Get the latest gossip

That’s me in the spotlight: Michael Shannon on swapping Hollywood for an REM covers band

The two-time Oscar nominee has teamed with indie rocker Jason Narducy to reconstruct REM albums in full. But can Shannon compete with Michael Stipe, who he calls rock’s most ‘efficient and direct’ frontman?

Shannon is used to making singular art himself, as a distinctive presence in notable films for many years: Nocturnal Animals, Knives Out, The Bikeriders, The Shape of Water, Bullet Train and more. Photograph: Al Pereira/Getty ImagesShannon and Narducy first met in 2014, when the musician Robbie Fulks invited them to help him perform Lou Reed’s album The Blue Mask in Chicago. The two took that ball and ran with it, playing a different classic album in that city every year – the Modern Lovers’ debut, Neil Young’s Zuma and the Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead among them.

Get the Android app