Michael Shannon Talks Navigating ‘The Flash’ and Directorial Debut ‘Eric LaRue’ in the Same Week: “The Flash Isn’t Really My Parade”

Michael Shannon has quite the week in store with The Flash gearing up to hit the big screen, and his feature directorial debut Eric LaRue premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday (June 10) and screening throughout the following week. Comparing the two, Shannon told Decider that his latest project is his “baby” and explained how he’s navigating the two releases. 

“I mean, they are super different,” Shannon explained on the Eric LaRue red carpet. “The Flash isn’t really my parade so much. I’m kind of a side character, but [Eric LaRue] is my baby… I haven’t felt this much of a connection to something since I had my kids. I put so much into it and I can’t wait for the world to see it.”

Shannon came across the opportunity while directing a play by Brett Neveu at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago, which he co-founded in 1993. 

On the closing night of the play, he recalled Neveu handing him the script for the adapted screenplay of Eric LaRue, which is based on Neveu’s 2002 play of the same name. “He just asked me to read it, I think to get my thoughts about it,” Shannon said.

From that moment on, Shannon knew he had to direct the movie, saying he, “felt it in [my] bones… I never thought in a million years I would direct anything – not a movie anyway. It just always seemed so difficult. But it really wasn’t. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was gonna be, basically because I was surrounded by amazing people.”

The slow drama stars Alexander Skarsgård and Judy Greer as the parents of the eponymous character, who recently shot three boys on school grounds. The movie also features performances by Alison Pill, Paul Sparks and Tracy Letts.

Despite it being Shannon’s first go-around in the director’s chair, Skarsgård praised his directing skills. “Working with Michael Shannon as a director was one of the most thrilling experiences of my career. Anyone who has seen him on screen knows what a terrific actor he is and how much he understands what an actor needs and is so incredibly intrigued and interested in the process,” Skarsgård said in a separate interview with Decider.

When it comes to setting Eric LaRue apart from the recent influx of movies revolving around gun violence, Shannon said that his movie speaks for itself. He humbly explained, “I’m not much of a self promoter, really” and speculated that “perhaps the point of view” gives the movie an extra spark, as it hones in on “the mother of the perpetrator.” But he doesn’t want to reduce the movie to that, adding that it also “focuses mainly on different things as well.”

Shannon concluded with, “The more you pay attention to it, and the closer you listen to it, the more you’ll get out of it.”

Eric LaRue is currently seeking distribution and will screen June 13, 2023 and June 15, 2023 at the Tribeca Film Festival. Find out more on the Tribeca Film Festival website.