The stage is a routine. It keeps you grounded, like a metronome. I find that soothing. Michael Shannon More Quotes by Michael Shannon More Quotes From Michael Shannon I'm equally terrified of both comedy and drama. The only thing I'm really comfortable with is action. Michael Shannon comedy action drama A lot of times people will send me stuff. They will find something and they will send it to me and then I will take a look at it. Every once in awhile I will go on IMDB for 10 or 15 minutes and look around. But I am not a huge gearhead. I don't even have my own computer. I use my girlfriends. Michael Shannon girlfriend people looks I have been acting for over 20 years and I started in the smallest little theater that you can possibly imagine and then I very slowly built myself to this point. So it is never like there is this real sharp change or something that really startled me. It has just been very gradual. Michael Shannon acting real years The thing that is always important to me is the relationships. I feel like until I get around with the actual people that I am going to be working with there is only so much that I can do. Michael Shannon important feels people I certainly don't want to have too many pre-conceived notions before I show up because then you might be cutting yourself off from the real lessons of what is going on. Michael Shannon lessons cutting real One thing I'm a big fan of is the theater of the absurd. That's what I come from, that's what I love to do more than anything. What I love about absurdity is the words "comedy" and "drama" get thrown out the window and it's just life, which is absurd. Michael Shannon comedy fans drama If I were God, I would just be up there scratching my head, thinking, 'What the hell am I supposed to do with this?' For everyone helping an old lady across the street, there's someone else bludgeoning a person to death. And sometimes they're the same. How can He separate us all out? Michael Shannon helping sometimes thinking I like to play characters that get to do it all - to have a bit of comedy here and a bit of pathos here and a bit of suspense here, that's what's fun. Michael Shannon play fun character I don't pick my roles by genre; that's kind of silly. Michael Shannon roles kind silly I never went into acting to be able to scare everybody. If I'd wanted to frighten people, I could have joined the C.I.A. Michael Shannon scare acting people That's one of the great things about acting - you get to pretend you're somebody else, which is great if you get bored with yourself. Michael Shannon great-things bored acting I know this'll sound obnoxious, but acting was very much an accident for me. I didn't have, like, posters of Marlon Brando in my bedroom when I was growing up. Michael Shannon growing-up acting sound When I'm working, I don't wake up and say, 'OK, time to go be intense.' I just look at whatever scenes we're working on that day and break them down - just real intense everyday work. Michael Shannon everyday real looks I just keep working on things I like, and hope for the best. I hope people enjoy them. Michael Shannon hoping-for-the-best enjoy people If you give me enough time, enough leash, I can become pretty reasonable. Michael Shannon enough-time give-me giving One of the great things about acting is you can do things that in real life would get you in trouble. I think that's something I figured out pretty early on. Michael Shannon acting real thinking I think if you watch a lot of what I do, you're going to ultimately walk away seeing me. I can't hide - that impression is a personal impression people have of me. Michael Shannon watches people thinking It's obviously a lot harder to try and be a good guy than it is to be a bad guy. The world is a fundamentally evil place, it seems like. So in order to be a good person, you have to fight temptation and vice. Michael Shannon fighting evil order I get pretty attached to the majority of the characters I play. I can't help myself. Michael Shannon majority play character I enjoyed living in Chicago and doing plays for little or no money. I never actually thought that I would leave Chicago, originally. I wasn't one of those people that had a plan to pack up the van and drive out to Hollywood. I didn't want to. Michael Shannon chicago play people
