‘George & Tammy’: Michael Shannon Talks Singing As George Jones, Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ ‘The Flash’ & More [Bingeworthy Podcast]

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast, host Mike DeAngelo sways to the rhythm of a sweet duet with Showtime’s mini-series, “George & Tammy.” Created by Abe Sylvia (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “Nurse Jackie,” The Affair”), the six-episode mini-series dives into the true tumultuous whirlwind romance between famous country musicians George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Jessica Chastain). The show also stars Steve Zahn, Walton Goggins, Kelly McCormack, and David Wilson Barnes.

READ MORE: ‘George & Tammy’ Review: Jessica Chastain & Michael Shannon Are Electrifying As The Country Music Power Couple

Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the show is Michael Shannon (“Man of Steel,” “Waco,” “Take Shelter”). During the chat, Shannon talked about one of the key components he insisted on to get the story right – using Shannon and Chastain’s real singing voices.

“For me, I felt that it was imperative that we do our own singing. I felt like if we didn’t do our own singing, there wouldn’t be a show,” Shannon said. “It would just be a hollow kind of exercise because a lot of the story is in the songs. And a lot of their relationship – the best part of their relationship, the apex of their relationship, is them singing together. It’s what they feel and what happens to them when they sing together. And if we were lip-syncing that, we wouldn’t have known what that was. So, I was like, ‘Look, I may not sound like George Jones, but I’ve got to really be singing. And not only do I have to really be singing – if it doesn’t sound perfect, that’s OK. I don’t want it to be me singing with a lot of auto-tune or gizmos on it.’ There was this notion at one time of blending voices. I’m like, ‘No, it’s got to be my voice.”

Perhaps surprising to no one who follows his career, Shannon also has yet another collaboration between himself and director Jeff Nichols (“Take Shelter,” “Midnight Special,” “Mud”) coming out this year. During the interview, Shannon detailed what makes the upcoming film, “The Bikeriders,” different from his other films with Nichols.

“I feel like it’s a real departure for Jeff [Nichols],” Shannon said about his longtime friend and collaborator. “Jeff’s never really made a movie like ‘The Bikeriders.’ I feel like fans of Jeff are in for a real treat because, first of all, he’s never really made an urban movie – a movie outside of the southern region he’s from. This is a movie about a bunch of motorcycle riders in Chicago. It’s kind of like when Scorsese made ‘The Age of Innocence’ or something. It’s cool – I think it’s going to have a different kind of style and rhythm and look to it than anything he’s made. I’m not in it a lot. I’m not one of the main people. The main people are Tom Hardy and Austin Butler and a wonderful actress named Jodie Comer.”

Eagle-eyed film buffs will notice that there are indeed two actors who have played Elvis Presley in that cast, with Austin Butler having famously played “The King” in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Michael Shannon in “Elvis and Nixon.” Did that come up on set? Of course!

“We got it out of the way pretty fast,” Shannon said. “I think everybody was anticipating it. It was a very short conversation. I said, ‘Man, you were amazing.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, yours was cool, too.’ I said, ‘Alright, see you later.’ And that was it.”

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Of course, comic book fans know Shannon as Zod from Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” a role he’ll be reprising in the upcoming film, “The Flash.”

“I was hesitant [to come back] because I wasn’t really happy about what happened to Zack Snyder in that whole deal. And I really love Zack,” Shannon shared. “The fact that Zack asked me to play that part to begin with – that’s probably the biggest surprise of my career. It almost felt like a practical joke. I was like, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ But I talked to Andy [Muschietti] about it and I liked Andy and I said, ‘Andy, look – I just want to get Zack’s blessing on this because it just doesn’t feel right without that.’ And Zack, to his credit, was very understanding, he gave me his blessing and I went to do it. I loved Andy, too. I loved working with Andy. They’re both super creative guys. Andy’s an amazing artist. He would just make these drawings when I was sitting there talking to him. I’d look over and say, ‘Hey, can I keep that?’ and he’d go, ‘Sure!’ and sign it and give it to me. But, you know, it’s just really different – these kind of multiverse situations. The story is a lot more all over the place, you know? And I feel like I mainly exist in ‘The Flash’ as, like, an obstacle or a problem. Whereas, in ‘Man of Steel,’ it was more of a story. Like, ‘The Flash ‘is definitely about The Flash – as it should be. So, it’s not as in-depth.”

You can stream all episodes of “George & Tammy” on Showtime Anytime or Paramount+ with Showtime. Listen to the full interview with Michael Shannon below:

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