00:00Hobby that would surprise some people.
00:01Balloon animals.
00:03Stop!
00:04I won't stop.
00:05Hi, I'm Matthew McVadden.
00:06And I'm Michael Shannon.
00:07And this is Inquiring Minds.
00:09With Esquire.
00:11Where do you get off with this attitude?
00:13Is that the real?
00:15No, which of your roles do people bring up the most?
00:20Probably Tom.
00:22Yeah.
00:23Not Dick and Harry?
00:24Not yet.
00:25Do you remember the first time that someone called you Mr. Darcy?
00:29Yeah, that happens occasionally and I'm always quite pleased, secretly, because it means
00:34I can't be aging that badly.
00:36You're still a sexy boy.
00:3720 years.
00:38Well, nice of you to say so.
00:40Yeah.
00:41But usually it's Tom.
00:42Tom!
00:43Or some people say, Greg!
00:45Or some people say, well done on billions.
00:48Ooh.
00:49Yeah.
00:50What do you want people to be shouting at you on the street?
00:53I don't want anybody to be shouting anything at me ever.
00:56Really?
00:57No.
00:58What's the most ridiculous lie you've ever told to get out of something?
01:01I don't mean to be obstinate, but I don't really know.
01:05You don't lie.
01:06I once told someone I could ride a horse for a job.
01:10Oh.
01:11And I couldn't.
01:12That was...
01:13You couldn't?
01:14No.
01:15Yeah, you usually lie to get into something.
01:16Yeah, or I said I can play a musical instrument.
01:17I can speak Russian.
01:18Yeah, I can play the harp.
01:19I can make a sandwich.
01:21Mmm.
01:22Yeah.
01:23Which role transformed your career?
01:25I don't know.
01:26I think the trick maybe with an actor is to try and keep working and going.
01:30And then it's like you're busy for as long as possible.
01:33Then sometimes you catch a little wave.
01:36One wave was Pride and Prejudice.
01:38But then again, I didn't really work for a year after that.
01:40That's so weird.
01:41Yeah.
01:42I'm so dashing.
01:43I find it difficult to look at my career with any kind of clarity or I feel like I'm
01:47just bumbling along.
01:48For me, it was Kangaroo Jack.
01:50Come all the way down here to the sphincter of the galaxy to straighten out this puked up
01:55fur ball of a mess.
01:56Okay.
01:57Yeah, yeah.
01:58It's like a catapult.
01:59Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:00The pre-Kangaroo Jack was like...
02:03Like this.
02:04Yeah.
02:05Into the public.
02:06Yeah.
02:07Yeah.
02:08Like that.
02:09Is there another actor you're often mistaken for?
02:12Willem Dafoe.
02:13Interesting.
02:14And the fellow who played Jaws in the James Bond movies.
02:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:18Richard Keel.
02:19I was at a restaurant in London.
02:20I was sitting there all by myself.
02:23There was a big table, a bunch of lads.
02:26One of the guys at the table, he had his phone out and he was pointing at his friend.
02:30He was pointing at me and he was like, yeah, the guy from James Bond.
02:34And I said, yeah, his name's Richard Keel.
02:37Did you?
02:38The whole restaurant went silent.
02:39Good for you.
02:40And then he came up and he's like, I'm sorry.
02:43I'm sorry.
02:44I'm like, you idiot.
02:45You're five feet away from me.
02:46Yeah.
02:47You think I'm not going to notice you doing this?
02:50Which scene from Succession still sticks with you?
02:53Probably pelting Nick Braun, who played Cousin Greg with water bottles in the Panic Room.
02:58Just because it was a lot of fun.
03:00Yeah, I imagine.
03:01Yeah.
03:02Your favorite episode?
03:03Probably the one where Logan's demise on the private jet.
03:08But too many to mention.
03:10What led to your dramatic reading of the Delta Gamma letter?
03:13I don't even understand what the question means.
03:15So I read this sorority letter on Funny or Die.
03:18It's actually probably the thing that people most enjoy that I've done.
03:23Okay.
03:24You go.
03:25You.
03:26Don't.
03:27Go.
03:28I was just going out there to do a press junket with my publicist Brenna.
03:35We were riding along in the car and Brenna said, did you hear about this sorority letter?
03:41This woman had written a letter that was crazy and got her in a lot of trouble.
03:46Had a lot of vulgar language in it.
03:48You especially do fucking not convince other girls to leave with you.
03:55She said, well, Funny or Die wants you to perform it.
03:59And I said, well, it's not really my wheelhouse.
04:02I was never in a sorority, but I'm a whore and I'll do anything for a laugh.
04:06So I went and did it.
04:08This is available to watch online at any time.
04:11Any human being can watch this performance.
04:15What is your strangest fan interaction to date?
04:18I was doing a spy show a long time ago in the UK.
04:21And it was my wife and I actually were in a department store.
04:23We were both in the spy show.
04:25We were at the counter and this guy was showing us off.
04:27And he very quietly said, I've applied to join.
04:31We were like, what?
04:32He said, I've applied to join MI5, which is like the FBI or whatever.
04:38We were like, oh, great.
04:40Good luck.
04:41That's fantastic.
04:42Yeah.
04:43But I think he really thought we were spies.
04:46Oh.
04:47Just buying some, yeah, in the electrical department.
04:49Which of your characters, Michael Shannon, would you most want to have a drink with?
04:53I don't drink.
04:54Where you can drink, like, have a glass of milk.
04:57Hot cocoa?
04:58Yeah.
04:59Well, Elvis.
05:00Mr. Garfield, President Garfield.
05:03I would have actually really loved to have met him.
05:06I really admire him.
05:07I could probably skip Richard Kuklinski, the Iceman.
05:11He was pretty terrifying.
05:13General Zod doesn't drink.
05:15General Zod doesn't drink, but he does a lot of heroin.
05:20Matthew, how is it different playing a real person versus a fictional one?
05:24Sometimes it's quite pressurized, especially if the person you're playing is still alive.
05:29But when they're not, it's sort of easier.
05:31Unless everybody really knows what they look like and how they sounded, and there's lots
05:34of visual references.
05:36Like this one that we've just done, I feel a little less pressure because nobody really
05:39knows what Charles Guiteau looked like.
05:41Ooh, the fuck is Charles Guiteau?
05:43But you played a lot of real people.
05:46I played Elvis once.
05:47Yeah, that's a big deal.
05:48That was no pressure.
05:50How was he different than Garfield?
05:53The cat?
05:54James Garfield.
05:56Oh, it's funny actually.
05:58Somebody asked me the other day if I had any clips to draw on, and I said, no.
06:04President Garfield predated YouTube.
06:07Nothing to watch.
06:08Nothing to watch.
06:09Was there a note while shooting this show that really stuck with you?
06:14Are you going to talk like that?
06:15Are you going to do it like that?
06:17Yeah.
06:18What can I do for you, Mr. Guiteau?
06:20My name's Guiteau.
06:21That stuck with me.
06:23Remember, he's a president.
06:27Who's an actor you've always wanted to work with but haven't yet?
06:31Well, that's already been solved, right?
06:34Well, yeah, this is it.
06:35My prayers have been answered, yeah.
06:37There was a whole clutch of actors when I was growing up that I really, really admired.
06:42Daniel Day-Lewis, who I wrote to actually.
06:44Oh, really?
06:45Yeah, I wrote him a note.
06:46He's the only actor I've ever written to.
06:47What did you say?
06:48I'd just seen There Will Be Blood, but I'd sort of grown up with him.
06:51Then about three or four months later, I got this beautiful handwritten letter back.
06:55I've still got it somewhere.
06:56Oh, wow.
06:57Yeah.
06:58But there's lots of young actors I really like now.
07:00Florence Pugh is brilliant.
07:01Paul Mescal.
07:02I worked with Florence.
07:03Brilliant.
07:04Brilliant.
07:05Who would you want to play you in the biopic about your life?
07:09You busy?
07:10No.
07:11I'm available.
07:12It's a dark story.
07:13Yeah, I can imagine.
07:14In this rapid round, we'll have 30 seconds to sound off.
07:18Let's go.
07:19One meal you could eat every day.
07:21Fish and chips.
07:22Song you'll never get sick of?
07:23Life during wartime.
07:24First concert you went to?
07:26Peter Gabriel.
07:27Driver's seat or passenger princess?
07:29Passenger princess.
07:30Something you own way too many of?
07:32Watches.
07:33Hobby that would surprise some people.
07:34Balloon animals.
07:35Stop!
07:36I won't stop.
07:37Favorite prop you've taken from a set?
07:39A knife.
07:40Perform on stage or on screen?
07:42Perform on stage.
07:43Mr. Darcy or Tom Lamskins?
07:45Tom.
07:46One actor who can do no wrong?
07:48Matthew McFadden.
07:49Beautiful.
07:50Thanks for watching.
07:52And now please watch...
07:53Death by Lightning.
07:55On Netflix.
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