Hobby that would surprise some people.
Balloon animals.
Stop.
I won't stop.
Hi, I'm Matthew McFadden.
And I'm Michael Shannon.
This is Inquiring Minds.
With Esquire.
Where do you get off with this attitude?
Is that the right?
No.
Which of your roles do people bring up the most?
Probably Tom.
Yeah.
Not Dick and Harry?
Not yet. that someone called you Mr. Darcy?
Yeah, that happens occasionally and I'm always quite pleased secretly, because it means I can't be aging that badly.
You're still a sexy boy.
Well, nice of you to say so.
But usually it's Tom.
Tom!
Or some people say Greg!
Or some people say well done on billions.
Ooh.
Yeah.
What do you want people to be shouting at you on the street?
I don't want anybody to be shouting anything at me ever.
No.
What's the most ridiculous lie you've ever told to get out of something?
I don't mean to be obstinate, but I don't really know.
You don't lie.
I once told someone I could ride a horse for a job.
Oh.
And I couldn't.
And you couldn't?
No.
Yeah, you usually lie to get into something.
Yeah, or I said I can play a musical instrument.
I can speak Russian.
Yeah, I can play the harp.
I can make a sandwich.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which role transformed your career?
I don't know.
I think the trick, maybe with an actor, is to try and keep working and going and then it's like you're busy for as long as possible.
Then sometimes you catch a little wave.
One wave was Pride and Prejudice.
But then again, I didn't really work for a year after that.
That's so weird.
Yeah.
You're so dashing.
I find it difficult to look at my career with any kind of clarity, or I feel like I'm just bumbling along.
For me, it was Kangaroo Jack.
Come all the way down here to the sphincter of the galaxy to straighten out this puked up furball of a mess.
Okay, yeah, yeah.
It was like a catapult.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The pre-Kangaroo Jack was like... Like this?
Into the public, yeah.
Like that.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Is there another actor you're often mistaken for?
Willem Dafoe.
Interesting.
And the fellow who played Jaws in the James Bond movies, Richard Kiel.
I was at a restaurant in London, sitting there all by myself.
There was a big table, a bunch of lads.
One of the guys at the table.
He had his phone out and he was pointing at his friend and he was pointing at me and he was like from James Bond.
And I said, yeah, his name's Richard Kiel.
The whole restaurant went silent.
Good for you.
And then he came up and he's like, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm like, you idiot.
You're five feet away from me.
You think I'm not going to notice you doing this?
Which scene from Succession still sticks with you?
Probably pelting Nick Braun, who played Cousin Greg with water bottles in the panic room, just because it was a lot of fun.
Yeah, I imagine.
Yeah.
Probably the one where Logan... Logan's demise on the private jet.
But too many to mention.
What led to your dramatic reading of the Delta Gamma letter?
I don't even understand what the question means.
So I read the sorority letter on Funny or Die.
It's actually probably the thing that people most enjoy that I've done.
Okay.
You go!
You...
Don't go!
I was just going out there to do a press junket with my publicist, Brenna.
We were riding along in the car, and Brenna said, did you hear about this sorority letter?
This woman had written a letter that was crazy and got her in a lot of trouble.
It had a lot of vulgar language in it.
You especially do fucking not convince other girls to leave with you.
She said, well, Funny or Die wants you to perform it.
And I said, well, it's not really my wheelhouse.
I was never in a sorority, but I'm a whore and I'll do anything for a laugh.
So I went and did it.
This is available to watch online.
Any human being can watch this performance.
What is your strangest fan interaction to date?
I was doing a spy show a long time ago in the UK and it was my wife and I actually were in a department store.
We were both in the spy show.
We were at the counter and this guy was showing us off and he very quietly said I've applied to join.
We were like, what?
He said, I've applied to join MI5, which is like the FBI or whatever.
We were like, oh, great.
Good luck.
That's fantastic.
But I think he really thought we were spies.
Oh.
Just buying some, yeah, in the electrical department.
Which of your characters, Michael Shannon, would you most want to have a drink with?
I don't drink.
Well, you can drink, like, have a glass of milk.
Hot cocoa?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, Elvis.
Mr. Garfield, President Garfield.
I would have actually really loved to have met him.
I really admire him.
I could probably skip Richard Kuklinski, the Iceman.
He was pretty terrifying.
General Zod doesn't drink.
General Zod doesn't drink, but he does a lot of heroin.
Matthew, how is it different playing a real person versus a fictional one?
Sometimes it's quite pressurized, especially if the person you're playing is still alive.
But when they're not, it's sort of easier.
Unless everybody really knows what they look like and how they sounded, and there's lots of visual references.
Like this one that we've just done.
I feel a little less pressure because nobody really knows what Charles Guiteau looked like.
Ooh, the fuck is Charles Guiteau?
But you've played a lot of Real people.
I played Elvis once.
Yeah, that's a big deal.
That was no pressure.
The cat?
James Garfield.
Oh, it's funny, actually.
Somebody asked me the other day if I had any clips to draw on.
And I said, no.
President Garfield predated YouTube.
Nothing to watch.
Nothing to watch.
Was there a note while shooting the show that really stuck with you?
Are you going to talk like that?
Are you going to do it like that?
Yeah.
What can I do for you, Mr. Guiteau?
My name's Guiteau.
That stuck with me.
Remember, he's a president.
Who's an actor you've always wanted to work with but haven't yet?
Well, that's already been solved, right?
Well, yeah, this is it.
My prayers have been answered, yeah.
There was a whole clutch of actors when I was growing up that I really, really admired Daniel Day-Lewis, who I wrote to actually
Oh, really?
Yeah, I wrote him a note.
He's the only actor I've ever written to.
What'd you say?
I'd just seen There Will Be Blood, but I'd sort of grown up with him.
Then about three or four months later, I got this beautiful handwritten letter back.
I've still got it somewhere.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
But there's lots of young actors I really like now.
Florence Pugh is brilliant.
Paul Mescal.
I worked with Florence.
Brilliant, brilliant.
Who would you want to play you in the biopic about your life?
You busy?
No, I'm available.
It's a dark story.
Yeah, I can imagine.
In this rapid round, we'll have 30 seconds to sound off.
Let's go.
One meal you could eat every day.
Mmm, fish and chips.
Song you'll never get sick of.
Life during wartime.
First concert you went to.
Peter Gabriel.
Driver's seat or passenger princess.
Passenger princess.
Something you own way too many of.
Watches.
Hobby that would surprise some people.
Balloon animals.
Stop.
I won't stop.
Favorite prop you've taken from a set?
A knife.
Perform on stage or on screen?
Perform on stage.
Mr. Darcy or Tom Wamskins?
Tom.
One actor who could do no wrong?
Matthew McFadden.
Beautiful.
Thanks for watching.
And now please watch... Death by Lightning.
On Netflix.
