Michael Shannon, who reprises his Man of Steel role as General Zod in next week's The Flash, has previously indicated that he turned down a role in a Star Wars movie back in 2016, and the actor has now explained his decision in a new interview.
While chatting to Empire, Shannon first confirmed that he was indeed referring to being offered a Star Wars part ("They were gonna give me a lot of money, but I was like nah. Big movie, too. But I have to think it’s an interesting story. If I don’t, I can’t do it. I won’t do it") at the time, before going on to elaborate on his reasons for declining.
"I'm always a bit wary about those giant movies. Because they take a lot of time and I don't find them very stimulating to work on. I don't ever want to get stuck in a franchise. I don't find them interesting and I don't want to perpetuate them. If l'm making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it— I don't want to make mindless entertainment. The world doesn't need more mindless entertainment. We're inundated with it."
While we're sure some will take issue with Star Wars being described as "midless entertainment," it's easy enough to see where Shannon is coming from.
We still don't know which character he was offered, but given the timeframe of the original interview, the movie was most likely either The Last Jedi or Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Of course, many would argue that Man of Steel isn't exactly highbrow material, either, but Shannon has previously pointed out that he felt Zack Snyder's film was telling an important story.
“Man of Steel is, in a way, this significant story, like, culturally, not just an entertainment thing," he told Vanity Fair. "Because at the end of the day, what it was about, it was about a civilization, right, that ruins their own planet. I’ve never heard of that before. And then decides, ’Well, the solution to that is to go to another planet and take it, and then we’ll just go live there.’”
What do you guys make of Shannon's comments? Let us know in the usual place.