Denemek ALTIN - Özgür
‘What’s great about theatre is there’s no intermediary’
The Independent
|July 12, 2025
‘Man of Steel’ actor Michael Shannon talks to Patrick Smith about the painful truths of Eugene O’Neill, the treatment of Zack Snyder, and the issues he has with autograph hunters
Michael Shannon is musing about his return to theatre, in a low Midwestern drawl that rumbles along like a Chevy.
“There are times on stage where it seems like it’s just kind of as fulfilling as life gets...” the star of Man of Steel and Boardwalk Empire tells me, “and there are times where you do not want to be in front of 300 strangers, torturing yourself... and everything in between. But when it hits, it’s a very unique feeling. You can’t find it out walking down the street, or doing anything else. It’s a religious feeling.”
We're in his cramped dressing room at the Almeida, where Shannon is playing Eugene O’Neill’s haunted alcoholic Jim Tyrone in A Moon for the Misbegotten. His face is all shadowy hollows and sharp angles, brow permanently furrowed. Some roles have a powerful emotional effect on him, he admits, but he tries hard to shed them afterwards. “If I were still invested in every part I ever played in my life, I’d probably be in a straitjacket,” he says.
Today he is dressed in a more leisurely T-shirt and shorts combo. The 50-year-old is lean and sinewy, carrying his height like an inconvenience, his long frame folded slightly inwards. He’s taciturn and measured, in a way that could be unnerving were there not flickers of deadpan charm. For much of our early exchanges, his eyes, capable of conveying such intensity, remain closed. He has an Albert Einstein quote tattooed on his arm: “No problem can be solved by the same level of consciousness that created it,” it reads.
You get the impression that, while he is calm and meticulous on the surface, he might at any moment boil over into that next level of consciousness. But maybe that’s just because we’re so used to seeing him flip out so convincingly on screen. Indeed, throughout his career, Shannon’s currency has been an electrifying knack for the bottle-up-and-explode school of acting. His characters are often complex studies in inner conflict.
Bu hikaye The Independent dergisinin July 12, 2025 baskısından alınmıştır.
Binlerce özenle seçilmiş premium hikayeye ve 9.000'den fazla dergi ve gazeteye erişmek için Magzter GOLD'a abone olun.
Zaten abone misiniz? Oturum aç
The Independent'den DAHA FAZLA HİKAYE
The Independent
ON THIS DAY
AD76: The Roman emperor Hadrian was born. It was on his orders that Hadrian's Wall was built in Britain “to separate the Romans from the Barbarians”.
1 min
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Peace board puts Blair on a collision course with the PM
There was a time when prime ministers would quietly retreat into writing memoirs and lecturing on the after-dinner circuit.
4 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Out of step: why Zoe Ball could say no to Strictly call
The veteran broadcaster is a frontrunner to replace Tess and Claudia, but will she swap her hard-won work-life balance for one of the biggest roles in television
6 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Former councillor admits drugging and raping ex-wife
A former Tory councillor has admitted to drugging and raping his ex-wife for more than 10 years.
2 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Last Brit out of singles as Norrie falls to familiar foe
The British resistance at the 2026 Australian Open is over. Cameron Norrie failed in his pursuit of a place in the fourth round having lost 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
3 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
PM and Harry attack Trump over his Nato troops 'insult'
Prince says sacrifices of British personnel who served in Afghanistan 'deserve to be spoken about with respect'
4 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
‘I would cry, wishing I could make $1 from my writing’
Jennette McCurdy's memoir, 'I'm Glad My Mom Died', was a bestseller. As she releases her debut novel, 'Half His Age', about a teenage girl's affair with a teacher, the former child TV star talks to Annabel Nugent about her literary acclaim
8 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
BUMP IN THE ROAD
Luke Norris's 'Guess How Much I Love You?' ruthlessly cuts through pregnancy's cliches and taboos
2 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Trump is panicking over the Supreme Court and tariffs
A ruling against the president over his economic weapon of choice would be humiliating
4 mins
January 24, 2026
The Independent
Trump mobilises 'armada' in veiled threat to Tehran
Donald Trump has warned that an “armada” of US military ships is sailing towards Iran, as the death toll from the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters surpassed 5,000, according to a human rights group.
2 mins
January 24, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size

