Michael Shannon

Oh, gosh.

I don't know.

So much of what has happened in my career just seems like dumb luck, you know?

I don't know what got into these people's heads to look my way for these things, but I sure am grateful that they thought of me, you know?

I mean, I guess typically...

With a project like Nuremberg, I think when people hear that I'm in Nuremberg, they assume I'm playing a Nazi.

And when they hear about Death by Lightning, they assume I'm playing the assassin.

So I guess it's nice to surprise people.

Well, it started with Candice's book, Destiny of the Republic.

And for anybody who watches the program and gets a kick out of it, I highly suggest you read the book if you haven't already because it's very captivating.

And very informative and illuminating.

But I find that a lot of people really don't know much about this period.

It's kind of sandwiched between the Civil War and the World Wars and the Depression, you know, which are all, I guess, more inherently dramatic periods.

But...

I think this period is really worth studying and looking at because the country seemed very lost at sea, as Garfield hence said in his address at the Republican Convention.

And it's easy, I think, to feel that way now.

So if you're curious about how we might...

get out of this quagmire we're currently in, it might behoove people to take a look at this period in our nation's history.

I literally could not grow that beard, even if you gave me five years, it wouldn't look anything like that.

But we had such a brilliant team of hair and makeup and wardrobe.