We typically cast Michael Shannon in dark, foreboding roles that take advantage of the man's ability to play intense characters so well. But Shannon can play different kinds of characters equally well too, just look at last years
Midnight Special which has him deliver some of his best work as a man just looking to get his super-powered son to safety. For
Pottersville, Shannon steps into the realm of comedy, an area he's not entirely inexperienced in (he was in the David Wain spoof comedy
They Came Together as well as having a key supporting role in
The Night Before) and one he could flourish in given the right project.
Pottersville...is not that project.
