Michael Shannon Blog

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http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=111756

Michael Shannon & Ashley Judd

This is from the BUG press conference at the Regency Hotel on May 25th.

Technorati Tags: Ashley Judd, BUG, Michael Shannon

Michael Musto on Michael Shannon

Musto:

Bug is the sweet little date movie with ASHLEY JUDD hiding out from her abusive ex in an Oklahoma motel room, where she's descended on by a paranoid war vet who's convinced that he's been experimented on by the military and, what's worse, that crazed insects are swarming the bedsheets. It'll have you reaching for the popcorn with one hand and the Raid with the other!
Baby-faced MICHAEL SHANNON plays the vet, and over a snazzy lunch at the Regency ("When else am I gonna get a $30 pot pie?"), the high-school-dropout-turned- stage-and-screen-actor filled me in on the darkly comic thriller's buzz, as it were. "Most people seem to get a real rush out of it," said Shannon, "but I've heard people say, 'This is very unpleasant.' There was an interviewer today who I could tell hated every second of it. She said, 'There's no story. It's just 90 minutes of horror!' But it's a love story, not just a paranoid delusional psychological thriller. All these two people are trying to do is take care of each other—and in the process they wind up potentially destroying each other." Story of my life, kid—minus the pollen.

But just how big could a fever-inducing nugget like Bug really get? "My friends say it'll be a cult movie," he related. "It'll thrive on word of mouth. Of course we're going up against Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It would be like me entering the World Series of Poker. I might win, sure, but I probably won't!"

When he's not playing card games, Shannon's usually playing wack jobs, and very well, thank you. "If you look back over my stuff," he admitted, "you'll see psychos, mean guys, or cracked-up guys." But he got to show more range in Pearl Harbor ("It's not Chekhov," said Shannon, "but there was artistry there—there were images and spectacles that blew my mind") and also as the dripping-with-dignity military guy who vows revenge at the end of World Trade Center. (It's not his fault we didn't get any.)

More after the jump...

Technorati Tags: BUG, Michael Musto, Michael Shannon, Village Voice

Michael Shannon Video Feeds

NYT Summer Preview: Paranoids, Grab Your Raid Cans

The NYT has an excellent article on BUG in their summer preview.  It really is an excellent and important piece that you should read in its entirety.  But, since this blog is about Michael Shannon I will focus on the parts that speak so eloquently about him.

IN William Friedkin’s new film, “Bug,” paranoia is an infection that spreads from one character to another and eventually in the general direction of the viewer. A lurid psychological thriller with an acute case of the jitters and a nasty sense of humor, it does not exactly seem like the work of a mellowed old-timer, let alone that of a Hollywood veteran who made his most popular films when Richard M. Nixon was president.

Even less likely is the inspiration that Mr. Friedkin, 71, credits with leading him to “Bug”: opera.

Since accepting an invitation in 1996 from the conductor Zubin Mehta to direct Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” in Florence, Italy, Mr. Friedkin has embarked on a successful parallel career as an opera director. He has not had a box office hit in decades and remains best known for “The French Connection” (1971) and “The Exorcist” (1973), but he has recently worked on some of the opera world’s most prestigious stages, mounting productions at the Kennedy Center and the Bavarian State Opera.

“The operas made me realize that the quality of the original material is what counts,” Mr. Friedkin said in a recent telephone interview. “I had more fun, and I discovered more about myself and the creative process through ‘Salome’ and ‘Aida’ and ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ than with some of the films I’ve made. They helped me see the importance of that initial creative impulse. That’s how I knew I should do ‘Bug.’ ”

Mr. Friedkin caught “Bug” during its Off Broadway run in 2004 and found himself as gripped as its conspiracy-minded hero. He saw it again and called Mr. Letts to propose a movie adaptation.

Heeding Lionsgate’s request for name actors, Mr. Friedkin offered the role of Agnes to Ashley Judd, a box office draw for Ms. Lansing in the late ’90s with women-in-peril thrillers like “Double Jeopardy” and “Kiss the Girls.” But for the male lead — despite interest from bigger stars — he insisted on keeping Michael Shannon, the actor who originated the role in London and also performed it in Chicago and New York. “He was born to play that part,” Mr. Friedkin said.

Nice.  The rest after the jump....

Technorati Tags: Ashley Judd, BUG, Friedkin, Michael Shannon, NYT

Scene From BUG (Judd & Connick)

Here is a scene (with French subtitles) from BUG.  This scene features Agnes (Ashley Judd) and Goss (Harry Connick, Jr.).  I believe this the first time Agnes has seen Goss since he went off to prison.

Michael Shannon Interview

This is from the Q&A at the Fantastic Film Festival.

Harry Connick, Jr. Talks About BUG

BUG Trailer

Michael Shannon Demo Reel