VIDEO: Contender Q&A with 'Revolutionary Road' star Michael Shannon

                        

Last Thursday, Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., hosted the fifth installment of "The Los Angeles Times East Coast Screening and Q&A Series," which featured a screening of the critically acclaimed drama "Revolutionary Road" (courtesy of Paramount Vantage) followed by a Q&A (moderated by yours truly) with one of its stars, newly minted best supporting actor Oscar nominee Michael Shannon. (Previous guests of this series include: Alan Alda, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo and Mark Ruffalo.)

Shannon, 34, was kind enough to take the train up from New York City (where he lives with his wife and 8-month-old daughter) to address an audience of roughly 300 -- most of them undergraduate students -- who clearly enjoyed his frank and insightful answers to questions about his work on and thoughts about "Revolutionary Road." (He appears in the film for only two scenes and a grand total of eight minutes of screen time, but steals every moment he's onscreen from his high-profile costars, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Kathy Bates.)

Among the things that came up during the discussion:

• Shannon was given the book "Revolutionary Road" long before a movie version of it was ever announced, as the first gift from his then-girlfriend/future-wife -- he wasn't sure what to make of that gesture.

• During his audition for the part of mean-spirited John Givings, he was so convincing that the casting director said she'd never felt so demoralized in her life.

• His primary resource to prepare for the role was Richard Yates' novel, which described John as being like a deranged Will Rogers, and that led him to locate video footage of the social commentator.

• One day on set, he accidentally drooled onto DiCaprio's crotch. Another day, Bates addressed his character by the wrong name, and Shannon couldn't stop himself from laughing. He later apologized and was forgiven for both incidents.

• He addresses the raging debate about the meaning of the film's ending: Did or didn't Winslet's character mean to take her own life in the process of aborting her child?

• And much, more more, all of which can be seen by playing the video at the top of this post.

Prior to this year, Shannon was best known for his stage work in Tracy Letts' "Killer Joe" (1998) and "Bug" (2004), and for his film roles in Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day" (1993), Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor" (2001), Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky" (2001), Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile" (2002), Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" (2006) and Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007).

He will next appear in Noah Buschel's "The Missing Person" (which showed at Sundance), Shana Feste's "The Greatest" (in a cameo opposite Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon), Gela Babluani's "13" (which also stars Mickey Rourke), Werner Herzog's "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?" (which resumes production in March), and Martin Scorsese's pilot for an HBO series titled "Boardwalk Empire" (which stars Steve Buscemi).

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Photo: Michael Shannon at last month's Oscar nominee luncheon. Credit: Chris Pizzello/AP 

Special thanks: Aurora Dennis, Wendy Martino, Gena Wilder, Lea Yardum (Paramount Vantage), Bryna Rifkin (ID-PR), Sara Rosenfield (Allied Advertising), Alice Kelikian, Chris Anderson, John Quackenbush, Rob Trombino (Brandeis University)