Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire)

Michael Shannon is a veteran actor (Vanilla Sky, Bad Boys 2, Take Shelter) who is currently starring on the HBO hit show “Boardwalk Empire” as Agent Nelson Van Alden. New episodes of the show are premiered every Sunday at 9pm. “Boardwalk Empire” focuses on the organized crime and corruption that arose in Atlantic City after Prohibition started. Agent Van Alden is doing everything he can to stop it, but falls on hard times and he is sucked into a deep dark depression. Michael Shannon has also been casted to play General Zod in the new Superman movie entitled “Man of Steel.” We had the honor of talking with Michael Shannon about “Boardwalk Empire” and a little about “Man of Steel.”

 

Shakefire: Good Morning Michael!! I love the show and am totally hooked on “Boardwalk Empire.”

Michael Shannon: Morning! Sorry for being a bit late. I had to drop off my daughter at school. I haven’t seen her for 10 days and I promised I would I take her.

 

SF: Don’t worry about! I totally understand. My first question is related to how Boardwalk Empire is your first time working on a TV series, that wasn’t a guest role. Are there any differences that you notice between working on a movie and on a TV show?

MS: Boardwalk Empire is as high a standard as a movie. In terms of the production design, costume design, the cinematography and all that, it's at a movie level quality. A difference I noticed is, when you do a movie, you get one script unless there are going to be sequels. You get the one script and it has a beginning, middle and an end and you go shoot it and that's it. However, on Boardwalk Empire, it's not like you're telling a story. It's like you're creating a whole other world that moves in every direction. The story just keeps getting more and more twisted and complicated and at the end of the season, I have no clue what is going to happen next.

 

SF: What attracted you to the role of Agent Nelson Van Alden and what attracted you to the show?

MS: They actually invited me to show. It’s a nice invitation because Martin Scorsese directed the pilot and a lot of people wanted to work with him and Terrance Winter, who had so much success with “The Sopranos.” It was a good combination up front. During the first meeting, I was expecting to play a gangster or some sort of thug, but when they said they wanted me to play a law enforcement official, it was a real 180 for me. Agent Van Alden started out righteous, but falls into a deep depression. He is almost Shakespearean in the dimensions of his character. They keep making it more and more interesting and I think I'm really lucky.

 

SF: How would you describe the overall experience of being on the set and the shooting schedule for the show?

MS: I love the directors. One of the nice things about working on a TV show is there's a continuity to who directs the show which means you get to establish relationships with the directors, like Tim Van Patten. He directed four episodes last year in Season 1 and four episodes on Season 2. It's nice to develop a relationship with the people you work with. It's just nice because you really get you get to go a little deeper into things. It allows you have a history with the directors. As for the shooting schedule, it takes about seven months to make a season. I think, unlike most shows, it's actually kind of an easy schedule because there are a lot of characters on the show and nobody has episodes where they're not in them all the time. This show moves around from character to character and story to story and so even in an episode like Episode 6 that I'm in quite a bit, I'm not there everyday. I work four or five days the whole episode so you have a lot of time to spend with your family, which is nice, or work on other projects, which is really nice.

 

SF: What are the major similarities between you and Agent Van Alden

MS: We both have a dry sense of humor and I've certainly experienced the kind of guilt that Van Alden feels a lot of the time, but not to the extreme nature that Van Alden does. I've felt guilt like that and I think that's something that anybody can identify with the character. I think that's what Van Alden represents, this overwhelming guilt and it's all the more heartbreaking because it's coming from a man with good intentions. I think Van Alden started out with very good intentions. He's not corrupt and he wasn't a corrupt person, but to see that fall from grace, I feel like that's something that I can identify with or I think a lot of people probably have experienced at some point in their lives.

 

SF: This season the actual morality of Van Alden's crusade has settled down a little bit. They're not focusing as much on his personal beliefs about prohibition. Why has that focus been moved elsewhere or shifted?

MS: I think Van Alden really just gave up. He really tried in Season 1. He knew what happened, he knew who was guilty and he knew what should be done, but he couldn’t do it His supervisor wouldn't let him do it and Sepso screwed him over. This caused him to descend into this really dark place where he started drinking and knocked up Lucy. I mean for me, this season is about Van Alden really trying to accept what he's done and trying to redeem himself.

 

SF: Are you prepared for the onslaught of media coverage that is coming along with “Man of Steel?”

MS: Honestly, no. I'm not prepared for that in any way, shape or form. It gives me shivers and I'll do the best I can, but it's funny because it used to be that you do the work and the work just spoke for itself. However, when you get on a project like that, obviously it's almost like half the job is being a cheerleader for the team where you got to go around stirring up the pot as it were. It's hard to do that when they tell you, "Oh and by the way you can't say anything about it and you can't tell anybody anything about it.” The only thing you should say is, “it's really great!” I'm having such a great time and everybody's great on the set, but I can't tell you anything else, so that gets a little frustrating after a while.

 

SF: So you can't divulge any details whatsoever or mention anything about “Man of Steel?”

MS: I find it kind of funny actually because if I didn't tell you anything about Superman, but I asked you tell me what happens in Superman, I bet you could probably tell me the whole story. I mean, it's kind of like saying I'm not supposed to talk about the Pledge of Allegiance. It's kind of silly all around, but in terms of the detail, it's funny because people come and take pictures on the set and they leak them out on the internet. Now, every time I go to a red carpet event or something similar, there are people that have these pictures and some even have pictures that generated on a computer of what people think I'm going to look like in the movie. They have pictures of me with like a Fu Manchu moustache and this black SS uniform. I think it's pretty mind-blowingly awful and it's completely inaccurate, but I still go ahead and sign them anyways. I tell them when I sign the picture, "This isn't right and you're totally wrong. Whoever thought that they cracked the case is way off.” I still have so much left to do. I mean, most of my stuff is in November so I haven't really done that much yet. I've done a few little scenes, but the majority of what I'm doing is yet to come.

 

SF: So eager to to find about more about the movie! Well, besides “Man of Steel” and “Boardwalk Empire,” do you have any other projects coming up that we should look out for or check out?

MS: I've got the two films out right now (“Take Shelter” and “Machine Gun Preacher.”). “Take Shelter” is a movie I'm really excited about people seeing because I think it's pretty good. “Machine Gun Preacher” is all right too. I also did a movie called “Premium Rush” with Joseph Gordon Levitt, which I think is coming out next summer, but right now I'm just shooting “Man of Steel.” I mean, “Man of Steel” goes all the way up until February and then Boardwalk Empire starts in February so there's not a lot of downtime there. I've been trying to see whether this “Iceman” project was going to happen or not, but it's kind of in a bit of an unstable place right now. That's a movie about Richard Kuklinski, hit man that lived in Jersey and kept what he did a secret from his family for a number of years and had kind of a double life.

 

SF: Thanks for talking with us and I can’t what to check out the movies and to see what else is going to happen in season 2 of “Boardwalk Empire.”

MS: Thank you and have a good day.