of intentions and just got warped, as is so often the case.
04:18That's very American, too.
04:24Let's see here.
04:25And every action I take, no matter how violent or how cruel, is for the greater good of my people, and now I have no people.
04:31My soul.
04:32That is what you have taken from me, says General Zod in the motion picture Man of Steel.
04:39There you go.
04:40That is what you have taken from me.
04:47Zack Snyder, the director of the film, had a wonderful crew of physical experts, fitness experts, combat experts.
04:57Kind of like an extended boot camp or infantry training or something.
05:03Went on for a few months, actually, over the summer before we started shooting.
05:08Yeah, we practiced all the fight choreography and develop it further.
05:15Yeah, in terms of the actual acting part, I just kind of used my imagination.
05:22We didn't rehearse any of that too terribly much.
05:25But, yeah, I used my imagination.
05:30I like your style, little Bowie, little Bardot, and a look on your face that says I can kick the shit out of a truck driver.
05:42That would be The Runaways.
05:45Kim Fowley.
05:48Yes, sir.
05:49I like your style, little Bowie, little Bardot, a look on your face that says I can kick the shit out of a truck driver.
05:56That was a wild time, man, because I was shooting Boardwalk at the same time.
06:06It was this weird triangle where my wife at the time was doing a play in Washington, D.C.
06:14We had our infant daughter, our first daughter.
06:18So I was in Washington, D.C. with her taking care of the baby while she was doing King Lear.
06:26And then every once in a while I go to New York and do some of Boardwalk.
06:31And then I go to L.A. and do some of the run, like I was, that was my triangle between like Holding Baby, Nelson Van Alden, Kim Fowley.
06:41Which was a very strange triangle to be in.
06:46And the first time I went out to start shooting Runaways, we hadn't had a proper wig fitting.
06:56And I knew I needed to wear a wig because my hair was cut like Nelson Van Alden's hair.
07:01And I was shooting, it was the day of, and we didn't have anything.
07:06And the, God bless her, she, the hair and makeup department head, she pulls out this box.
07:14And she's just like pulling them, like, no, not this one.
07:18Not this one, maybe.
07:21And she finally found one that kind of fit.
07:24And then she put like a 500 bobby pins in it.
07:27It's just like glue, you know.
07:29And then we go.
07:31And I think I, I think I looked kind of ridiculous.
07:34They said, well, we'll just light it and keep it real low.
07:37And then maybe next time we can get you a better.
07:41So that was a strange way to start.
07:43But I actually got to talk to Kim.
07:47And once I went to Denny's, yeah, Denny's, it was me and Kim Fowley and Kristen Stewart
07:59and Joan Jett sitting at a table at Denny's.
08:04And Kim Fowley showed up with the big scrapbooks and was like prepared to tell his life story.
08:12It was kind of his day in court.
08:15That was one of the most, that was a meal I, you know, I won't forget.
08:21And it wasn't because of the food.
08:24It was a little, it was a little, I don't know.
08:30I heard, after I had started working on the project, I heard, I started learning more about things that might have happened that were upsetting.
08:44To learn about becoming slightly uncomfortable with, with that and thinking, oh gosh, maybe I shouldn't have been playing, playing him.
08:56Because I think he may have, I don't, I don't know what went on between him and those girls.
09:05I think it may have been not, it may have been more than what you see in a movie.
09:10I probably was, but I had already started and, but it was interesting because Joan was willing to sit at the same table with him.
09:22And they endorsed the movie being made.
09:27So I thought, well, they're, they're okay with it.
09:31They're the ones who were there.
09:32So, who am I to, to stick my nose up at it?
09:38You know, it's times like this when I think about something my dad once said to me.
09:50He said, oh God, please don't kill me with that hammer.
09:54Leonard, please.
09:55Those guys are fun.
09:56Will R. No.
09:57Is this from Amy Sedaris?
09:58Oh, this is from Let's Go to Prison.
10:01There we go.
10:03He, that's from, that's Leonard from Let's Go to Prison.
10:06Yeah.
10:07I got it.
10:09Sorry.
10:10Took a couple tries.
10:13There's times like this when I think about something my dad once said to me.
10:16He said, oh God, please don't kill me with the hammer, Leonard, please.
10:22Those guys are fun.
10:23Will Arnett.
10:24He's so funny.
10:26Bob Odenkirk.
10:28I mean, Bob, he's had quite a rise.
10:31But yeah, I had fun.
10:33I mean, we shot it at an actual prison.
10:38And the outskirts, way outside of Chicago.
10:42I think it was Joliet or maybe Romeoville.
10:46I can't even remember.
10:48But yeah, it was weird to be having so much fun in a prison.
10:52I don't think many people in prison have as much fun as we had doing that.
10:58You know, it's always a little weird any time you, you know, you play skinhead or, you know, you have a frickin' swastika on you.
11:08Even if it's meant in jest, it's a little awkward.
11:22Really?
11:23There's a storm coming like nothing you've ever seen.
11:26And I want you to prepare for it.
11:28Take shelter.
11:32Yes.
11:33I know that line.
11:35There is a storm coming like nothing you have ever seen and not a one of you is prepared for it.
11:48Shotgun Stories was really bare bones.
11:51I mean, like, really bare bones.
11:53Like, one of the most bare bones things I'd ever been on.
11:59Take shelter was, you know, he got some actual producers on board and a quick schedule but real solid support underneath them.
12:15And just, I don't know, he just felt more, I think when we were doing Shotgun Stories a lot of times he would come to me and he'd be like,
12:23so, you've been doing this, like, what, what, is this okay, like, what should we do, this, that, you know.
12:31I mean, never about, like, camera stuff or any of that because that's him, you know, that's what he knows about.
12:38But just about the scene or the atmosphere or whatever.
12:44I don't know.
12:45Although Take Shelter by and large was more, I don't know, intimate.
12:51Not as many characters or whatnot.
12:54And then he's got, you know, he's got Jessica there.
12:57He's got Shea there.
12:59He's got Ray McKinnon there.
13:01You know, he's surrounded by more of a experienced professional type actor people.
13:09He didn't need as much advice, really.
13:15Because a lot of times what he would ask me about was when he was trying to deal with people that hadn't really done very much.
13:22I met Shea Wiggum on Tigerland.
13:26And we've done several things together, including Boardwalk Empire.
13:31We're both in that.
13:32Shea's like a brother to me.
13:34Yeah.
13:35Me and Shea will keep collaborating for a long time, I imagine.
13:41Yeah.
13:42My sister wants me to kill you or I could call the cops, but I don't like cops and cops ain't gonna pay my sister's bills.
13:53Before the devil knows you're dead.
13:54But I don't like cops.
13:56And the cops ain't gonna pay my sister's bills.
13:59Getting to work with Cindy and Lamette, God bless.
14:02What a man.
14:04What a man.
14:06What a sweet, kind man.
14:09And I don't know how many films he had made by that point.
14:14Was he up in the 40s or something?
14:18I don't know.
14:19He just made so many films.
14:21But he was so gracious with everybody.
14:24And he just always looked like just some guy, you know, blue jeans, flannel shirts, big Coke bottle glasses, you know.
14:36So unassuming.
14:38Just all about the work, you know.
14:41Just, you know.
14:42Cindy and Lamette doesn't do a lot of takes.
14:45There's old school fellas like that, you know, that don't like doing that.
14:49You know, Clint Eastwood.
14:51I've never worked with him, but I've heard he'll shoot the rehearsal and not even tell you.
14:56And then move on.
14:57I've heard that.
14:58I don't know if it's true or not.
15:00I know Friedkin didn't like to do a bunch of takes when I did Boat with him.
15:09Bernard Herzog doesn't like to do a bunch of takes.
15:13Yeah, all the more old school folks I've worked with, they don't like to mess around.
15:24I'll never forget this theater company I'm part of back in Chicago.
15:30We were having a fundraiser and they asked me if I could come up with some auction items or something.
15:39And he signed a couple of copies of making movies for me.
15:43I went to his office.
15:44It was the last time I saw him before he died.
15:46And he, I had only asked for one.
15:50He signed one.
15:51And then he, like, gave me one.
15:53And, you know, just asking about, am I working?
15:59What am I working on?
16:01Just so, such a beautiful energy he had.
16:08Yeah.
16:13This river brings a lot of trash down it.
16:16Some of that trash is worth a lot of money.
16:17Some of it's not.
16:18You got to know what's worth keeping and what's worth letting go.
16:21That's mud.
16:22Yep.
16:24Yep.
16:25That's mud.
16:28You got to know what's worth keeping and what's worth letting go.
16:31That was fun because I got to, did I play guitar or not?
16:35That was fun.
16:36That was crazy.
16:38That was crazy doing mud, actually, because I squeezed mud in right before,
16:42Man of Steel, I think.
16:45Yeah.
16:46So it was like, right before I went off to be subsumed by the DC Universe,
16:53I went down and played some weird guy who gets oysters out of the Mississippi River.
17:00It's a perfect example of what a pinball you feel like sometimes in this business.
17:07Yeah.
17:08I smell like a fucking distillery windup, but I give him good answers.
17:23So he says, you passed everything, but he says, you are an undesirable character.
17:28We don't want you.
17:30That's from Bike Riders.
17:33Yeah, that's a real guy.
17:34I mean, obviously, those characters are all based on the photo book, the Bike Riders, Danny
17:36Lyons.
17:37Zipco.
17:38Yeah.
17:39Zipco.
17:40Yeah.
17:41Yeah.
17:42Yeah.
17:43Yeah.
17:44He was Latvian.
17:45Yeah.
17:46You are an undesirable character.
17:52We don't want you.
17:54Yeah, that's a real guy.
17:56I mean, obviously, those characters are all based on the photo book,
18:00the bike riders, Danny Lyons.
18:04Zipko.
18:06Yeah, he was Latvian.
18:10He had the strangest voice.
18:12I had recordings of his voice.
18:13I would listen to them.
18:16I tried to kind of hit his voice,
18:19but not make it completely incomprehensible.
18:22But he had a very, very interesting accent, for sure.
18:26It's funny with, you know, biker gangs or whatever,
18:29because from the outside in,
18:31everybody's, you know, cowering in fear,
18:34like, oh, they're so cool, or oh, they're so scary.
18:38But when you're inside that group,
18:40it really can be a group of outcasts
18:43and people that are marginalized from society
18:48who don't really have anywhere else where they would fit in, you know.
18:52So, you know, I think he, Zipko's,
18:56he drinks too much and he knows it and he can't,
18:59but he just doesn't, he can't figure out
19:01why the heck he's here, you know.
19:05And he's kind of in a quagmire of existence.
19:11And then, you know, that particular era in history,
19:14and there were people that thought it was a great honor
19:18to go to Vietnam and fight in the war,
19:20or just, just, he was probably looking at it
19:23as a way to straighten himself out.
19:25There were people that go into the military
19:27for that specific reason.
19:28I've met them, you know.
19:30They're like, if it weren't for the military,
19:32my life would have been a mess.
19:35And I think Zipko knows that, you know,
19:39inside of himself, he's looking for,
19:42and when he doesn't get it or he gets shut out,
19:44he just gives up and says,
19:45well, I guess I'll just be a,
19:46I'll just be a mongrel, you know.
19:50That is to say, it is not your present temper
20:00that marks the pulse of the people.
20:02Not here in this turbulent hall
20:04do we stake the destiny of our republic.
20:07Not here, but by the millions of firesides
20:10that have endowed us on their behalf.
20:13Millions of firesides that have endowed us.
20:15Well, that's President James Garfield
20:16from his address at the Republican National Convention
20:24from the new hit series,
20:27Death by Lightning, premiering on Netflix.
20:31It is not your present temper
20:33that marks the pulse of the people.
20:38Not here in this turbulent hall
20:41do we stake the destiny of our republic.
20:44I don't think many people know much about him.
20:48But, gosh, I wish they did.
20:52Hopefully this show will lead people
20:55to want to learn more about him.
20:58Because as much as you learn by watching the show,
21:01there's so much more to learn.
21:04It's particularly sad right now
21:06because I discovered that the Department of Education
21:10was actually his idea.
21:13That he was the one who suggested
21:16that in order for the society
21:19to be filled with free and equal people
21:22that they all needed to be educated
21:24regardless of their race or class or whatnot.
21:28So, that was, yeah, that was his idea.
21:32I mean, he may not have been the first person
21:34to think it, but he was definitely
21:35the first person to try and implement it.
21:39So, yeah, it's kind of sad nowadays
21:41to see it being torn apart.
21:45Yeah, that darn Charles Guiteau.
21:51I was very honored to get the call
21:54to play President James Garfield
21:56because I am very honored to be an American.
22:00And I do think with all its bumps and bruises
22:04and imperfections, I do still enjoy living in America.
22:11And it's important not to abandon America
22:16just because you're unhappy
22:19with how it's being managed in the moment.
22:24And one of the things I found so inspiring
22:26about Garfield is that he was constantly,
22:30genuinely trying to improve the country,
22:36the health of the country.
22:38He realized that the country itself
22:41had a health that needed taken care of.
22:47And people like that are few and far between,
22:52unfortunately.
22:54WrestleMania, no way.
23:02That's from Groundhog Day.
23:04Yeah.
23:05Well done.
23:07WrestleMania, no way!
23:10I've been talking about Groundhog Day
23:12for decades now.
23:15But I'm happy to tell the same stories
23:18I've always told about it again.
23:20But, yeah, I love making Groundhog Day.
23:25It's a real privilege to get to be in a movie
23:28that is so woven into, like,
23:33the collective consciousness.
23:36You make a lot of movies that not many people see.
23:39You make some movies that a handful of people see.
23:43You make some movies that a lot of people see
23:45but don't necessarily care for.
23:47But to be in a movie that is kind of, like,
23:51part of people's consciousness is a big deal.
23:57But, you know, frankly, the truth is
23:59I don't really do that much in Groundhog Day.
24:02But I got my...
24:06I always tell people that's how I got my SAG card.
24:09But I think that might be a lie.
24:11I think I might have actually gotten it
24:14on some weird TV movie called Overexposed
24:18where I was doing a scene in a phone booth
24:21with Mayor Winningham.
24:24But I never saw Mayor Winningham
24:26because I was in a phone booth.
24:28But that's how long ago that was.
24:30I did a scene in a phone booth.
24:33I also was in a movie called Phone Booth.
24:39Briefly.
24:39But, yeah.
24:44Groundhog Day.
24:47Harold Ramis.
24:48Another sweet man.
24:51Very sweet man.
24:53You got me.
24:54You got me one time.
24:57But only...
24:57I just made one...
24:59But then I figured it out.
25:01I don't know why I thought it was Amy Sedaris.
25:04I think...
25:04Because...
25:05Have you ever seen that show?
25:06Amy Sedaris show?
25:07It had a...
25:09I don't know.
25:11An Amy Sedaris quality.
25:14Let's go to prison.
25:15But otherwise, I did all right, didn't I?
25:18Did people usually do this well?
25:20We'll be right back here.
25:24We'll be right back here.
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