MURDEROUS MICKEY SHAY!!
hopscotch credits: knives out, nocturnal animals, and the shape of water
okay, this is kinda embarrassing to admit, but. . . . we actually had no clue who michael shannon was. ugh - we know!! so humiliating!! like, prior to 2019, we were completely oblivious. yes, we had seen man of steel, where he stars as the leading villain, general zod, but we didn't really like the movie (or his hairstyle), so we kinda just ignored it. we didn't even remember him when we saw knives out. like, who was this actor yelling at captain america?
but when it came to start our hopscotch, we saw that "this guy named michael", who was a part of the cast, had been in, like, everything - 92 things to be exact - giving us a ton of options to hop to next!! and these weren't small projects - what caught our eye first was that he had stared in several academy acclaimed movies. like, how were we possibly going to choose whether to watch nocturnal animals or the shape of water, or midnight special, a super interesting movie that, after watching the trailer, we just had to watch, too. anyway, so, we started checking off his filmography, and thus began our obsession with him. and how could we not? he's so freakin', crazy talented!! like, seriously dude, why does google say that you are only worth 8 mill? you better be lying to avoid your taxes.
our mickey shay hopscotch movies make a bit of a bipolar switch from each other, but in every role, he completely transforms into the character, enhancing the performance and only going to show his killer expertise in acting. playing such a wide range of personas with different intensities and emotions, mickey shay proves that he can truly play any character, from blockbuster villain to shmucky family-leecher to sympathetic small-town sheriff to pervy, unhygienic, deranged colonel.
but the best thing about mickey shay's acting is that, not only does he make a movie hecka incredible, he makes watching it a second time even more enjoyable. the little quirks and characteristics he adds to his roles are so delightful and super fun. like we said, we didn't remember him in knives out, but when we went back and watched it again, it was like we were watching a completely different movie, noticing the secret genius he brings to the table. even if a scene focused more on chris evans or ana de armas, mickey shay was still in the background adding little oddities to his character. in other words, what mickey shay does best is making his character not feel like one that just came off of a script. he isn't just on the set doing what the paper says, he embraces the character as a person and does rather than acts. you really feel like you are not watching mickey shay and are watching the role the screenwriter imagined - (probably why he's in 92+ projects).
anyway, we enjoy everything he's in and can't wait for all of the mickey shay movies in our hopscotch future. it's so sad we didn't know about him sooner, and dear mickey, if you are reading this, happy birthday. a couple months ago, we tried to wish you a happy birthday on instagram, but you, unfortunately, didn't have an account. we started this hopscotch game at the start of corona and watching your movies has really made quarantine better. anyway, hopefully we can meet you one day. there's a homemade, apricot birthday cake waiting for you.
-- love to work with you, xo