The Flash’s Michael Shannon on Why He Turned Down Star Wars

Michael Shannon reprises his role as the Superman villain General Zod in the recently released swan song of the DCEU, The Flash. He has previously admitted he was confused by Zod’s return to the silver screen given that Superman murdered the shit out of him in Man of Steel. Now he says, quite pointedly, that big blockbusters are “mindless entertainment” he has no interest in. Quelle coïncidence!

In a new interview with Empire, the actor has nothing but harsh words for blockbuster movie franchises, calling them “mindless entertainment,” revealing he turned down a role in a Star Wars movie for that very reason: “I don’t ever want to get stuck in a franchise. I don’t find them interesting and I don’t want to perpetuate them. If I’m making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it—I don’t want to make mindless entertainment. The world doesn’t need more mindless entertainment. We’re inundated with it.”

Of course, Shannon is currently starring in the tepidly received Flash movie, which is very much a franchise movie. Here’s his explanation: “It’s actually one of the reasons I made Man of Steel in the first place—it was a one-and-done. So I was pretty shocked to hear about this reprisal of the role. But I like the story that The Flash is telling and I wasn’t there for a long amount of time—I was just there a couple of weeks—so it didn’t break my back to do it.”

This might be more convincing if Shannon hadn’t told Collider a couple of weeks ago that “multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures” and that working on The Flash “wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor.” But even Zod has to eat, I suppose.

[Via Insider]

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Michael Shannon reprises his role as the Superman villain General Zod in the recently released swan song of the DCEU, The Flash. He has previously admitted he was confused by Zod’s return to the silver screen given that Superman murdered the shit out of him in Man of Steel. Now he says, quite pointedly, that big blockbusters are “mindless entertainment” he has no interest in. Quelle coïncidence!

In a new interview with Empire, the actor has nothing but harsh words for blockbuster movie franchises, calling them “mindless entertainment,” revealing he turned down a role in a Star Wars movie for that very reason: “I don’t ever want to get stuck in a franchise. I don’t find them interesting and I don’t want to perpetuate them. If I’m making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it—I don’t want to make mindless entertainment. The world doesn’t need more mindless entertainment. We’re inundated with it.”

Of course, Shannon is currently starring in the tepidly received Flash movie, which is very much a franchise movie. Here’s his explanation: “It’s actually one of the reasons I made Man of Steel in the first place—it was a one-and-done. So I was pretty shocked to hear about this reprisal of the role. But I like the story that The Flash is telling and I wasn’t there for a long amount of time—I was just there a couple of weeks—so it didn’t break my back to do it.”

This might be more convincing if Shannon hadn’t told Collider a couple of weeks ago that “multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures” and that working on The Flash “wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor.” But even Zod has to eat, I suppose.

[Via Insider]

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.