Michael Shannon: I don’t know if I have an ideal role.
I mean, I like telling stories that I think might have some intrinsic value in our culture.
[The End] fell right into that category.
Screen Rant: As you play him, Father is a very interesting set of contradictions.
How do you approach that kind of character balance?
Michael Shannon: Well, it’s really tricky.
Custom image by Simone Ashmoore
I mean, for all of us, telling the story was pretty taxing on our imaginations.
It’s a scenario that’s hard to envision.
Being in a bunker like that for 25 years.
A wealthy family lives in isolation within a luxurious bunker, unaware of the world beyond their walls. When a mysterious girl arrives at their doorstep, her presence threatens to unravel the delicate balance of their secluded existence, leading to a tense exploration of trust, survival, and buried secrets.
Maybe in a way, they have.
But I mean even more severely, like just speaking gibberish and walking around in circles.
The fact that they’re managed to hold on to some semblance of decorum is staggering.
It’s just about time.
No matter how nice your bunker is, it’s not nice to live in a bunker.
It’s not nice to live in a bunker.
In the end, it’s still a bunker.
There can be a lot of different Hamelts, there can be a lot of different Zods."
It’s a very tight setting, only a handful of characters in a couple of rooms.
Michael Shannon: Not so much.
I just looked at the story in the situation.
I didn’t think I was playing some supervillain or something.
I just thought of [Zod] as an individual who’s trying to do their job.
He’s just trying to protect his people.
You know, that’s something that General Zod and Father have in common.
Shannon appeared as the Kryptonian General inMan of Steel, andreprised the role of Zod inThe Flash.
Zod’s body was also used to create Doomsday inBatman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Michael Shannon: I don’t know.
I mean, so much of it is connected to the writing.
The script is always going to be different.
What Terence Stamp did was very different from what I did.
It’s kind of like Shakespeare.
There can be a lot of different Hamelts, there can be a lot of different Zods.
It’s not my property.
It’s literally not my property.
So [my advice to the next Zod actor is] make it your own.
That’s always the best thing to do.
No matter what situation you’re in, as an artist, just make it your own.
Screen Rant: There’s an inherent vulnerability that comes with singing, especially in a full musical.
What was it like to explore that inThe End?
I actually really appreciated the opportunity.
It didn’t really make me nervous.
That’s not because of my ego…
I wasn’t trying to be good or bad or anything.
I quite enjoyed it.
I really like singing, and I love music.
Music is my favorite thing.
I didn’t have any qualms about it.
In every production, there’s something you discover that you weren’t expecting to find.
With that in mind, what would you say surprised you the most about Father andThe End?
That is such a difficult question.
I mean, to me, every day at work is kind of surprise.
I don’t prearrange my performance.
I venture to show up wide open and see what comes.
I don’t want to not be surprised.
I want everything to be a surprise every moment.
It’s hard to pick one out, but it’s such a beautiful thing to see.
It doesn’t mean you don’t prepare.
You prepare a great deal.
You put a lot of thought into it.
You consider a lot of different possibilities.
