‘The Flash’: The role Michael Shannon admitted wasn’t “satisfying”
If anyone ever draws up a list featuring the most consistent, reliable, and dependable character actors the film business has at its disposal, none of them are even worth the paper they’re printed on unless they include Michael Shannon.
Since making his feature debut in Bill Murray’s comedy classic Groundhog Day over 30 years ago, Shannon has never been out of work for too long. He can be relied upon to deliver the goods, whether he’s delivering an acclaimed powerhouse performance, hamming it up for the cheap seats, or even swinging by to collect an easy paycheque on the odd occasion.
He’s got two Academy Award nominations for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ under his belt for Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road and Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, while he’s developed into Jeff Nichols’ muse through their collaborations on Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special, Loving, and The Bikeriders, with the filmmaker having never directed a movie that doesn’t involve Shannon on-screen.
If a production needs somebody to project foreboding and ruthless menace, then The Iceman and 99 Homes have shown Shannon has got it down pat. If there’s a morally ambiguous government or military operative who needs to embody, then The Shape of Water and The Quarry prove he’s more than capable of that, too.
Should a major blockbuster with a substandard script need a scene-stealer to try their best at elevating the material through sheer force of will alone, then Bad Boys II, Jonah Hex, and Man of Steel have indicated that Shannon will give it his very best shot, even if the results often leave a lot to be desired.
That being said, when he was asked to reprise his role as the villainous General Zod from Zack Snyder’s aforementioned Superman reboot in The Flash, even a performer of Shannon’s calibre was left with no other choice but to admit that he wasn’t thrilled with his contributions. The Kryptonian antagonist is essentially window dressing there to provide an obstacle for Ezra Miller’s title hero to overcome, something the star was fully aware of from the second he agreed to get back into the costume.
“Yeah. I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor,” he copped to Collider. Not that he was expecting anything different because he’s been around long enough to understand the driving force behind the blockbuster superhero caper. “These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures,” he continued. “It’s like, ‘Here’s this person. Here’s that person. And they’re fighting!'”
That’s pretty much The Flash in a nutshell, which took a combination of fan service, nostalgia, and multiple realities, combined them together, and dropped one of the biggest flops in the history of cinema on the world. Shannon got paid at the end of the day, which is all that he was expecting, given what he had to work with on set.
