And what does Michael Shannon bring to Zod? He’s clearly going to be compared to Terence Stamp, who was such an iconic take on that villain…
Michael Shannon is again such a respected actor. He had never done something of this physicality before, so it was challenging for him. All his armour is CG, so he embodied this role by looking at the pictures of what he was going to look like, and how he would move in his armour when he was in a mo-cap suit. You need someone who’s super-seasoned as an actor to pull that off, and he really does. It’s funny, because he’s the nicest guy, but sometimes on set he would be super-serious. He’d be in character and I’d be like “Oh my goodness, he is super-scary!” And then all of a sudden he would finish the scene, he’d break a joke and you’d be like “Oh, that’s Michael, he’s funny…” I forgot that because he’s kind of terrifying too! He just has this intensity that he brings to the role.
And a physicality that has to match what Henry brings to Superman…
He’s a giant, but we really put him through the motions. The training for the role was so much a part of the process of making the film. The guys carried themselves differently as they went through their process of transforming their bodies. It was a really important part of the preparation. You saw Michael’s posture change. As we went along in prep he kept becoming more and more Zod-like, and I’d say the same thing about Henry too. It’s like they would carry themselves differently. It wasn’t that they were wearing a padded suit, they actually filled the suit, but it did something to their performance at the same time, and I think helped them get in the head of their character.
Was there any alpha male competition going on between the two guys?
[laughs] Maybe in the gym. Mark Twight, who trained them, usually pitted them against each other and would post their scores on the board. They’d do the workout and the timings or the weight would be up there for everyone to see. It keeps everyone kinda honest, I think, but also competitive.
Sounds like some serious psychology there…
Yeah!