‘Nuremberg’ Interview: Michael Shannon and John Slattery

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Shannon and John Slattery about their work on ‘Nuremberg’, Slattery’s first reaction to the screenplay and collaborating with director James Vanderbilt on set, as well as Shannon’s approach to his character and working with Rami Malek.

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(L to R) Rami Malek as Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley, Colin Hanks as Dr. Gustave Gilbert, John Slattery as Col. Burton C. Andrus in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Moviefone: To begin with, John, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the importance of telling this story?

John Slattery: My first reaction was I don’t think I’m the man to play this part. I thought, I don’t have it in me. I said to James, “If you want what’s on the page, then you probably should find someone else because how am I going to run that room and preside over that group?” He convinced me to do it my own way, or we’d figure out a way to do it. That’s coupled with, of course, wanting to be in it and wanting to be a part of such a great story. So, I was daunted by the challenge of it, but certainly wanted to be a part of it. I think Michael, Rami and Russell were already set. So, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that group?

MF: Michael, can you talk about your approach to playing Robert H. Jackson, the pressure on him to win this trial and what’s at stake if he doesn’t?

Michael Shannon: Well, I just did a lot of research. I didn’t know much about Robert Jackson, or hardly anything really, going into it, so I had a lot to learn. Obviously, you know, he kind of brings this all upon himself because the trials are his idea. A lot of people in the American government thought if we caught Nazis, we should just execute them, and he went out of his way to establish this tribunal and so he reaped what he sowed to that extent. But thank God he did it because it was a brilliant idea, and he was right. But he sacrificed a bit of his own professional trajectory to accomplish it. I wish what he had set in motion was as strong now as what he established back then.

Michael Shannon as Robert H. Jackson in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

MF: Michael, can you also talk about Jackson’s working relationship with Douglas Kelly as it’s depicted in the film and creating that relationship on screen with Rami Malek?

MS: Well, I’m so charmed by Rami all the time. I mean, he’s so alive. He’s so much fun to work with, even in in a story and situation like this. You know, in the book, ‘The Nazi and the Psychiatrist’, which the film is based on, you don’t really see too much interplay between Jackson and Kelly. It really focuses on his time with the Nazis in the prison, but I really love doing that scene in the stadium where I lay out to him why what we’re doing is so important. I’m glad it’s in the story and I loved shooting that with him because he was such an amazing listener to play off. Anytime you have a speech like that, you hope whoever you’re saying it to is listening to what you’re saying, and he was always. Yeah, I love him.

MF: Finally, John, what was it like collaborating with writer and director James Vanderbilt on set and helping him to execute his vision for this project?

JS: I mean, you couldn’t find a more enthusiastic leader who fortunately had written the script, so we had a resource and wealth of ideas. He was collaborative, excited, tireless and funny, and I couldn’t have had a better experience from the moment I met him till now. He was willing to try things. He was willing to adjust and to accommodate. This cast has very different energies between Russell, Rami, Michael, Richard Grant, Leo (Woodall) and me. There’s a lot of different methods of working and he accommodated all of them, at least speaking for myself. I couldn’t have had a more willing partner.

(L to R) Leo Woodall and James Vanderbilt on the set of ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

What is the plot of ‘Nuremberg’?

During the Nuremberg trials, chief psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) interviews Nazi military members to determine whether they are fit to stand trial. There, he enters a “battle of wits” against Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe).

Who is in the cast of ‘Nuremberg’?

‘Nuremberg’ opens in theaters on November 7th.

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