Entertainment- Michael Shannon said that working on "The Flash" wasn't "satisfying for me, as an actor."
- He reprises his role as General Zod from 2013's Superman movie, "Man of Steel."
"The Flash" takes a trip through the DC multiverse as Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) travels back in time to prevent his mother's death when he was a child. But in doing so, he changes history, meaning there's no Superman around to save the world when General Zod (Michael Shannon) comes knocking during the events of "Man of Steel."
However, it sounds like Michael Shannon wasn't impressed with "The Flash" when he returned to play General Zod again, as he recently criticized the DC film in an interview with Collider.
The "Man of Steel" and "Knives Out" star said that he wasn't satisfied with the film because of the multiverse plot device.
Shannon said: "Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't quite satisfying for me, as an actor. These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures."
The star went on to say that the movie isn't a "character study situation" like Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" was, although he says he's not interested in arguing over the 2013 movie.
"It's like, 'Here's this person. Here's that person. And they're fighting!' It's not quite the in-depth character study situation that I honestly felt 'Man of Steel' was. Whether people think that's crazy or not, I don't even care," Shannon said.
But Shannon is also aware that "The Flash" isn't a story about Zod, so his role doesn't need to be as in-depth as it is in "Man of Steel."
He explained: "I really felt like 'Man of Steel' was actually a pretty sophisticated story. I feel like 'The Flash' is too, but it's not Zod's story. I'm basically there to present a challenge."
In a separate interview with Vanity Fair, the actor also explained that he didn't feel comfortable working on the film without getting permission from Snyder.
Shannon recalled: "I said, 'Hey, you know I would really feel awkward about doing it without Zack's blessing, so until I get that you're just gonna have to wait.' So I reached out to Zack and he gave me his blessing and said, 'It's okay. You can do it.'"
The actor pointed out that his experience on set was also very different this time because the trained for a whole summer before six months of shooting "Man of Steel," but he was "in and out of 'Flash' in like a flash, like two or three weeks."