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“That’s your responsibility, to look at all the parts of yourself, even the ones you don’t like, the questions you’re afraid of, to see who you are, how you were made, and then ask yourself: okay, now what do you want to do with this? ”
Leaving. For an 8-year-old, leaving can be a concept that comes to mind far too early, especially if they are venturing into the unknown. However, it becomes bearable when they have a mother who is determined to give them a new life.
The departure is rooted in the story of Sebastian Stan’s life. He left Constan?a as a child, leaving behind his beloved grandparents and friends on the stairs of the apartment building. He arrived with his mother in Austria, then in America, in New York. So that later his acting career would involve other and other departures.
But today we will not talk about leaving, but about returning .
With an extraordinary capacity for transformation, choosing the most different scenarios possible, Sebastian Stan is now one of the most appreciated actors in Hollywood, winner of a Golden Globe and nominated for an Oscar. He has dual citizenship – American and Romanian.
And in just a few weeks, he will be seen acting for the first time in a Romanian film, Fjord , directed by Cristian Mungiu, where any cinema artist fits perfectly – at the Cannes Film Festival, in the official competition.
To get close to a celebrity like Sebastian Stan, you normally have to go through an army of agents, whether impresarios, publicists, or literally, security guards.
On the set of the film in Fjord , Norway, things were different. For more than a month, Stan took off his invisible superstar cape and integrated himself into the different layers of the film crew, made up of Romanians, Norwegians, Swedes and Finns.
Also normally, such a celebrity rarely gives interviews and only to major, internationally known publications.
The fact that Sebastian Stan decided to give his first interview in Romania, after his Oscar nomination, to a small publication like Cultura la dub?, says much more about him than about us. It is just one of the ways in which he puts his notoriety at the service of others, to support causes he believes in, causes that otherwise do not enjoy much support. With the same reasoning, he supported, as producer and financier, the debut feature film of a Romanian director – Malul Vân?t , by Andreea Bor?un.
The discussion with Sebastian Stan was as natural as possible and touched on personal topics, which help us see him beyond his acting career. From the searches of a child who woke up in a completely different world, to the 42-year-old adult who tries to find his true identity and his role on earth. All this, in the context of the painful loss of his father – “with my father I spoke only in Romanian, which had created a very special intimacy between us, like an invisible thread that was only ours.”
What role does film play in this whole story? It is the art through which Stan can most authentically contribute to a world torn by conflict. And it is also part of his own quest.
The interview took place in Norway, in April 2025, during a filming break. Sebastian chose to speak in Romanian, but in places some ideas were expressed in English.
The material also presents the first images of Sebastian Stan on the set of Fjord , captured by photographer Adi Bulboac for Cultura la dub.
***
“ Sebastian, we are in Norway, nearing the end of filming at Fjord . First of all, what are you doing, how are you feeling here?
I can’t believe we’re only two weeks away from finishing. It’s a little strange here, you’re in a different state. After spending so much time here, in isolation, among these wild mountains, it’s like you don’t know if the thoughts that go through your mind are really yours or the character’s.
Perhaps it was precisely this austerity of the landscape that was perfect for me, it helped me disconnect from everything else and immerse myself in a completely different world, one that seems almost timeless.
Being in this location really helped us understand what life would be like for this family in the film, what each character’s world would be like. It’s really a space where the boundaries between you and the role gradually blur, which is wonderful, right?
Before I left, I didn’t really have time to think about what it would be like here from an objective perspective, as it was a totally new experience, after all, it was my first film with a team made up of many Romanians.
What made you accept this project and work with Cristian Mungiu?
I’ve wanted to collaborate with Cristian for a long time. Looking back over the last few years, I can say that I’ve become more and more dependent on directors and stories that allow me to delve into the depth of the character.
I like to discover something unexpected, maybe even scary, in myself and in the character, that kind of fear that pushes you to dig deeper. This inner fear, of not being fully prepared or of failing in front of a new nuance, of a character that is foreign to me, is what I seek, I think it is what helps me grow as an actor.
I’ve admired Cristian since I saw his first film. We met a few years ago and we kept trying to find a project to work on together. Finally, I found this one and I’m grateful that it came to fruition.
You have lived most of your life outside of Romania and you have already had extraordinary film projects in your career. How can you explain this desire of yours, to have a connection not only personal but also professional, artistic, with the country where you were born? How and when did this desire or need arise and what actually lies at its core?
Romania is where I was born and where part of who I am today was formed. And yes, I’ve wanted to get involved in a Romanian film project for a long time.
The first project with the Romanian film industry is not this one, Fjord , but the film directed by Andreea Bor?un, ” Malul Vân?t ” ( A River’s Gaze) , in which I was involved as a producer and financier. I was very happy to have had this opportunity to be part of, to support a project by a young director, at the beginning of her journey, on her first feature film.
I think it’s really important, if we can, to support these new voices. Often great careers are born from these first steps. Think of Martin Scorsese, who debuted with Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967) thanks to the support of producer Roger Corman , paving the way for masterpieces like Taxi Driver later. I can’t say that my support was as decisive, as important, but I tried to be with him in this endeavor as much as I could.
My roots are there, even though I left when I was only 8 years old,
and the first time I returned was only when I was 21.
Sebastian Stan
This long break made the return not only physical, but much more revealing, I could even say spiritual.
It took me to mature, gain experience, and, most importantly, cultivate my curiosity and desire to better understand where I came from. This rediscovery has had a profound impact on me since the beginning of my career, realizing that my place of origin and the traits that set me apart are, in fact, parts of who I am and what supports me in life – after spending much of my childhood just wanting to fit in and be like everyone else.
Sebastian Stan arrives in the USA, in New York/ photo: personal archive, courtesy of the actor
Sebastian Stan arrives in the USA, in New York/ photo: personal archive, courtesy of the actor
Being in different societies where I had to adapt (e.g. Austria, USA), it’s probably natural to want to belong.
As you get older, you realize that uniqueness doesn’t come from what you have in common with others, but rather from those qualities and experiences that shape your own identity and challenge you to build your own path. Our differences and peculiarities are, after all, what give us an original perspective on the world and allow us to live detached from the norms, in accordance with who we really are. This aspect matters enormously, especially in the film industry, where, as an actor, everything starts from how you find your voice.
I believe success also depends on the power to express yourself honestly, which often comes from your own roots, feelings and life experiences. This is exactly what underlies the ability to understand the depth of the characters and stories I was talking about earlier, but also of the people you work with, each with their own unique history. This richness makes the interpretation alive, relevant.
Sebastian Stan/ photo: Aaron Stern, courtesy of the photographer Sebastian Stan/ photo: Aaron Stern, courtesy of the photographer
These thoughts have always followed me and made me want more and more to return to the place where I left, a place that appears in some bizarre memories from the 1989 Revolution, but especially in those with my grandparents, family, friends from back then, with the way the ‘grown-ups’ related to each other and with the social and political situation of those times.
All of this took shape around 2003, when I met a Romanian woman, Alexandra Tînjal? , who later became my friend.
I was in England with my acting colleagues from America, from Rutgers – where I went to college. She was friends with someone in my class and that friend said: hey, you’re Romanian, she’s Romanian, let’s talk. I, until then, had no contact in Romania. I hadn’t kept in touch with the children I played with as a child. My grandparents, the poor things, had died. We had no one left. We were all gone.
And thanks to Alexandra I started to rediscover Romania, Romanian cinema, Romanian directors. She introduced me to the Romanian new wave – Cristi Puiu, Porumboiu, Mungiu, then to the films of Radu Jude and other Romanian directors. She sent me films: “ The Death of Mr. L?z?rescu” , “ 4,3,2”, “Was it or wasn’t it?” – which remains one of my favorite films, and many others.
I remember that around 2008 he brought me a DVD of Cristian’s film, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days , which he had autographed. I’m really curious if I can still find it at home. It would be something!
Then I started getting involved in Alexandra’s volunteer program, Our Big Day Out , as a volunteer, which targets children from foster care and disadvantaged people. Alexandra Tînjal? is also a volunteer for the NGO The Alex Fund , founded by Leslie Hawke (mother of actor Ethan Hawke).
Sebastian Stan, Leonard B?rbieru. Photo Credit – Silviu Pal, Our Big Day Out Sebastian Stan and Leonard B?rbieru/ photo: Silviu Pal, Our Big Day Out
Well, this NGO, The Alex Fund, was having an event at Lincoln Center in New York – a screening of Cristian Mungiu’s film, Baccalaureat. And Alexandra invited me to this screening, a perfect opportunity to meet Cristian Mungiu, especially since I lived in New York.
So I took my mom with me, and at this event I met Cristian for the first time. I don’t think he knew anything about me at the time. It was around 2016, I think.
How did your relationship develop after this moment? Did you keep in touch?
I didn’t hear anything from him until 2018, but in 2018 Alexandra suggested that I invite her to the American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest. There I was invited with the film I, Tonya , in which I had just starred. That same week I also met Corneliu Porumboiu, whose fan I had been for several years. And only since then can I say that I have kept in touch more often with both Cristian and Corneliu.
You said earlier that you had several attempts to work together, but that you only now found the right fit. Do you feel that this collaboration with a Romanian director came at exactly the right time in your career?
Yes, now, after more than 20 years in this business – it’s very interesting to hear myself say this (no smile) – I’ve realized much more that, surprisingly, you can’t control everything, no matter how much you want to.
You always want to work with certain directors, to get specific roles, but for me all the important films, from The Apprentice and I, Tonya , A different man and now, Fjord , have come exactly when I least expected it.
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi/ photo: The Apprentice Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in The Apprentice , directed by Ali Abbasi/ photo: The Apprentice
It was like I let myself be carried away by the wave, like I threw my hands up in the air and said: you know what? If it’s going to be, it will be, if not, it won’t. And just then, letting things flow naturally, it all connected.
And I feel extremely lucky that Fjord has come to fruition. We’ve been talking about it since the summer of 2024 and I wasn’t sure if we were going to do it in December or January, but finally, here it is, in the spring. And yes, it was meant to be.
I had also talked to Cristian about RMN. We tried to see if that film might be right for me, but we didn’t get along. And I think that, in the end, Fjord is much better suited for us.
What’s it like working with Cristian Mungiu? Did you quickly get used to his style of working on set, with sequence shots, with lots of doubles?
It’s fascinating to work with a director who has such a personal and meticulous style. What I love most about this job is that each director comes up with their own methods.
For me, the first rehearsal, that moment when the door opens to the director’s vision and universe,
is one of the most exciting moments of this career.
Sebastian Stan
It’s a moment that never ceases to excite me. As an actor you always have to be open to absorbing something new from each project – what worked in one film doesn’t necessarily mean it will work in the next.
Plus, I don’t like playing the same thing all the time, it gets boring.
It’s this instability that makes a creative career feel alive. It somehow forces you to constantly reinvent yourself, to discover all sorts of unsuspected resources within yourself, especially with a director who reconstructs reality to the millimeter. I admit (laughs), I need someone to guide me. I think trust in directors is crucial.
Ever since I saw his first films, I’ve noticed his unmistakable style: each scene is kept as a long sequence, sometimes 20 minutes, and sometimes with a hundred people involved. And you watch those sequences and you have the impression that you’re watching a documentary – the actors don’t seem to be playing a role, they seem to be living the story. I think that way the situation becomes very real, believable.
But we didn’t know how much work he put into what we were seeing, how attentive he was to every detail.
For example, he pays close attention to the millimeter of how a child sits in a corner or how a flag waves, all of which are meticulously thought out to create impeccable visual authenticity.
After seeing all these things, I now see him more as a complex artist, almost like a painter. You can stop his films at any frame and look at it as a work of art. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence. He has an extraordinary eye for detail, which gives his films a rare aesthetic level. It seems to me that it’s very difficult to achieve something like this and that’s why it amazes me, I keep asking myself “how did he manage to think up this whole universe?”.
And there’s another interesting thing about Cristian, he’s extremely attentive to how we react in real life, and when he says action,
he knows exactly when something sounds fake, melodramatic, or gratuitous.
Sebastian Stan
For me, all of these things were very motivating and pushed me daily to want to live up to the universe he creates in his films.
The big difference between American and European films is that in many American films you often feel like you’re being told how to feel, like someone is spoon-feeding you. In contrast, in European films you are shown a situation, and you, as the viewer, are the one who draws the conclusions, decides how to feel, how to interpret the characters and the story.
Sebastian Stan in A Different Man, directed by Aaron Schimberg. Role awarded with the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival Sebastian Stan in A Different Man , directed by Aaron Schimberg. Role awarded with the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
It’s a much more creative and artistic approach and, in my opinion, that’s the impact the film should have on the audience. That’s life, after all, there’s no such thing as black or white, no one is just good or just bad, we all try every day to live and come to terms with our decisions, aware that we are subject to mistakes and that no one is perfect.
Coming back to working with Cristian, filming a sequence 20-30 times is a huge challenge, something happens. It’s also a very difficult subject, it includes some very emotional scenes. Trying to hold those emotions, as an actor, for so long, every time, 20-30 times, is not easy at all.
You may feel like you’ve entered that state perfectly at the double five, but maybe the other actors didn’t get it right. Everything has to be perfectly timed.
Sometimes, what seems authentic to you on set,
in editing, or even on screen can seem fake.
Sebastian Stan
In a way, this style of filming is similar to staging a play: you have daily rehearsals, you have a show several times a week, you have to maintain the rhythm and intensity, but still always find new nuances within the same structure, even if you repeat the same text or scene.
It’s fascinating to go back to that emotional state again and again, trying to improve it each time, not to repeat it, but to surpass yourself.
For this role, you had to radically change your look. How did you come to an agreement on this? Was it difficult for you to do this?
I don’t think it was hard, especially after the experiences with the series Pam & Tommy , where I lost over 9 kilos, or for the role in The Apprentice , where I gained about the same amount.
Sebastian Stan in the miniseries Pam and Tommy/ photo: Erin Simkin, Hulu Sebastian Stan in the miniseries Pam and Tommy / photo: Erin Simkin, Hulu
I think adapting the look helps a lot and brings authenticity to the character. Not just in what the audience sees, but in how I, as an actor, relate to the character: you act differently, you move differently, your mannerisms change, certain instincts seem to reset and adapt automatically. The closer you are to the character’s physique, the closer you get to it.
I don’t see this change in look as something difficult, but rather necessary if it’s required by the character. If you go into work knowing exactly what it’s going to be like, you have nowhere to go, and in the long run you’ll only lose.
As I was saying, for me discomfort, fear, and the unknown are crucial in the projects I’m involved in. For me, they are the basis of creative freedom and evolution.
Sebastian Stan in I, Tonya, directed by Craig Gillespie/ photo: Neon Sebastian Stan in I, Tonya , directed by Craig Gillespie/ photo: Neon
Do you feel that this collaboration gave you a new perspective on Romania, not just with Cristian, but with the entire team of Romanians? You spent a lot of time with them, I don’t know if you’ve ever spent so much time with so many Romanians in one place.
Yes, I also talked to my mom on the phone the other day and she told me that my Romanian is much better since I came here.
Sebastian Stan kisses his mother during an interview at the Oscars/ photo: youtube capture Sebastian Stan kisses his mother during an interview at the Oscars/ photo: youtube capture
Being able to speak Romanian for so long was cool and very good. However, for me, the relationship with Romania is a process that is still developing and it will take some time before I reach all the layers that I want. There are still many directors and people in the Romanian industry that I want to work with. (nr Radu Jude announced for Cultura la dub? that he will make a film with Sebastian Stan ) .
There is definitely a Romanian style and it’s hard for me to describe it in words. It’s a special feeling, a combination of humor that I knew and that I now remember.
Sebastian Stan
Romanians have an expansive way of speaking, full of gestures, on the one hand they are very warm-hearted, on the other hand, very stubborn. I laughed a lot with them and I liked feeling this energy, which, yes, seems very familiar to me.
For example, when I filmed a sequence with Alin Panc, I could barely stop laughing – he had a way of being that made me burst out laughing with just one look! And Adrian Titieni, who I had seen in the movie Bacalaureat , where he was amazing, is an incredible actor. I was deeply impressed by his presence and professionalism and I am very grateful to work with him, but also with the rest of the Romanian team.
Honestly, I was a little scared to be with them on set, I had to find my Romanian language again, I still have the accent I have, I wanted to speak as well as possible, to be as authentic as possible, as someone who left Romania after much less time than I did.
Okay, they are 100% Romanian actors, with deep roots in the culture and subtleties of expression, which, yes, intimidated me a little at first. But it was precisely these differences that created a special chemistry both on set and between us. It was and remains a formidable experience for me!
Sebastian Stan in Bucharest, learning during rehearsals at Fjord that he was nominated for an Oscar/ photo: Alexandra Tînjal? Sebastian Stan in Bucharest, learning during rehearsals at Fjord that he was nominated for an Oscar/ photo: Alexandra Tînjal?
But do you think that, beyond the aspect of a professional collaboration, our tendency to reconnect with our roots as we get older, to rediscover the stories lived by our grandparents, actually refers to a personal need to truly know our identity? It seems like we’ve been seeing these things differently for almost 40 years. What’s it like for you?
It’s exactly like you said. When you get to 42 (no laughs), like I am, you think very differently. Especially when you lose people in your life.
When my father passed away in 2021, a lot changed for me. An event like that completely changes the way you see life, where you come from, what happened, what is the history, what are the roots, what made you, how it made you, etc.
And I return to what was discussed earlier: it’s not just about getting closer to your roots or knowing them, but also understanding them and the compassion you need to show in order not to alienate yourself from them, no matter how fragile they seem at certain moments.
My father sadly passed away in a hospital in Romania. Those days when he was fighting for his life, in his native country, in a place he had left long ago and had only returned to visit, are still very difficult for me to describe.
The states I went through then, the anger I felt towards this system that seemed ripped from old stories about Romania, the helplessness in the face of the disease and, especially, in the face of the way this system works, the lack of transparency, the communication barriers and the relationship lacking empathy between some doctors and patients or relatives, I admit, left a mark on me.
I’ve been trying to understand how you deal with such a mechanism, especially since we’re talking about the medical system.
And when I read this script, I felt this parallel: the loss of my father in the meanders of Romanian medical bureaucracy, the helplessness probably shared by many Romanians who lose their parents in this way, strikingly resembles the tensions in Mungiu’s Fjord – the family torn apart by distance, the cultural values ??in conflict, and the silent struggle to preserve what remains of humanity in the face of a cold and impersonal mechanism.
America had a big influence on me, because that’s where I grew up. I feel very lucky that I had the opportunity to leave when I could, that I had my mother, who fought very hard for us to be able to leave after the Revolution, to have other chances.
Sebastian Stan as a child/ photo: personal archive, courtesy of the actor
But I also feel this departure as a kind of guilt. When you think about it, not many people have had these opportunities.
And you keep thinking about what it would have been like if I hadn’t left, if I had stayed there. Or if I had left and never returned, if I had completely lost my Romanian.
At this age you think about all this, you can’t help it. In the end, you have to accept it. This was your path. The only path. But you have to acknowledge it all: both luck and guilt and where you’re headed, but also where you came from.
And work.
Yes! And work. I’ve been trying to do something with this opportunity and sometimes I can’t believe we’re here talking about this now.
However, when you lose a parent, when you think about your children, how quickly this life goes by, you look beyond yourself. You stop and ask yourself: what more can you say and do? What do you do with this platform that you’ve built, that you have?
This is my path. Through the films I make and the profession I choose, I want to contribute in a way that is beyond me, that transcends ego.
That’s why I got involved in Alexandra’s volunteer project, Our Big Day Out , and in Andreea Bor?un’s film, ( no. ” Malul Vânât / A River’s Gaze “) , because there are many female directors in Romania who have something to say.
And she had a story that was a little similar to my story with my mother, there are some small parallels there. And it wasn’t just that that attracted me to this project, but also the way it was made: the preparation involved four to five years of research in rural areas, the filming spanned four seasons, something quite rare for a fiction feature film.
Over 60% of the cast are non-professionals from the regions where the filming took place, ordinary people who were given a real chance to interpret what they experience day to day and not just in a feature film. Including one of the main actors, the boy, which I think was a brave bet for a debut director, not many take it on.
So yes, I try to find more ways to contribute, but at the same time remain who I am, not pretend to be anything other than who I am.
I’ll end with something I should have started with: congratulations on the Golden Globe and the Oscar nomination! I don’t know if you realized it, but the moment of your speech caused some strong emotions in Romania. Maybe some said : why should we take it on , that Romania has no merit. But the truth is that for Romanians, the success of a Romanian athlete or artist abroad brings a kind of joy that they can’t get from anything else.
Thank you very much! I said on stage exactly what I felt. And regarding Romania, what I can say now is that in those years when I left, there was a lot of chaos for me.
When you’re a kid, you’re always trying to find your home. You live here, you go there, then to another country. Like I said, when you’re a kid, you want to be like everyone else. But, in the end, those years made me. Without all that chaos, my childhood in Romania, going to Austria, then America, all of that built me ??and otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
I am convinced that if I had been born in America and lived there forever, I would not be in the situation I am in today.
Sebastian Stan
Maybe there are people who have an okay life, they have a whole family, nothing bad happened to them and they become geniuses, I don’t know, it’s possible. But every director I’ve become attached to, every writer, screenwriter, absolutely everyone has family stories, a childhood, some situations that made them ask themselves who they are, to discover what they are capable of.
Some traumas…
Exactly. Traumas either destroy you, or give you birth or rebirth you.
And that’s your responsibility, to look at all the parts of yourself, even the ones you don’t like, the questions you’re afraid of, to see who you are, how you were made, and then ask yourself: okay, now what do you want to do with this?
I understand that maybe some people look at it and say “he’s gone, what the hell does he have to say?” But, still, if I didn’t have that moment there ( no. when winning the Golden Globe ), if I didn’t say what I said…
I could have been on stage for an hour and I still wouldn’t have finished thanking everyone. You always dream about these moments, you think: if I get there, what will I say? In the end, that moment has to be “thank you!”. You don’t get there alone. You get there because hundreds of situations happened, because of the people you met along the way, and because you worked really hard.
That moment when you said, at the end, Romania, I love you!, was it spontaneous or did you have it prepared? And why did you want to make that statement towards Romania?
It was and was not spontaneous. It was primarily a message for my mother, or rather, from my mother, who always repeated to me: “You have to remember where you came from.” On the one hand, it represented her strength to leave with me, alone, our common path.
On the other hand, about my stepfather’s support, which was unconditional, and, equally, about my father and the relationship I had with him, about the moments we spent together, in which he brought dozens of stories from and about Romania to life, about the Romanian music we listened to together, about the fact that we spoke to him only in Romanian – which had created a very special intimacy between us, like an invisible thread just ours – and even about his own path, which was not an easy one at all, but also about the stories about him later discovered from his friends, after we lost him.
From my point of view, it would have been inauthentic and unjustified not to say what I said.
I had to talk about our path, and our path – mine, my mother’s, my father’s – began there, in Romania.
Sebastian Stan
Of course, throughout my career I’ve thought about this moment, to be on stage and reflect on my journey, my origin, to thank everyone who contributed to this life. So, in a way, it wasn’t spontaneous, in reality, I wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t had this path and this past, which begins and will always begin with Romania.
Sebastian Stan, Christmas in Romania/ photo: personal archive, courtesy of the artist Sebastian Stan, Christmas in Romania/ photo: personal archive, courtesy of the artist
It was my way of acknowledging where I come from, of showing my pride for my past, of fully accepting it, for my identity and for all the people who were with me and shaped me, from there, from the country where I was born.”