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Speaking to an audience at RiverRun, Michael Shannon describes the trippy ordeal that went into winning the villain job General Zod in Warner Bros’ Superman film Man of Steel. Deadline was first to reveal that Shannon was wanted for bad guy duty, but clearly a lot goes into figuring not only whether Shannon could play the role originated by Terence Stamp (a no-brainer if you’ve seen HBO’s Boardwalk Empire), but also the way that director and studio figure out the alchemy in matching up actors. Here, he describes the effort to see how he melded with Henry Cavill in the Zack Snyder-directed film.
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As General Zod will be in Man of Steel, they have to include Non, Ursa, Faora, Quex-Ul, Nam-Ek and Aethyr-Ka.
I think overall the filmmaker has to give us new villains and new stories in this new Superman film series. They should have utilised the villains that weren’t included in the previous films. Lex Luthor and General Zod should have been left out of the movies for a while.
Agreed
General Zod appeared briefly in Superman the Movie and Superman II – other than that, he hasn’t been seen in the movies.. If you’re talking Smallville, then who cares – hardly anyone watches that. Zod a perfect villain for Superman..
Now, if this new Superman is big hit.. then I’d be more than sure we’ll start seeing other Superman villains from the comic books turn up in the movies.. Doomsday for the sequel?
I totally agree! I love Smallville, but I just don’t understand people who act like it is the biggest show in the world. The audience is very small. It would have been cancelled 9 years ago if it aired on any other network.
Smallville grossed well over a billion dollars doll. Fanboys don’t understand that the comic book niche is tiny. 60 thousand readers. They spend all their time posting online so look much bigger than they really are. The universe of the Smallville audience so dwarfs this fanboy group it is like comparing Mount Everest to a pebble. It continually amuses me how warped fanboy self-perception is. There will be some large homages to Smallville in this movie, because everybody else knows which side of the bread the butter is on, and fanboys best brace themselves for it now.
ummm…Zod appeared briefly in Superman? He was the MAIN villain in the second film and had nearly as much screen time as did Superman…
Did you even watch the movies you’re commenting on?
Leave Zod out for awhile? Kind of like thirty years since the last time he appeared. lol
Good actor. I’m wasn’t going to say anything else but I’m not sure I can anymore. People seem to get upset. I hate everything about this movie, I hate the title. And please, no one say it worked with TDK not putting Batman in the title. This is totally different. TDK was a second film. This isn’t. It seems like they don’t want the name Superman in the title because they think it comes with a certain stigma. All good actors. All miscast. And Zod?!?! Really? Relaunching a franchise with a tired villain. Great.
I wasn’t going to say anything, but that “second” sentence forces me to….
They will probably cast Leighton Meester, Jessica Szohr or Evan Rachel Wood as Ursa.
People didn’t complain about Joker in TDK because we’d already seen Penguin, Catwoman, Two Face, The Riddler, Mr Freeze, Bane, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Ra’s Al Ghul and Zassz since the last time the clown prince was used.
Out of 5 Superman movies all we have gotten (and will continue to get with the Man of Steel) is Lex and Zod. And we’ll be seeing Zod again in what is meant to be a fresh start. Even in the new Spider-Man we’re getting to see a villain we haven’t seen before. If Non and Ursula appear as well it will be truly deflating.
Saying they HAD to use Zod because the other villains are not as well known to the general public is silly. Outside of Luthor and the Batman bad guys that were featured in the 60′s Adam West series, the general public has no knowledge of comic book bad guys. Still, that didn’t stop Ra’s Al Ghul, Sandman, Scarecrow, Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Iron Monger, Magneto, Mystique, Deathstrike, Red Skull, etc. from being used in movies.
Superman is probably THE most widely known and venerable superhero on the planet and the best villains they can build a story around are these two??? Superman and the franchise in general are better than that.
Also, maybe a mention of Smallville’s Zod too? Someone could at least have mentioned Callum Blue’s excellent performance as Zod. Considering it was the biggest exposure of the character yet with 20 hours of television compared to Terence Stamp in a two hour movie.
More the studio than the director doing the deciding. Poor Zack. But he knew what he was getting into and price that would be paid for Sucker Punch and the owl movie. He is treading on thin ice.
Oh the fanboys, all enraged and furious about rehashing Zod, burning up the Internet with their meltdown.
The only think I like is the casting choices. All classy actors. But “The Man Of Steel” sounds like the title of an 80′s body building VHS tape.
Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa– we want a green robot in tights! Jax-Ur is a better Phantom Zone villain! In issue 270-whatever, Superman fought the Kryptonite Man, use him! And I suppose JJ Abrams should never use Khan in any Star Trek sequel, and any Batman reboot should never use the Joker.
Get over yourselves. If they use Brainiac or Darkseid and the movie sucks, I suppose you’ll be happy because it’s a “fresh villain.” And a fresh villain apparently trumps a good movie. Joel Schumacher’s Batman and RObin was LOADED with Fresh Villains that had never been in the features before, how did THAT work out for you?
Zod rocks, by the way, and hasn’t been onscreen in 30 years. Lighten up, collective Francises.
Is your job on this site to piss me off? Seriously. You got a problem with me? You do not tell me to get over myself. How about you get over yourself? Last time I checked, this site was a place people can voice an opinion without someone (you!) constantly getting on their case.
Right there with you. Zod is a great character, and one of the few who can really hold his own power-wise to Superman, be a real threat. Shannon is a strong performer too.
As far as the title is concerned, there is NO WAY that every poster and moviefone listing is going to leave out the word “superman”. They are all going to list SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL. Anyone who is into the Supes mythos will dig those words… iconic.
Kneelbefore Zack hit it on the head. People think just because there is a villain in the film that has been used before it will be the same film.
Why don’t we wait to see what Nolan and Snyder have in store for us. Who knows maybe Zod is just one of the villains or maybe they tackle him in a whole new way.
A new villain doesn’t equal a good movie.
I’m okay with them using Zod. I am sure this is some sort of loose origin story, and Zod is a perfect first villain for Superman. He knows Superman better than anyone else and could give him a real fight. And I also love Amy Adams as Lois. Zack Snyder makes me a bit nervous but other than that, I think this will be a really good movie. People need to stop hating so much on these boards. If you think you can do better, then go make your own Superman movie
You literally tool the words out of my fingers!! I couldn’t agree with you more! Everyone is so quick to cry like little fanboy babies and yet when you put it into perspective like that, it couldn’t be more right. It has literally been 30 years since the last Zod, and on the same note, it hadn’t even been 20 since the last Joker. Where is the logic?!?
Ha-haa-haaa. Looks like some of you have knelt before Zod…and liked it. Just like Beecher before Schillinger.
worth mentioning that the other guy is jeff nichols, writer/director of michael’s sundance film TAKE SHELTER, and it is absolutely phenomenal
I still think they are going about this all wrong. They should have just did Superman dies with doomsday. That was a big worldwide story when the comic book came out and I’m sure it would be an instant success if they did it as a movie. We already know the characters of Supes and Lois, no need to rehash it over and over and over again.
Just copy the comic as your first movie and then the “four supermans” as your sequel, then Superman back from the dead as the final movie in the trilogy.
Everyone read Vanning’s post again. He nailed it perfectly. We’ve seen Zod and Luthor, try something new and different — apparently the two scariest words in Hollywood.
Hollywood says REBOOT but all they do is RECAST, because actually rebooting a franchise requires imagination, creativity and taking a risk.
BTW, everyone ignore KneelbeforeZack’s creatively bankrupt post. His brand of “thinking” is everything that’s wrong with movies today. It doesn’t occur to him that a fresh villain and a good movie can go together. Just give him the same thing over and over, play it safe, that’s his stunted view.
“And then it was like”. . like. . it was like. . like, you know. . .it was like.” Damn. Great screen presence, but – like – learn how to string a thought together, dude.
I absolutely love Shannon’s work. He is so interesting just being himself and his work is always passionate. He will take this film to a new level.
I like that the villains they use are the ones they already used in both reboots. I’m sure this reboot will be the reboot to end all reboots.
Actually, if there’s anything worse than whiny comic fans, it’s got to be Nolan/Snyder fanboys who feel a need to defend every choice being made on this film. No matter how you spin things, it’s disappointing that the reboot won’t be something completely new and that Warner continues to limit themselves to the past.
The argument that “Zod knows Superman better than anyone” is just silly, especially since Brainiac has previously been portrayed as having a Kryptonian origin as well. It’s also a character with greater intellect than Zod, yet none of his weaknesses. Of course, I’m mainly just surprised Warner didn’t want to go with a robotic version of Brainiac, given how popular things like Iron Man and Transformers have become.
“Hey, disappointed fanboys! Why do you say this to me? When you know I will kill you for it?”
-Zod
I agree with posters regarding the overexposure of Lex and Zod. Both are very important villians to Superman, but he does have a few more that he fights. And out of the two, I’d say Zod has been portrayed as the most exciting and threatening in the Superman movies – let’s move on!
The case for Luthor is that Lex’s potential has barely been exploited; all the movies have ever portrayed him as is a mad scientist by way of real estate mogul. Where is “Metropolis’ #1 Citizen” Lex? Or President Luthor? Or even crazed robo-suited Luthor? Hell, Donal Trump is doing a more accurate Luthor right now then the movies have ever given us. Disregarding Robo-Luthor, the most exciting part of Lex is that Superman can’t just punch him and win – the two are in an eternal chess match with each other.
As for the other villians, Brainiac seems the most obvious choice to re-launch a the Superman franchise with. Hell, Batman Begins started out with a villian no one outside of the comics knew and that turned out all right didn’t it?
love the way he talks and how hes so honest about it. love hearing stories like this.