Michael Shannon pushes for actors not to work for free on independent movies
Michael Shannon is sick and tired of seeing actors who make indie feature films not getting paid enough to survive. The Midnight Special actor talked about the issue at a recent screening for a new movie called Complete Unknown, starring Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover, which is, indeed, an indie, and pointed out that a lot of the time, actors who appear in such small feature films are pressured to work for free.
“It tends to be the model these days,” Shannon answered when asked if too many great actors willing to work for almost nothing if offered a great script, according to Variety.
“I think as a group actors need to stop enabling this behavior. There’s no reason it should be that way. If somebody’s got a good script and you want to put good actors in it then everybody should be taken care of. We’re not asking for millions and millions of dollars. It’s gone too far in the other direction really. If it was just me I wouldn’t care. I probably would do it for free. But I have a family.”
Shannon, who earned himself an Oscar nomination for 2008’s Revolutionary Road, seems to understand what it’s like to work as a struggling actor. His biggest role was in Man of Steel but, if you look at his IMDB resume, you can see a long list of independent projects illustrating his knowledge and experience of being a struggling actor.
(via Variety)
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