[NYCC 2014] Interviews with Kodi Smit-McPhee & Michael Shannon

This past weekend at New York Comic Con, we had the opportunity to catch up with fellow media members, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Shannon to talk about a new sci-fi/western film that is hitting theatres today called Young Ones in a roundtable discussion. Kodi plays Shannon’s son, Jerome and Shannon plays a gruff farmer unwilling to give up hope on his land, despite the harsh elements.

Young Ones, lovingly described as a western with an extreme sci-fi flare set in a very plausible future, has gorgeous cinematography set on an arid and uninviting desert-like plains. Told in three chapters all with incredible tones and set amongst the vision of a Greek tragedy, Young Ones shines. Kodi Smit-McPhee was interviewed first, followed by Michael Shannon.

This is quite an arc for you in this movie.

Yes, absolutely. It’s the first time I’ve gotten to commit to showing my potential; something that I haven’t gone such depths with before and it’s the transition from boy-actor to teen-actor and this is helping a lot.

Is it tough finding material that helps you showcase that transition?

Absolutely. It’s even tough finding quality, genuine jobs and a good momentum. You can’t be picky, of course, but I try to keep them something that’ll stick with me and something that’ll stick with someone who watches it. It can definitely be hard, but I’ve been lucky with my transition that’s being made and the film that is coming out is definitely helping.

Speaking about the move from a child actor into a ‘teen-actor’, what’s the biggest thing you learned as an artist on this project?

I can never pinpoint something so I’d rather not do that but I would like to maybe explain my structure of learning. I feel like I can learn from anyone, like all of you here – I’m a youthful child and children are kind of like sponges where they pick things up to create a character which they’ll become. I watch people like Michael Shannon and my coworkers to take away things from them simply from observing to add to your career or life.

I loved the scene where you were watching the video and started crying. Movies are filmed out of order so how do you get yourself to that point emotionally?

Films like this may include a scene like that one and as you’ve said, you don’t know when it’s going to be filmed so you have to know your character well from the very start. That’s through the research you do beforehand. I try to pull all the information I can from the script and Jake’s attention to detail in the film is amazing and the script is the same and that’s what intrigued me to do this. I took everything I could from the script and him [Jake] and when you know the whole past of this person and their intentions, that’s something so real in that moment.

How did you first hear about the script?

I was attached to it a year or two before it got up and running, and I’m not sure if anyone told you but we were originally set to film in Spain and I had never met Jake at this point but we talked a lot about the character and script. It didn’t go ahead right away and I was upset but it was for the better.

Was it much different filming in South Africa instead?

Absolutely. It was a challenge. The time we were supposed to shoot in Spain it actually rained the entire time so that would have been a horribly ironic twist for the film. [laughs] The universe was trying to make this what it is now and I’m glad.

Did you have a chance to bond with Michael [Shannon] in order to develop that father/son relationship beforehand?

It was actually a small timeframe we had to rehearse, but it was everything we needed. We stayed in the same guesthouse together which was amazing because we were in this small town and no one else was around so everyone would eat dinner together. Through the simplicity of that, that’s how we bonded. I think the mentality of the film and the physical aspects of shooting brought us all closer together.

You’ve done a couple films with a ‘post-apocalyptic’ ideal, are you ever surprised at the diversity of the subject matter?

Oh, absolutely. Definitely. And the different lessons you can learn about jumping into a post-apocalyptic future should be. As Jake would say, this film isn’t so much post-apocalyptic but a world that has been forced back into a western style of living – they just degenerated. And even right now… because of this momentum, they had the ability to change anything in the world. But, because of the people who were running the world through ego, they’re just going to juice it and use it as a battery until it’s dead and that’s where we’re headed. That’s why this movie is so plausible and realistic. It’s not even the end of the world – it’s just going to a horrible degeneration of our world.

Did you watch any Westerns to prepare for the role?

Jake sent me a bunch of Westerns, but unprofessionally, I didn’t watch them. [laughs] I have had my fair share of westerns though because I love Quentin Tarantino and I’ve heard he grabbed ideas from a lot of them to create himself. It was always quite obvious that this film was going to be a futuristic western and the fact that this was filmed on actual film and everything about the scenery – I don’t think this is a movie that many directors would be able to pull off as naturally as Jake.

MICHAEL SHANNON

Your character has a lot of layers we see; guilt, tough, affection for his kids and family…

Oh, thank you. I have to give Jake a lot of credit for it. I think despite a lot of the futuristic and environmental elements, it’s a very personal film for Jake and it came through for me in the writing. It really boils down to the writing.

Going back to Shotgun Stories and Man of Steel, you seem to be drawn to characters that are always coming from a certain code they are acting on. Is this something you look for when approaching your roles?

It’s certainly helpful. I guess it’s me searching for that in my own life. I don’t know. It’s so hard in this modern world to feel any sense of that code because everything is at your fingertips and people can do whatever they want. It’s nice to feel like part of a clan or some sense of belonging to something.

Did you find that your character may have related to that?

Well I think Ernest feels very alone, other than his children – I think that’s why he’s so protective, especially of Elle. He knows that once they’re gone, he may be completely alone, aside from his wife but his relationship obviously has some issues. Also, because he’s trying not to drink, I think that makes him very nervous around people. If it was up to him, I don’t think he’d ever leave his land. A lot of peope have asked ‘why does he stay there?’ It’s his home and he loves it there and doesn’t want to leave.

Can you talk a little bit about working in the South African elements?

The first day we shot was really brutal. It was the hottest day that I remember the whole time I was there. They had this drink – like the South African version of Gatorade – what was it called… Jake! What was that drink called that they had?

Jake: Game.

So everyone was drinking “Game” all over the place… but you know, oddly enough, I just drank coffee and soldiered on through. I guess I’m a machine.

Speaking of ‘soldiering’ I got the feeling that Ernest may have had a military background with the way he handled weapons…

You know, I feel like it was more of a hunting skill. In my imagination, he [Ernest] probably did a lot of deer hunting when the land was fertile, but that’s interesting. He doesn’t seem very patriotic, but there’s not much reason to be.

What kind of backstory do you create for your characters – information about them that you may not get from the script or director?

I’m not one of these people that sits down and writes their diary for their whole characters life. I think that’s a lot of energy to spend on something that no one else is ever going to know anything about. Like I said, if it’s in the script then you don’t have to be so anxious about it. For me it’s more about less of what’s happening in the past and more about what’s happening while shooting and the relationships, for example, do myself and Kodi feel like father and son? But when I did Take Shelter I did a little research but I don’t want to come up with something that’s so defined that people can’t have their own interpretation of it. For me, what draws me to these films is the people making them – if I’m in a movie about something that may seem silly or inconsequential, it’s hard for me to be motivated.

That’s one thing you brought to General Zod, too – he was trying to save what was left of his home.

In a way it’s not a desimilar story. I enjoyed the fact that I could do a huge studio movie and yet at the same time, continue to explore the state of the world in a film like “Young Ones”.

What was your experience like working with Nicholas [Hoult]?

I love Nick. It’s ironic because we have to be so adversarial in the movie and obviously those scenes on the side of the mountain are really unpleasant but he’s just a wonderful person. I saw him last night for the first time in a long time and his face lit up and he came and gave me a big hug. He’s very warm hearted. He works hard and very seriously, especially his accent. He was really nervous about the speech – he kept saying “Oh, I have to do this big speech, it makes me nervous”. I find that charming; there’s a lot of people who show up and don’t care that much, but these three kids in the film are top notch.

Since we are at Comic Con, is there anything you are particularly nerdy about?

Not really – I mean, when I was a kid I loved Star Wars like most kids. I had the action figures and I loved to play with that but it’s weird, I don’t really go to movies that much… They say if you are in the business too long, it becomes hard to enjoy movies. That may have happened to me.
Young Ones is in theatres now and you can see the trailer below: