The Big Picture
- Michael Shannon's imposing presence brings chilling intensity to his role as Richard Kuklinski, a mafia hitman with a double life, in The Iceman.
- Shannon's physical likeness, emotive bravado, and subtle acting style make him a perfect fit for the role of the unassuming killer.
- The eerie dichotomy of Kuklinski as a loving father and a stone-cold killer is expertly portrayed by Shannon in the Ariel Vroman-directed movie.
Michael Shannon has always made the most of his God-given physical attributes to accentuate the emotion of his greatest characters. Standing 6 feet 3 inches, he is one of the tallest, most physically imposing actors in Hollywood. His high cheekbones and furrowed brow bring another element of intensity and brooding that makes playing introspective villains seem almost effortless. He has played his fair share of smooth criminals, having so deftly played notable bad guys in great films, like Strickland in The Shape of Water, General Zod in Man of Steel, White Death in Bullet Train, and also as G-man turned bootlegger Nelson Van Alden in the critically acclaimed HBO original drama Boardwalk Empire. But arguably his most wheels-off unexpected turn came in a 2012 Ariel Vroman-directed film when he played a real-life mafia hitman in The Iceman, based on the life of Richard Kuklinski. It's an underrated film not only for the chilling performance of Shannon in the titular role, but also because of terrific supporting turns from Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, and Chris Evans.
The Iceman
RThe story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man. When he was finally arrested in 1986, neither his wife nor his daughters had any clue about his real profession.
- Release Date
- September 1, 2012
- Director
- Ariel Vromen
- Cast
- Michael Shannon , Winona Ryder , Chris Evans , Ray Liotta , David Schwimmer , Danny A. Abeckaser
- Runtime
- 105
- Main Genre
- Biography
Who Is the Real-Life Richard Kuklinski Played by Michael Shannon in 'The Iceman'?
The son of Polish immigrant parents, Richard Kuklinski was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1935. After a hardscrabble upbringing and an abusive relationship with his father, he graduated into petty crime and robbery before drawing the interest of the Gambino crime family in the mid-1970s. His steely demeanor and fearless approach to street crime made him the perfect man to provide the muscle for local crime bosses. What makes Kuklinski so unique, is that while he was rising through the ranks of organized crime and becoming a prolific hitman, he was also living in the suburbs, getting married, and having a family that knew nothing of what he was doing when he walked out the front door.
Michael Shannon’s Debut Role Was in This Iconic Bill Murray Movie
Michael Shannon may have battled Superman and The Flash, but he still looks back on this role fondly.Kuklinski had the most pronounced double life of any gangster captured on film, and his ability to compartmentalize these separate lives is what made him so unusual. Unrelenting and unforgiving in his murders, Kuklinski was a frightening case study of a mafia hitman. In one of three interviews with HBO in the early 1990s, he claimed to have killed between 100 and 200 people with different modus operandi, ranging from your typical gunshot assassination to poisoning people with cyanide.
Why Michael Shannon Is Perfect as Richard Kuklinski
The first thing an actor has to have when portraying a real-life person in a biopic is physical similarity. That is particularly important when the character uses his brawn and stature as a large part of who he is and what he does. Kuklinski stood at 6'5". There aren't many A-list actors that can approach that stature; however, Shannon is 6'3", and checks all the boxes necessary to bring the proper level of physicality and brutishness to the role. The emotive actor also brings a bravado that resonates well, as Kuklinski could look down at the barrel of a gun and not even flinch. Nobody has that "ice in their veins" vibe more than Shannon.
There is also a certain subtlety that goes along with playing an unassuming killer, and Shannon has always thrived with his less is more, minimalist approach that allows his distinct facial ticks and gestures to do most of the talking. Kuklinski was a man of very few words, but when he did speak, it is worth noting as it often was the last thing one would ever hear. That level of intensity is right in Shannon's wheelhouse.
Michael Shannon Brings the Eerie Dichotomy of Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski to Life
The most disturbing part of The Iceman is how Shannon as Kuklinski can give one of his three children a bottle while rocking them to sleep in one scene and then turn around and be a stone-cold killer in the next. He was married to his wife Deborah (Ryder) for 36 years and neither she nor his well-adjusted children had any idea that he was a vicious killer. He even changes his M.O. at a certain point to using poison to kill his victims just to keep his interest.
Killing became second nature for Kuklinski and Shannon embodies a horrifying serial killer who ostensibly used the mafia as a means to carry out his propensity towards murder. The fact that he got paid very well for it was just a bonus that allowed him to provide a comfortable middle-class existence for his loved ones. His appetite for murder became a bloodlust, and he became too prolific and careless for the mafia. What's more, he was fiercely protective of his wife and kids. If you made an overture or anything that Kuklinski deemed a threat to them, you were going to be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
How Was Richard Kuklinski Eventually Captured?
The New Jersey Police eventually had enough hard evidence to arrest Kuklinski. When a cadre of squad cars pulls over Shannon as "The Iceman", it takes four officers to wrestle the behemoth to the ground. Because he was captured with his wife in the car, he doesn't take kindly to being arrested and Shannon portrays a man who finally explodes like a powder keg with a fuse that has been close to igniting for over a decade by the time he is caught in 1985. He is both embarrassed that he is seen as vulnerable in front of Deborah, and exploding with pent-up hostility that he has been hiding as a part of his bizarre double life.
Starting in 1991, Kuklinski gave three interviews to HBO in which he comes across as a well-spoken, mild-mannered older man who you would never suspect killed over 100 people. He had his facade down to an art form. The fascinating interviews pull back the curtains on the life of one of the most interesting and complext mafia hitmen ever. Kuklinski passed away while behind bars in 2001 from Kawasaki disease.
The Iceman is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
