Actor Michael Shannon talks to Awards Track about motivation, characterization and the human condition in regards to his new drama series portraying President James Garfield: “Death By Lightning” on Netflix.
00:21A lot of the characters, especially Death by Lighting, but also Nuremberg, it's about characters and it's about people dealing with the human condition, about who they are, who they want to be, and how they live their lives.
00:41Can you talk about Garfield in that particular instance, both psychologically but also physically, because you inhabit him in a very specific way?
00:51Yeah, well, I mean, the more I learned about Garfield, the more I admired the guy, you know, he was a very hard-working guy, fundamentally, foundationally, just pushed himself, you know, intellectually and physically, and really wanted to be of service, you know, which I really admire.
01:18And, yeah, I just did a lot of research.
01:25I read a big biography on him, and, yeah, I felt like he was a man who really lived in his body, you know, he was a soldier.
01:37He was a, he worked with his hands, he could, he could build things, he had done menial labor.
01:44He was a janitor at the school where he met, that Crete went to, where he met, you know, Crete, his future wife.
01:52And, you know, just somebody who really started at the bottom and worked their way up, you know, in the old-fashioned way.
02:01But he was also, I think, a pretty gentle person, you know, he didn't wield his physical prowess in any sort of, you know, threatening way ever.
02:18So, yeah, he seemed like a genuinely compassionate person, you know.
02:27I'm sure he wasn't a saint, you know.
02:30It's always a little unfortunate in situations like this because I can't actually talk to the guy or even really see the guy.
02:40Somebody asked me once, well, did you watch any footage on Garfield?
02:43And I said, no, they didn't have that yet.
02:48So, I am using as much research as I've done.
02:53I am using my imagination to a certain extent.
02:56But, I don't know, it felt comfortable to me.
03:02And, honestly, it was kind of a relief to play someone who wasn't in a huge amount of trauma all the time and who seemed to be thinking about other people more than himself.
03:19There is an energy in the air.
03:24We're on the precipice of something desperately exciting.
03:31I made a vow to end the rot in our party!
03:38President James Garfield!
03:41All I want is to be a part of it.
03:46My name is Charles Guiteau.
03:49What line of work are you in?
03:51Politics.
03:55Jim, you're their leader.
03:57Your job is to inspire hope.
04:01Perhaps I can't change anything.
04:04We will not run from the battle.
04:06Go show those bastards who we are.
04:08He sees the best in human beings.
04:11And that's, you know, there's, I think, like, there's a scene with Offerman as Arthur when you sort of see past his shortcomings.
04:20And it's a very gentle scene, you know.
04:23And it could be played differently, but you played it very gentle in that.
04:27And conversely, with, I think it was a, what was it?
04:33It was a veteran.
04:34You gave him your bed.
04:36And that scene is very gentle and intimate as well.
04:40And yet it has the right amount of silence.
04:43Could you talk about finding that balance?
04:47Well, I think, you know, I think Garfield had a lot of sympathy for Chester Arthur.
04:53He knew what he had been through with losing his wife.
04:56And I think Garfield was aware of how difficult it was to exist in the political arena.
05:05You know, I don't think he was looking down his nose at anybody.
05:09And I think it was as difficult for him as it was for anybody else.
05:13You know, and there were probably moments where he thought, well, I'll just throw in the towel and let all this corruption do what it is want to do.
05:24It's, it's, you have to be pretty stubborn, actually, to, to stand up to it.
05:35But, yeah, I'm sure he had moments where he, he would have preferred to crumble.
05:42It would have been easier to do that.
05:46So, because of that, I think he has, he, an understanding for other people when they do that.
05:53I don't think he is a very judgmental person.
05:57But I think a lot of his thoughts and ways of doing things are just based on, on logic more than anything, you know, what, what the logical outcome of a situation is going to be.
06:12And, yeah, and I think he has a lot of respect for that soldier, you know, because Garfield being a veteran himself and having witnessed a lot of horrors on the battlefield.
06:27And something he struggled with, you know, wondering if that was really for a, for a purpose.
06:37And then seeing in the aftermath of the Civil War, how degraded the country had become.
06:43Even the efforts of reconstruction were pretty, pretty feeble up, up until that point.
06:50You know, the country was still in such a disarray.
06:54So, yeah, I think it all just comes from a fairly genuine place of curiosity about people, you know, which is, I think it's a beautiful attribute to have is to be curious about other people.
07:16All I want to do is help.
07:18Who is this man?
07:19What is he doing here?
07:22You are a seeker, an opportunist.
07:25Mr. President!
07:25And a pest.
07:27Eat shit, I'm a taxpayer.
07:29Mr. President, I'm begging you, tell me how I can be great.
07:35Men like us, we have to claw our way up.
07:39I can't make an impact.
07:41There is a greater destiny out there for me.
07:45This will show him.
07:48And the rest.
07:50The one thing, and it's a thematic I think you and I have talked about before, is about the potential of man, the potential of man as a species versus the detriment of man about what can happen when it's let aside.
08:05Obviously, Matthew's character is part of that.
08:09As far as I can tell, the limited amount of time I've had on earth, it seems like man has a very self-destructive tendency, or even a destructive tendency.
08:21I wish it wasn't the case.
08:23I wish it wasn't the case, but we seem drawn to it.
08:30And so much of it seems so inexplicable.
08:35But I do have empathy for Charles Guiteau and others like him.
08:44So often we hear from the far right in this country that gun violence isn't about accessibility to guns, it's about mental health, which I frankly kind of agree with.
09:02It is it is it is it is it is it is a mental health issue, so what always kind of leaves me hanging is is what are we going to do about it?
09:11And I don't think Guiteau is justified in shooting President Garfield, but I do think he was in a lot of pain and struggling with a lot of issues.
09:24And particularly at that time, there there really wasn't any very healthy way for him to get help with that.
09:34So and it just wasn't something that people thought about or considered very much.
09:39We've made some progress, I suppose, in that realm, but still more to go, you know, but, you know, human beings tending to other human beings, mental health is always going to be a bit of a conundrum, because I kind of think that every human being has some some variant of mental health issue they're grappling with themselves.
10:06So, yeah, it's hard to say who's the arbiter of perfect mental health.
10:13But yeah, I I think regardless of how bleak that might sound, it's important to endeavor to remedy the situation in any way that you can.
10:33And I think the most obvious way to do that is just to be compassionate to your fellow man.
10:40Years from now, we will be judged by what we do in this moment.
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