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Q&A: Michael Shannon

The Take Shelter star's talk from the London Film Festival.

It's a pretty spectacular week for films, but best of the bunch is easily Take Shelter. Read our 9/10 review here.

Jeff Nichols' stunning psychological drama stars Boardwalk Empire actor Michael Shannon as Curtis, a blue collar Midwestern family man who starts to experience nightmares and delusions involving a powerful oncoming storm. As he puts his job and family's happiness at risk to build a tornado shelter, Curtis grows concerned about the root of his waking nightmares.

At the London Film Festival screening back in October, Shannon gave a Q&A. He spoke about working with his Shotgun Stories director Nichols once more, the reaction to the film's ending (potential spoilers are hidden), and his experience filming Man of Steel, in which he stars as Superman's nemesis General Zod. Highlights below.

On working with with Nichols for the second time.
We definitely feel like we have an affinity - we understand one another. Jeff writes these men that remind me of men that I knew growing up. Specifically, there was a stepfather I had once. They are men that are full of things that they can't express, or they can't deal with. They're trying to be normal, and productive. It's kind of an archetype stoic Southern man. I always appreciated that.

On landing the role of Curtis.
The first time I read the script, Jeff wasn't specifically asking me to do the project. He just wanted me to read it as a friend, as he trusted me. To be honest about it, at the time he knew it was going to be a more expensive movie than Shotgun Stories, and it was hard to figure out if he was going to get the financing if I was playing the part [everyone laughs at the irony]. That's just the truth, you know? It's an important thing to know about movies. Eventually it fell into place where he could get the financing and I could play the part. When it happened it actually happened very quickly - it was out of the blue. He called me one day, and said he was going to start Take Shelter in a month, do I wanna do it?

On finding the quiet, physical character.
We shot the film in four weeks, which is very quick. I relied a lot on instinct more than anything. There wasn't the time to hash everything out, and talk about everything. I really understood the story, and it made sense to me. I didn't prepare anything - I consciously went into it being a blank slate. I think at the start of the movie, Curtis is a blank slate. He's an everyman, and I wanted the experience to happen to me, the same way it was happening to him.



On whether the closing scene was always in the script.
Yes, that was always the same. It seems to be a thorny ending for a lot of people, but for Jeff, without the ending there would've been no movie. That ending is very important to him. He also, like most auteurish directors, doesn't like to explain it. He always says, I dunno, what do you think? The ending to him is the heart of the story. I consider it a very poetic ending. [vague spoilers, highlight to read] An acknowledgment that the world is a dangerous place. Fundamentally that's what Curtis is dealing with. It's a lyrical representation of anyone feeling like the world is not safe. It's simply not a safe place to be right now. The question people struggle with is, is it me, or is it the world? I think what's beautiful about it is that Jeff is saying, it can be both. It's not necessarily that Curtis is flawed or ill. Even when it's acknowledged he has these issues, that danger still exists. Jeff looks at the ending as very hopeful, as the family are sharing this experience.

On working on the Superman movie compared to his recent small films.
They're very different, for sure! The thing I liked about doing Take Shelter and Return, is that you're in the actual environments. On Man of Steel we're on these strange sets that are outer space. It's hard to relate to your environment. When we were filming Take Shelter, Jessica and Tova, who plays our daughter, would just hang out in the house. It was like we were living in that house, being a family, and every once in a while someone would come along and say we have to shoot the scene, and we'd go back to our Scrabble game or whatever. Right now, Man of Steel is literally very alien to me! It's hard to wrap your head around some of the conceits.

Our friends at Filmbeat grabbed an interview with Shannon, below.