Photo:Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Michael Shannonsays he once turned down a role inStar Warsbecause he doesn’t take interest in big franchises.
While Shannon did not clarify whichStar Warsmovie or role he was once offered, the actor did confess that “I don’t ever want to get stuck in a franchise.”
“I don’t find them interesting and I don’t want to perpetuate them,” he said of franchise films. “If I’m making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it — I don’t want to make mindless entertainment.”
“The world doesn’t need more mindless entertainment,” he added. “We’re inundated with it.”
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Shannon’s latest on-screen role is in the superhero movieThe Flash, in which he returns as his villain General Zod from 2013’sMan of Steel.
The actor said in the interview that he felt Zod’s inclusion inThe Flashwas “actually a very relevant story” as he explained he was originally drawn toMan of Steelover a decade ago because it promised just one appearance for his character.
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“It’s basically looking at a civilization that destroyed their own planet and think the solution is to go off and destroy another,” Shannon toldEmpireof Zod, who seeks to turn Earth into a new version of Krypton, the planet he and Superman are from, in bothMan of SteelandThe Flash.
“When you hear that hypothetically, if we destroy the Earth, we might go live on Mars — it’s the same thing. I didn’t look at Zod as a villain,” the actor said. “I just saw him as a guy whose job is to protect his people.”
Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
“But I like the story thatThe Flashis telling and I wasn’t there for a long amount of time — I was just there a couple of weeks — so it didn’t break my back to do it,” he toldEmpire.
Shannon worked withThe Flashcostar Ezra Miller on the new movie. He recalled that Miller, 30, was “very kind to me when I was there” whenVanity Fairasked him for his thoughts on thevarious controversies surroundingMiller in May.
“It’s difficult to talk about, but I always give people a lot of slack in this business, because there’s a lot of people in this business that have issues,” he said at the time.
“And some people have more privacy than others… Anytime somebody is out in the spotlight getting picked on, I feel for them. Even if it’s warranted, it’s still a horrible situation.”
The Flashis in theaters now.
source: people.com
