“The Iceman” opens this week. It’s an intense, crime thriller. It is fascinating, disturbing and darkly exciting. Inspired by actual events, the story is about Richard Kuklinski, an independent contractor, a hitman, who killed 100 men during the 70s and 80s. Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon stars as Kuklinski who, oddly led a completely compartmentalized life. While he was running around whacking people, he would come home from “work” and enjoy a quiet life as a loving husband to Deborah (Academy Award nominee Winona Ryder) and devoted father to their two daughters (McKaley Miller and Megan Sherrill).
Before going rogue, Kuklinski worked for the Gambino crime family, answering to Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta). When his relationship with Roy soured, Kuklinski partnered with “Mr. Freezy,” an ice cream man with a truck hiding frozen bodies (played by an almost unrecognizable Chris Evans.
“The Iceman” is directed by Ariel Vromen from a script he wrote with Morgan Land. The cast includes newcomer Danny A. Abeckaser as Dino Lapron, Kuklinski’s only friend. David Schwimmer plays against type as criminal Josh Rosenthal. Robert Davi plays the role of Leonard Marks, Stephen Dorff plays Richard’s brother, Joey Kuklinski and James Franco does a cameo as Marty Freeman.
On Saturday, April 27th, Michael Shannon arrived at the Waldorf Astoria for a Q&A about the movie which opens Friday of this week. Shannon, who is 6’9″and known for playing deeply disturbed menacing characters, gave the impression of a kind, gentle man. He looked tired enough to drape his huge frame forward and lean on the table for a nap but he hung in there and gave a great interview.
Dorri Olds: Did you stay in character during your down time?
Michael Shannon: I’m not that kind of guy. Between takes I sit in my chair and try to relax. I find acting very tiring. You know, I knew one guy on a film who played Boggle between takes. On ‘The Iceman’ set I didn’t have anyone to play Boggle with.
Were there fun parts during filming such a dark movie?
The family scenes were a lot of fun and a relief when something terrible wasn’t happening.
Did you bond with the kids on set?
Yeah, they’re both very sweet. McKaley and Megan are very bright and good actresses. I mean, you know, it’s not like you can go to Great Flags together but if you’re going past the service table you can say, “Wanna candy bar?” That’s about the extent of it.
What did you think about Winona Ryder not wanting to see the whole script?
It made sense. She didn’t want to see the parts where I was killing people because her character supposedly didn’t know that I killed people. As Kuklinski’s wife, it was her job to ignore things so it was a very reasonable approach.
Your portrayal seemed spot on. Did you try to mimic the HBO documentary footage of Richard Kuklinski?
An imitation is pointless because if that’s all you’re doing… I mean I’m not going to do the interview better than he did. He’s him and I’m not. I think the value of doing the film is when you’re watching the interview you are seeing somebody when they’d reached the end. His life is pretty much over and he’s going to die in prison and that’s it. For me, it was a process of imagining what he would’ve been like throughout the two decades of his life that were covered in the film. That was more artistically stimulating than simply trying to make a facsimile of who he is. I do think that the speech I do, this may sound weird but I think it’s a beautiful piece of writing. What he says in that speech is finer than anything Shakespeare ever wrote about the aspects of a person.
Did you feel empathy for your character?
I have to have empathy for him. If I can’t then I can’t be in the movie. Or I’m not the right person for the movie. I found him to be a very fragile person embalmed in a façade of machismo. He’s actually a very delicate person.
Crime thriller. Rated R. 105 minutes. Opens in New York City this week on Friday, May 3, 2013.
