Michael Shannon Interview, The Runaways

Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”) is one of the most gifted actors of his generation. He has worked with many of the industry’s most honored talent and treaded the boards in the world’s most respected theaters. Movies Online sat down with Michael at the Los Angeles press day for his new film, “The Runaways,” the music-fueled coming of age story of the groundbreaking all-girl 1970s rock band.

Michael plays the uber-eccentric rock impresario Kim Fowley who helps form The Runaways and serves as the band’s foul-mouthed manager caught between manufacturing the girls’ “jailbait” image and keeping the teenagers in line and out of trouble long enough to get them to the next gig or cut the next record. Under his Svengali-like influence, the group evolves into an outrageous success and with its tough-chick image and raw talent quickly earns a name for itself – and so do its two leads, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning).

Michael talked to us about what attracted him to the project, what it was like to meet the real Kim Fowley, and his upcoming projects, “Jonah Hex” and “13.”

Q: Your name has become synonymous with scene stealing. Everyone is talking about how you basically strapped this movie to your back and walked off with it. Was that intentional?

Michael: No. At the risk of sounding coy, I don't really appreciate it. It's a little awkward. I mean, I have a lot of respect for the people I work with. I don't like to feel like the hard work they put into something is not getting the credit it deserves. It's a little awkward, to be honest. It's never my intention to do that.

Q: Did you have an opportunity to meet Kim Fowley?

Michael: I met him my first day of shooting. I came in and we shot a scene, and I hadn't met him yet. I was frustrated because I really wanted to meet him and Kristen (Stewart) said, "We could go out to dinner with him." Joan (Jett) was there so she arranged it, and Joan, Kristen, myself and Kim met and had dinner in the Valley at a Denny's. It was very nice. And I just saw him again here [at the press day].

Q: He seems like a pretty critical, outspoken guy. What did he say about your performance after he saw the film?

Michael: I don't know. He may be critical, but he's also very smart and he knows that in a situation like this it wouldn't behoove him to say it was terrible. What good would that do him? He's been nothing but nice to me. I just watched him do an interview and he said some very flattering things. I'm not an idiot. I can look at what I did and look at him and I’m like, "I got about half of it." He's a very intricate human being. It's hard to pin him down. That's what makes him so special. That's why you would put him in a movie to begin with, I guess.

Q: What attracted you to this role? What was it about your character that really resonated with you?

Michael: First of all, I love rock ‘n' roll. I love music. I'm very passionate about it, probably more so than movies. So, just the idea in general of being in a movie about music was exciting. And then, I went in to meet Floria (Sigismondi) and she showed me this interview that Kim did on The Tom Snyder Show, and it was just one of the most captivating things I'd ever seen in my life. It was the combination of his physical way of being, his way of speaking, and his intellect and philosophy about things. He’s just an incredibly magnetic, charismatic person. I think the question would be why would you not want to try to do it? It's such a great opportunity. The only thing is that it was intimidating, but if you're up for that, there's no reason not to do it.

Q: Which parts of Kim do you think you really nailed and which parts did you feel were more difficult to portray?

Michael: I'm just not quite like him. I feel that way anytime I see somebody. You know, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great in Capote, but he's not really like Truman Capote. I mean, Truman Capote was different, and Kim Fowley is different. He's actually a little bit taller than me. He's a lot skinnier than me and his body has gone through [a lot]. He's had polio twice. I've never had polio. So, I can act my little brains out, but I don't know what it's like to have polio. I don't know what that feels like. That does something to the way you move. It's the little details like that. But, I think I got enough of it that it's in the story. At the end of the day, you're just trying to tell the story and I think we accomplished that.

Q: You’ve said that you’re more passionate about rock ‘n’ roll than movies. What are the bands that you feel an incredible love for?

Michael: Wow. It’s such a wide, constantly changing thing. Who am I listening to right now? I’m really into this band called Galaxy 500 at the moment. They were a Boston band. They were contemporaries of the Pixies. They might have even been a little bit before the Pixies. They’re not around anymore. But, I’ve been listening to them a lot lately. Of this era and this particular time in rock history, I was more into the New York scene, before the movie anyway. I was a very devoted fan of The Talking Heads and Television and The Ramones and Richard Hell and Patty Smith and all that stuff. I wasn’t as familiar with the L.A. scene but I really delved into it when we were making the movie. I think it’s equally formidable.

Q: What did you think of how Kristen portrayed Joan Jett?

Michael: Kristen was totally submerged into it. I don’t want to say that she was always in character because that will make it sound crazy or something. But, she was very devoted to getting the mannerisms and the way she spoke. It was very convincing. It was easy to imagine that that's the way Joan would have been back then.

Q: When you met Kim Fowley, what did you talk about?

Michael: When I met with Kim, he tried to cram his whole life into this one dinner. He started with his childhood and growing up. It's interesting because his childhood really was formative. Like I said, he had polio twice. When you spend that much time as a child being infirmed and that much of your childhood is taken from you, later in life you tend to try to make up for it somehow. Maybe that feeds into why he took the path he took. He had a lot of pictures and he had a lot of clippings and he had a lot of stories. It was a little overwhelming. It was like someone trying to insert a disc into your brain and saying, "Here, this is everything." I’m like, “Okay, okay, I’ll try, I’ll try.” And then at the end of it, he was like "Try not to screw it up because this is probably going to be how people remember me – as you in this movie." I was like, "Okay, sure. I'll try not to screw it up." And that was it. But, a lot of it was in the script. That was the way he talked – you know, the dialogue. And then, Joan and Cherie (Currie) were there. They both said I was getting it right, so that's all that mattered to me.

Q: If you look at Kirsten and Dakota and the other actors in this movie, is there enough rock ‘n’ roll talent among them that they could actually succeed as a band? Do they have the personality for it?

Michael: Yeah, well they can play. The only thing would be the actual writing of songs because, as a band, they were playing The Runaways songs. They would just have to come up with their own songs. The crucial component they have is they're both very fearless. It's pretty incredible if you think about how young they are and what they've already accomplished and how they can walk into a room and talk to complete strangers about their work. It doesn't seem to faze them very much. I think that’s the main component to be involved with rock ‘n' roll -- to be fearless -- and they both seem to have that.

Q: Who are you playing in Jonah Hex?

Michael: In Jonah Hex I play a character named Doc Cross Williams who's one of these old carney & snake oil type guys. He's got an elixir that he’ll give you and it will cure all your ills. And, he has these dog fights and rooster fights and carnivals that people come to wager on. He's a very colorful character.

Q: What is your character in 13?

Michael: 13 is based on the original 13, the black-and-white European film about the game. Basically, I play the referee in the game, Henry. I sit up on the lifeguard chair and tell them what to do. That's all I should say about it.

“The Runaways” opens on March 19^th.