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‘I Did Not See That Coming’; The Bikeriders Director And Michael Shannon Had Different Reactions To His Epic Monologue
Michael Shannon stunned his director after putting a unique twist to a scene that was meant to be funny! The director called it the perfect "bait and switch" moment!
Michael Shannon's epic, scene-stealing monologue in The Bikeriders was meant to be funny. But his unusual delivery left the director shocked! The latter described the scene as the one to make people laugh and hurt at the same time. Shannon plays one of the leads in the biker gang crime thriller alongside Dune star Austin Butler and Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer.
The Bikeriders director’s initial take on Michael Shannon’s monologue
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Jeff Nichols revealed that the scene-stealing monologue was not delivered the way it was meant to. In the scene, Shannon’s character Zipco narrates a story to his fellow bikers of the time he volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War but got rejected over ‘unfit’ mental health.
On the page, the scene had a comical beginning, “It's funny, the way he's (the character) telling the story about going to the draft board, and his mom yanked him out of bed to take him down there, and failing all the tests,” Nichols said.
However, Shannon did not find humor in it! Nichols recalled the actor coming up to him before the scene, which he never does, just to ask how he envisioned the scene. When the Bullet Train actor expressed his discontentment and shared his take on the scene, the director was open to giving it a go. And the result shocked him!
"It's a bait-and-switch, really, because he gets you laughing, and then he stings you with it, And I did not see that coming,” he added.
The monologue is Jodie Comer's favorite on-set memory
Not only did the Nocturnal Animals actor stunned the audience and the director with his delivery of the monologue, but also his co-star. Comer, who plays Kathy, the eventual wife of gang member Benny (Austin Butler), revealed that watching Shannon’s performance was one of her favorite memories on set.
"We were on night shoots in Cincinnati, and there were quite a lot of ensemble scenes. It was the scene where Mike Shannon has this two-page monologue,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
She recalled about 11 people around the fire watching the actor work his insecurities and questioning his own ability at times, which Comer found unbelievable.
“Just witnessing him work after being such a huge fan of seeing him onscreen. I think we were all very enamored. That was pretty special," the Killing Eve actress added. The Elvis actor seconded her co-star’s response and revealed being equally enamored by Shannon. "There's these moments that transcend and that was definitely one of them," he added.
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