Yes, we all know there’s another Superman in the works, a reboot called Man of Steel, and it’s being made by Zack Snyder, who came on strong with 300, but came up short with Sucker Punch.
And yeah, we’re probably going to sit through the very same story all over again with new innovations and upgrades like a sparklier costume.
What’s interesting to me about Man of Steel, however, is the choice of villain, General Zod, and Michael Shannon, who is playing the character.
Shannon’s been getting a lot of attention lately from Boardwalk Empire, and he did a fantastic job in The Runaways, playing infamous music biz svengali Kim Fowley. (His performance was so good, there were many moments I forgot I was watching an actor).
Shannon playing Zod is a great choice, and I’m sure he’ll do the role justice, whether the movie delivers or not.
As it turns out, Shannon’s been around for a long time, going as far back as the Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day, and he also had roles in Tigerland, Pearl Harbor, Vanilla Sky, 8 Mile, Bad Boys II, and many other films.
Shannon told Moviefone he watched bits and pieces of Terence Stamp’s performance, “and it’s very intimidating. But I just have to start from scratch. It would be shame if I let it inhibit my creativity. At least I’m not playing Hamlet. With that part you have 5000 genius interpretations of it over hundreds of years it’s been around. I only have to look down one interpretation – no matter how iconic it may be.”
Shannon also told The Daily Beast, the role “requires a lot of imagination, since it’s not an everyday character or someone you’d run into on the street. I went out and got Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs just to read about the life of a general and see what that experience was like, because to me, that’s a key component to capturing the character.”
These days, wherever Shannon goes, all anyone wants to ask about is Superman, and he says whenever he talks too much, the powers that be at Warner Brothers get on his case. He told the L.A. Times: “There are legions of fans salivating, who will literally spend the next year and a half looking at the clock, waiting for this movie. I can’t even read comic books. I don’t know which panel to look at next. So, no, I am not one of them. But there are a lot of them. They’re out there. And they really want to talk to me about this movie!”
Again, however Man of Steel turns out, Shannon is a tremendous talent, and playing General Zod should finally be his well deserved star making performance when the film hits theaters on June 14, 2013.
