Source: BBC Radio: 5 Live
The BBC Radio Station 5Live recently had Michael Shannon on their show to discuss his recent film, Take Shelter. But of course, the conversation inevitably turned to Man of Steel. Here's a transcript of that conversation:
On his character from Take Shelter and how it compares to playing General Zod:
MICHAEL SHANNON: "The only similarity, really, [that] I can think of because there really are none...but the funny thing about it is that no matter how much time or money you have on a film, you always hear people complaining about time and money or saying they don't have enough time and money. I mean, for example, there's this scene we shot recently, [a] fairly short scene, and it was scheduled for two-and-a-half days and you know, I'm talking literally a scenes that's a page-and-a-half or something like that. Two-and-a-half days later and we still weren't finished. Whereas on Take Shelter, we'd be shooting 10 pages a day."
On the SFX of Man of Steel, specifically Shannon discussed some rain SFX in the low-budget Take Shelter. Shannon wasn't overly critical of it but was just making a point about budgetary constraints. The interviewer asked Shannon if the "rain effects" in the big-budget Man of Steel are better:
MICHAEL SHANNON: "The "meteor" shower effects are better, yeah."
Shannon was next asked to compare the experience he had working with directors like Sidney Lumet, Oliver Stone, and Werner Herzog to working with Zack Snyder:
MICHAEL SHANNON: "Oh, wow. I mean every name on that list is unique. [*The interviewer jumps in to also mention William Friedkin whom Shannon agrees was also great.] First of all, Zack is and I'm not "campaigning" for him but he sincerely, really is one of the nicest people I've ever worked for and nice up and down the line, to everyone on set. His mantra seems to be...it seems like he's constantly repeating in his head, "I'm so lucky to be making a movie", like he just genuinely always seems to feel very fortunate to be doing what he's doing.
And I bring that up because he's also under a lot of pressure and I could see someone in that situation really going kind of bonkers because it's a huge movie and there's a huge responsibility for him to deliver.
And he's also very funny. His favorite thing to do is to make people laugh."
The next topic takes it's que from Shannon's above statement about the pressure on Snyder and whether Shannon can allow himself to have the same level of fun that he had on Take Shelter, on such a big budget project like Man of Steel:
MICHAEL SHANNON: "It's different. I think people imagine that because "Superman or someone of his nature, where you pretended to be him as a child, it would be very playful. And to a certain extent it is and it does require a lot of imagination and all that but your playfulness and your imagination are going to be dissected by a large percentage of the population of the world. If Warner Bros. has anything to do with it, everybody. Or if they have their way, the more the better. So there's a lot of scrutiny. Already, we haven't even finished shooting the movie, and there's pictures popping up on the internet and people dissecting every little thing. And that's fair. The people own the story, it's a universal story that everybody's familiar with and a lot of people are devoted to [it] so for some people, it's almost like a religion.
Interesting answers from Shannon. I think because this was an interview conducted in a different medium, for a radio show, we got some insightful answers into how the Man of Steel production is progressing. I also should say that it's probably not a huge deal where Shannon describes a shoot that went over schedule, I believe the point he was trying to make there was that on a big budget feature like Man of Steel, those type of things happen. What I think garners attention here is the mention of the SFX for a meteor shower. Is this a reference to a certain Kryptonian child arriving on Earth or something else?
Sound off below in the comments section with your own thoughts!
If you want to hear the actual blip from Shannon, click
here [skip to the 1:17:09 mark, where Shannon comes onto the show].
Man of Steel is an upcoming American superhero film under the development of Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Superman, the film will be a reboot of the Superman film series. Using Chicago as a backdrop, and with production to be based in west suburban Plano, the film entered principal photography in August 2011, for a planned theatrical release on June 14, 2013 by Warner Bros., which also includes IMAX venues.