"General Zod is not just a cold blooded villain. In his own way,
he's a person just like anybody else and he's fighting for
something that he believes in." - Michael Shannon
Courtesy of Complex So are you immersing yourself in Superman comics now?
Definitely. Before shooting started, I was talking to Henry [Cavill], who is playing Superman, and he told me about this app you can get at DC Comics, and they've got the whole series you can look at, and he was giving me some recommendations.
Was there anything particular you did to get inside Zod's head and determine your approach to the character?
Well, for me, it always starts with the script; I find most of the clues or the guide posts for the character are in the writing, particularly if the writing is strong, and then you just have to use your imagination and try and figure out you know what the persons up against and what it feels like to be them.
When you're playing somebody like Zod, it's not a lot of hands-on research you can do. It's not like I can go prowling around in a cop car or you know go work at a bar or something and see what it's like. There's nothing to equate [being General Zod] to; it's really in your imagination. I mean, I thought the fact that he's a general is something that I could explore, a way into it looking at other real-life generals, 'cause they all have a pretty intense bearing and a very particular way of being so I looked at generals in the Army nowadays, General Petraeus, people like that, watching interviews with them trying to get to capture that “steely” nature.
Did you have a favorite hero or villain when you were younger?
I liked the Silver Surfer. I thought he was pretty cool, just the look of him surfing through space on a silver surf board.
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After watching HBO's hit show
Boardwalk Empire I can say without a doubt that if Michael Shannon is trying to capture a steely approach, then he'll nail it. His professional version of the FBI agent in that show is nothing if not steely and intense.
How good is that lazy eye of his gonna look? This guy is going to absolutely own this role, and I hope the motion capture suit doesn't interfere with his spooky gaze.
By the way if you'd like to be as cool as Zod, and download DC Comics with their official app, then visit this location.
http://www.dccomics.com/sites/digital/app/
Man Of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Antje Traue, Julia Ormond, Russell Crowe, Laurence Fishburne with Christopher Meloni and Harry Lennix, the reboot is slated for theaters June 14th, 2013!
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