The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes Michael Shannon, right, whose appearance in the film 'Revolutionary Road' earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination, was interviewed by Brandeis alumnus Scott Feinberg on Feb. 12.

The first thing that strikes you when you hear Oscar nominee Michael Shannon speak is the way he takes things in stride. "[The nomination] is pretty neat. In some ways, it's a lot of pressure. Before that you were able to surprise people. Now it's like, 'He better be good!'"

Shannon, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for his role in Revolutionary Road, appeared at the Wasserman Cinematheque on Feb. 12 for a question-and-answer session moderated by Brandeis alumnus Scott Feinberg, a blogger for the Los Angeles Times. It marked the fifth installment of the Times' East Coast Contender Q-and-A Series. Previous participants include fellow Oscar nominees Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo.

Shannon portrays John Givings, a "deranged Will Rogers" type on loan from the local mental institution. In order to acclimate him to the real world after countless electroshock treatments, his mother (Kathy Bates) introduces him to the film's protagonists, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler. The film focuses on their marriage, which crumbles as a result of the "hopeless emptiness" of suburbia. Shannon's screen time is minimal; he appears in only two scenes totaling eight minutes, making his performance the shortest to be nominated at this year's Oscars.

The nomination surprised Shannon, who was attending the Sundance Film Festival on the morning the nominees were announced. "I was pretty certain I wasn't going to get nominated, so I made the mistake of going to a midnight screening the night before. It's 6:30 a.m. My phone began doing things I didn't know it could do. I thought it was going to be like a Transformer and turn into a little man and start attacking me. I spent about the next 12 hours on the phone."

Shannon spoke highly of his fellow nominees, a company of actors that includes Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger. "I'm particularly fond of [Downey] in Tropic Thunder. I thought that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen."

Continued...

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