LEADING ACTOR
ADRIEN BRODY The Brutalist
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET A Complete Unknown
COLMAN DOMINGO Sing Sing
RALPH FIENNES Conclave
HUGH GRANT Heretic
SEBASTIAN STAN The Apprentice
Category: Articles
Indiewire – The surprise Golden Globe winner tells IndieWire why the industry remains “apprehensive” about his Donald Trump role and about new indie projects with Mungiu and Justin Kurzel.
If you don’t watch Marvel movies, then you don’t know Bucky Barnes, which means you only know Sebastian Stan as the also-indie actor behind films like 2024’s “A Different Man” and “The Apprentice.” Both movies have put him in the awards race, and possibly the Oscar running, especially after his grimly funny, pathos-spiked turn as a self-loathing, out-of-options actor with neurofibromatosis in Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” won him a surprise Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. That night, he was also nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for “The Apprentice,” where he plays a ’70s New York-era Donald Trump.
Had scheduling gone a different path, he would’ve starred in Brady Corbet’s also-Oscar-contending “The Brutalist,” but Stan had plenty on his plate last year and into this one, setting him up for his biggest awards season run yet. His transformative Trump performance in director Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” has been celebrated since the film‘s 2024 Cannes premiere. Top distributors shunned the film until rookie releaser Briarcliff Entertainment got on board in August 2024, billionaire investor Dan Snyder tried to wrangle creative control and block the release, and, eventually, Stan’s peers declined the chance to speak with the American-Romanian actor in Variety’s popular Actors on Actors series, a major platform for awards contenders. Stan has been candid about not finding a sparring partner for the publication’s viral program. Why not? People don’t want to go near a movie about the incumbent president, including American audiences ($4 million domestic).
Speaking with IndieWire over the phone, Stan said that once he went public with why he wasn’t participating in Actors on Actors, “A lot of friends called me and said, ‘Hey let’s go do this together.’ That was obviously very thoughtful and very kind, but for us, Ali, Jeremy [Strong, who plays lawyer Roy Cohn], that was nothing really new.” (Last November, Variety’s editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh told IndieWire, “We invited [Stan] to participate in ‘Actors on Actors,’ the biggest franchise of awards season, but other actors didn’t want to pair with him because they didn’t want to talk about Donald Trump.”)
Stan continued, “We had been facing that kind of a thing since Cannes, whether it had even been photo shoots promoting the film, or certain people that were like, ‘We don’t want to go near this.’ Every interview since Cannes, we’ve been asked, ‘How’s the reception been? Why do you think studios are apprenehsive?’ This is sadly the reality. We have a lot of people who love this film or say they do, but when it comes down to jumping in the fire a little bit … hesitancy is understandable, to some extent.”
While understanding the emotional component around not wanting to see a movie about a leader and convicted felon who is on TV every second of the news day, Stan said, “However, around hesitancy, there’s also a slippery slope toward indifference, and that complements fear. That’s the only distinction we have to keep trying to make. You can rightfully own, ‘Hey, this isn’t for me,’ or ‘I don’t want to go there.’ But in terms of ‘I’m too worried, I’m too scared, I don’t want to get in hot water,’ then it’s like, what’s the next thing that becomes OK to not want to deal with it because it’s uncomfortable? We didn’t understand what was so uncomfortable about the movie.”
“The Apprentice” received mixed reviews at Cannes, though I remember in my festival screening being surrounded by European journalists laughing their heads off because they see Trump as a comic figure. Many Americans do not, and with “The Apprentice,” we don’t yet have the benefit of hindsight because we’re still living in the Trump era.
“Usually what happens is you look at movies like ‘Nixon’ or the movie ‘Downfall,’ which is about Hitler, [the movies] happen years later. We’ve had time to process our emotions about it, and we’ve had some distance so we can go back and look at what went wrong or what we [believed] at the time,” Stan said. “You don’t have that luxury [with ‘The Apprentice’]. We don’t have the luxury of not dealing with this person.”
Going back to his moment winning the Globe for “A Different Man,” it’s been a mixed blessing for double nominee Stan.
“There was this unbelievable kind of moment at the Globes that I never really thought was ever going to happen, and you have a brief moment of that, and suddenly, anything can flip,” he said of L.A. going into panic mode right after the Globes amid the ongoing wildfires in Southern California. “In terms of Mother Nature… at the end of the day, it really is just people. We’re all in the same boat there. There’s nothing to differentiate or anything. We are all pretty much in the same boat.”
After he’s finished with awards season duties, Stan expects to head to Europe in March to film the new film from Palme d’Or-winning auteur Cristian Mungiu, which brings the “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” filmmaker’s usual moral ambiguity into a real-life case of abuse in Romania. He’ll be reuniting with “A Different Man” star Renate Reinsve for the film, which will shoot in Romanian, English, and Norwegian.
“With all of these smaller indies, I always feel even while I’m on the plane going there, I’m always worried, ‘Is the financing going to come through? It’s on its way,” Stan said. “He’s been up there with me for a few years with filmmakers from Romania where I’ve been calling him trying to find a way to work with him, where I can speak Romanian as well. We finally found this story, which is about a Romanian family who’s moved to Norway and then ends up in this very complicated trial. There’s a system [that] investigates cases if there’s ever been physical abuse in the household between the parents or the kids. They go investigating the family for an incident, and it leads to this trial. It happened before the pandemic, and it became national news. There were a lot of religious communities that came to their side, and it’s really interesting and quite complicated.”
Stan has also been instrumental in shepherding the next film from Australian “The Order” director Justin Kurzel, “Burning Rainbow,” about a true Waco-style FBI standoff that brought down a pro-marijuana campground in Michigan a week before 9/11. He’s attached to star in the story of Tom Crosslin and Rolland Rohm, a gay couple defending their land amid police investigations linked to a Rainbow Farm festival-associated killing and their marijuana plants.
“They were raising a child as well,” Stan said. “They were real activists in some ways, and they were very controversial as well because they were running this Rainbow Farm, which was like the start of this Woodstock-style festival that was bringing all these people together, advocating for legalizing marijuana. It was also such a loving place. They were attracting a lot of attention from local authorities, and a lot of controversies were going on down there. It all happened before 9/11, so there are many people who don’t know this story. But I’ve known about it for six years or something. I’ve been tracking it through different evolutions, and it finally landed with Justin. I was tracking him now for two years to basically give me a chance, and finally, I think we’ve got to go and find all the other people.”
As for “The Brutalist,” Stan was announced to star in Brady Corbet’s Golden Globe Best Picture winner in 2019, but scheduling changes on “The Apprentice” interfered. (“The Brutalist” shot in early 2023; “The Apprentice” didn’t film until that fall after a few false starts.) Stan would’ve played Joe Alwyn’s role, Harry Lee Van Buren, the pompous son of Guy Pearce’s moneyed industrialist who exploits Adrien Brody’s Jewish-Hungarian architect.
“I’m glad that the timing [didn’t work out] … The difficulty of that movie is astounding. What they were able to achieve. Some of us would be attached. I was sort of the last one, but then [Corbet] started to go. Because ‘Apprentice’ kept getting pushed, those two started to overlap at one point. I wasn’t available for it, but having seen the movie, Joe is amazing in it, and I would have been too old by that point anyway. I feel like it worked out for the best. It makes total sense with Guy being his father,” Stan said.
As for how Stan’s indie roles fit into the Marvel orbit, especially as he’ll be seen in “Thunderbolts” this spring again as Bucky Barnes, he said, “If I hadn’t had so many opportunities with Marvel with that character alone and creatively what I got to do, I don’t know if I would have been as driven to go in this other direction as well and try to find things that I’m not always at the top of mind for. I believe, like Brady Corbet, films are a directors’ medium. It is about the filmmaker. We have to trust the filmmakers. The best films to me, in my experiences, were with really strong directors with these strong points of view. It’s been amazing to watch Brady. I was attached to that film for a long time, going back to 2019, so I’ve known of that movie and have known Brady since we were kids auditioning. I would see him at casting calls, him and his mom. Even watching him up there on Sunday felt like I’d been weirdly attached to that story as well.”
Note: You can find the screencaps of the video version of the podcast (on spotify) here: Variety – Awards Circut Podcast [Screen Captures]
When Sebastian Stan greets you, there’s an earnest warmth in his voice that makes you forget, even for a moment, the intensity of the roles he’s embodied this past year. The 41-year-old actor is riding high on a wave of critical acclaim for his two vastly different but equally daring performances in “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man,” which earned him double Golden Globe nominations — a feat last achieved by Ryan Gosling in 2016.
This past year, Stan has proven, yet again, why he’s one of the most transformative actors working today. From donning prosthetics and exploring themes of self-acceptance in “A Different Man” to stepping into the psyche of one of the most polarizing figures in modern history for “The Apprentice,” Stan’s ability to disappear into a role is matched only by his determination to tell complicated stories, no matter the fallout.
If “A Different Man” was a personal exploration, “The Apprentice” was a social experiment. Directed by Ali Abbasi, the film is a biographical character study of a young Donald Trump, focusing on his formative years and the traits that would eventually define his presidency. For Stan, stepping into Trump’s skin was not just an artistic challenge but a minefield of public and industry scrutiny.
“This film has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Stan tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “Not just because of the complexities of playing Trump, but because of the reaction it provokes.”
From the controversy surrounding its financier to the polarized reception tied to its release during an election year, “The Apprentice’s” journey to the screen was riddled with obstacles.
Stan is refreshingly candid about the hesitance he faced within Hollywood, both during the film’s production and in its aftermath. “I had people telling me not to do it,” he recalls. “They said it might alienate people, that I didn’t look like him, that it was too dangerous. But for me, acting is about going toward the uncomfortable… about trying to understand humanity, even in the darkest places.”
He carefully clarifies that “The Apprentice” isn’t about sympathizing with Trump but understanding him. “I think people interpret understanding as an attempt to sympathize, and that’s not the goal here. The film asks: would you trust this man? Would you put your life in his hands?”
Stan’s deep dive into Trump’s psyche revealed something even darker than he anticipated. “He’s given people permission to lose their humanity — to behave in ways they wouldn’t have before. And that’s what scares me the most,” Stan says. “The opposite of love isn’t hate — it’s indifference. And I worry about the indifference we’re seeing now.”
The backlash surrounding “The Apprentice” extended even to Stan’s professional relationships. When invited to participate in Variety’s Actors on Actors series, organizers struggled to find actors willing to pair with him due to his portrayal of Trump. Stan calls it a disappointing but unsurprising moment, emblematic of the discomfort many in Hollywood feel about engaging with the film publicly.
“It’s been revealing to see how hesitant people are,” Stan says. “I’ve had people come up to me at parties, saying it’s their favorite film of the year, but when it comes to supporting it publicly, there’s silence. That part of it has been tough.”
Still, there have been bright spots. People like Paul Walter Hauser, Stan’s “I, Tonya” co-star and friend, posted publicly on social media offering to partner with him for the Actors on Actors segment. That support did not go unnoticed by Stan. “That was awesome,” Stan says with a laugh. “Paul’s someone I’ve always admired, and moments like that remind me of the camaraderie that still exists in this industry.”
With “A Different Man” and “The Apprentice” firmly establishing Stan as a fearless actor, he’s looking ahead to new challenges. He’s currently developing a film adaptation of Ed Brubaker’s graphic novel “Reckless” and working on a project with celebrated filmmaker Cristian Mungiu.
And then there’s Marvel, of course. Stan is set to reprise his role as Bucky Barnes in the upcoming “Thunderbolts.” Describing the film as a misfit-driven story in the vein of “The Breakfast Club,” Stan hints at the humor and camaraderie fans can expect. “It’s a weird group thrown together, and I think people are going to love it,” he teases.
Regarding if he’ll appear in the upcoming “Captain America” sequel: “[Filming] ‘Thunderbolts*’, let me tell you, it was a much quieter year for me because I didn’t see Anthony Mackie. So, I’ll say that. Although I miss Anthony Mackie like daily, and it’s something I don’t like to admit.”
But for now, Stan is embracing the quieter moments. Speaking before the holidays, he was focused on trying to carve out time for family and last-minute gift shopping. “I’m usually pretty good with presents,” he says with a grin. “But this year, it’s been a little out of mind. I’ll put a day aside and figure it out on the fly.”
Little did he know during this conversation that a surprise win at the Golden Globes for “A Different Man” would be in his future. And it was well deserved.
Also on this episode, the Roundtable talks about this year’s Golden Globe Awards winners and what it means for the upcoming Oscar race.
It’s an embarrassment of riches to have two transformative, awards-worthy roles in one career. But what does it mean when you have two in the same season?
Sebastian Stan finds himself this year in rarified company, including the likes of Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, and Jamie Foxx, with two acclaimed lead performances in The Apprentice and A Different Man. Both films have been received warmly so far: Stan just received Best Actor nominations for both films at the Golden Globes, winning for A Different Man, while The Apprentice landed on the BAFTAs longlist in six categories, including Best Film. The industry reception is remarkable, given both films’ uphill climb with their production and distribution. A Different Man was shot in 24 days in New York at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was delayed because of last year’s Hollywood strikes. Meanwhile, the Apprentice struggled to secure U.S. distribution after its buzzy Cannes premiere due to legal threats from Donald Trump and general hesitancy about how it tackled his early days. With all the hurdles, it would stand to reason that there is some vindication in seeing the fruits of labor pay off.
Vanity Fair – With help from Frank Sinatra and hopes of a postshow burger, the Prada- and Cartier-clad Stan prepared for his first major awards show victory.
Note: Photoshoot and Outtakes (other) are here: Session #155 – Nisha Johny and Jonathan Jacobs
Sebastian Stan entered the Golden Globes 2025 with two chances at winning—nominated for both his portrayal of Donald Trump in The Apprentice and his more comedic performance as Edward, an aspiring actor living with neurofibromatosis, in A Different Man. But in the lead-up to his big night, Stan was eager to put his double nominations into perspective, instead focusing on what he could control: a hearty postceremony meal. “You always read about people having burgers or something after these award shows,” he told Vanity Fair. “I mean, that sounds kind of nice, to be honest.”
A celebratory nosh was well-earned by Stan, who won best actor in a musical-or-comedy film, his first-ever Golden Globe. After thanking A Different Man filmmaker Aaron Schimberg and his costar Adam Pearson, who has the genetic condition neurofibromatosis in real life, Stan advocated for more inclusive narratives onscreen. “Our ignorance and discomfort around disability and disfigurement has to end now,” he said. “We have to normalize it and continue to expose ourselves [and our children] to it. Encourage acceptance.”
A Different Man languished for two years before it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and the A24 movie later landed Stan the Silver Bear for best lead performance in Berlin. But The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, also endured a beleaguered road to distribution in the weeks before the 2024 presidential election. “Both of these films started out as major risks,” Stan told VF shortly before the Globes. As such, he’s not taking any of the recent accolades for granted.
“I feel very blessed that I have good people around me, friends who I’ve had for 20 years at this point, who remember as much as I do what it was like to be in New York City and going out to auditions and not getting it,” said Stan. “Even my mother, who has been with me over the holidays, I was growing up with her in Vienna, Austria, and not even really knowing that I was going to get to America. So when I think about those moments,” he continued, “I’m immediately humbled and on the ground. Because even as it is currently, without anything happening on Sunday, it already feels like such a win.” Stan dedicated the award to his mother and stepfather during his acceptance speech, also taking the time to profess his love to his girlfriend, actor Annabelle Wallis.
Stan spent hours in prosthetics for both A Different Man and The Apprentice, getting comfortable with a bit of metamorphosis. “I kind of liken it, for better or worse, to being in a relationship,” he said of transitioning back to himself postproduction. “I always remember somebody telling me, ‘However long you’ve been with somebody in a relationship, take away half the time, and that’s how long it’s going to take for you to get over them when you break up.’ It’s a little bit like that. It doesn’t just go away suddenly, I guess. There’s a process…that happens with it. It’s sort of a slow, gradual disconnection.”
But does Stan find it harder to disappear into a character or present as himself at an awards show? “That’s a very good question,” he said with a laugh. “Sometimes it’s easier transforming into a role…. Being yourself at an award show, it can be quite tricky, because I’m not going to an award show [thinking], Oh, I’m a funny, interesting guy. I’m feeling self-conscious.”
Nevertheless, Stan was excited to venture beyond his comfort zone in custom Prada. “It’s really fun and different, and it’s something I’ve never really worn before,” he said, crediting stylist Michael Fisher with steering him toward a different era in Hollywood. “You get romantic sometimes when you see clips in black and white of the Oscars and how people dressed up. So I think I’m more old school like that in my mindset rather than, Hey, let me take a crazy swing on this red carpet. Even though, once in a while, Michael has definitely had me in pink.” This time, though, Stan opted for a black mohair coat and trouser with contrasting white piping detail, paired with a black knit wool sweater and white poplin shirt, plus black brushed-leather lace-ups.
Stan’s vintage-Hollywood vision also extended to his pre-Globes playlist. “I don’t mind a little Frank Sinatra,” he told VF. “We’re going to be getting ready at the Hotel Bel-Air, and that hotel itself has such history and that Old Hollywood classic style. I might be playing some ’20s or ’30s music, something that will at least keep me under the illusion that I’m in a different time, because it does feel like a different time.”
As for grooming, Stan said that with age, he’s embraced more facial hair. “I used to be more clean-shaven when I was younger, but it also depends on what I’m working on at the time,” he said. “A lot of how I was looking this year was informed by the fact that I was shooting Thunderbolts, so there was not much I could do. Even with the hair, I don’t always want everything to be perfect or slick. Maybe that just reflects my attitude in terms of staying flexible in the moment with these things—to go, All right, keep it loose and keep it fun.”
Stan never dreamed that A Different Man and The Apprentice would debut in the same year, but they have been in conversation with each other this awards season by virtue of his involvement. “Both films, to me, are about the loss of identity and the loss of self, and to some extent denial of reality and denial of self-acceptance,” said the actor. “Both of the films focus in different ways on characters that go to great lengths to abandon their true selves.”
Stan’s searching, self-conscious characters in the two films meet ego-driven fates. Edward is “obsessed with what he doesn’t have, and then he spends the rest of the film trying to deal with the shame that he’s buried, the shame that he’s never really accepted himself,” said Stan. “Then the Trump story is very obvious to me—it’s a total loss of humanity, empathy and vulnerability, and any morals, sort of at the hands of this very self-indulgent, self-narcissistic way of life. It’s also about how far one can go to deny the truth, deny reality, and lose humanity as a cost.”
Stan’s performance in The Apprentice, which was bested by Adrien Brody’s in The Brutalist for best male actor in a drama film, has faced a particular uphill battle given the utter Trump fatigue in many circles. “Trump is part of our lives. It’s inevitable that we’re talking about him. You go to a coffee shop, and someone’s talking about him; you open your phone, the news, whatever—he’s everywhere, even in the award season,” says Stan, who believes his film will stand the test of time for boldly “challenging, or at least the attempt was to challenge, history as it’s happening rather than waiting.”
With Trump’s second election to the presidency, it feels as if perception of The Apprentice has shifted, as evidenced by its awards season embrace so far. (Stan is also nominated at the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards.) Would that be the case had Trump been defeated? “I don’t know if I know the answer yet to that,” said Stan. “We’re all still trying to figure out how to feel, or to think, about the election and what happened and the next four years.”
In the days before his first Golden Globe victory, which involved a lively backstage reunion with his frequent Marvel costar Anthony Mackie, Stan was similarly open-minded about what’s next. “[In] Eastern Europe, we grow up with a lot of superstitions,” he said. “But this year I just basically surrendered to whatever’s going to happen. Wherever this wild sort of ride I’m on is taking me, I’m just going to kind of follow and really try to be in the moment as much as possible.”
Not to diminish his Golden Globe win for playing a disfigured man who undergoes facial reconstruction surgery in A Different Man, but for Sebastian Stan the hardest role to play in his career was “the man in orange” aka Donald Trump in this year’s The Apprentice.
Stan won his first Golden Globe tonight in Best Actor Male Actor Comedy or Musical for the A24 feature A Different Man. It was one of two noms tonight for the Marvel Studios thespian who is also up for Best Actor Feature Drama for playing Trump in The Apprentice. Back in the press room, as reporter asked the actor what the hardest role of his career has been.
“The man in orange was the hardest to play,” said Stan.
Stan called playing a Trump “a big risk” and “in itself really difficult.”
“The responsibility I carried, it was about The Apprentice, wanting to do the best I can to honor Ali Abbasi’s vision,” Stan said. The movie, which made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, struggled in finding a U.S. distributor before Briarcliff Entertainment saved it. Released roughly a month before the presidential election, The Apprentice didn’t attract a Trump sized voter turnout at the box office with a $4M take.
Stan did acknowledge “the dark place” he had to go for A Different Man. In the movie, Edward Lemuel is a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis. He befriends his new neighbor Ingrid Vold, an aspiring playwright, but is too nervous to act on his romantic feelings towards her. After receiving an experimental medical treatment that cures him of his condition, he assumes the identity of “Guy Moratz” and claims that Edward has killed himself.
Stan gave thanks to Michael Marino’s prosthetics for getting him into character; Marino also having worked on The Penguin. “It informed my subconscious,” says Stan who next reprises his role as Bucky Barnes in Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*.
Sebastian Stan won the Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture (comedy or musical) thanks to his acclaimed performance in “A Different Man,” and few people were more excited than his longtime Marvel co-star Anthony Mackie, who proceeded to crash several of Stan’s post-win interviews with overjoyed enthusiasm for his friend. The two actors have been Marvel scene partners since 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Solider” and co-headlined the 2021 limited series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” on Disney+.
Some Marvel fans were confused at the start of the Golden Globes when Stan chatted with MTV’s Josh Horowitz and made a playful jab at Mackie. Stan was asked which 2025 Marvel tentpole Horowitz should see: the Stan-starring “Thunderbolts” or the Mackie-headlined “Captain America: Brave New World”?
“I don’t know who Anthony is,” Stan said while ending the interview short and running into the ballroom for the awards ceremony.
Mackie later appeared on stage during the Globes telecast to present the award for best animated feature to “Flow” alongside his new Marvel co-star Harrison Ford. Mackie looked around the ballroom and said: “We’re still friends with Sebastian Stan, by the way.” He then made a heart with his hands.
To prove their everlasting friendship, Mackie proceeded to crash Stan’s backstage interviews after Stan won his Golden Globe for “A Different Man.” Mackie popped into Stan’s interview with Access Hollywood holding a congratulatory rose and singing.
“There is no way that I would be here without Anthony,” Stan said. “We go back a bunch of years now and he’s one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with. He’s one person who’s been part of this that I get to celebrate with, so it’s great.”
Mackie was even more enthusiastic when crashing Stan’s backstage interview with Entertainment Tonight by chanting: “We won! We won!”
“It’s a team effort,” Stan said with excitement. “Captain America and the Winter Soldier. We’re coming back! I do have to thank Anthony because, actually, back in the day when we were starting these press tours, they said, ‘This kid can’t talk, can’t smile, can’t say anything. We gotta put him with Anthony to get some life in him.’ And maybe I learned from [Mackie]. You have to keep smiling.”
Mackie whipped out a celebratory cigar but stopped short of lighting it on camera. He then asked: “Don’t you have to go back on stage to get your other Golden Globe?” Stan was also nominated in the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category for his performance as Donald Trump in “The Apprentice,” but “The Brutalist’s” Adrien Brody took home that prize.
A24’s A Different Man star Sebastian Stan won a Golden Globe on Sunday night for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
In a heartfelt speech, the actor acknowledged the rarity of substantial roles and equal access opportunities for disabled people onscreen. “Our ignorance and discomfort around disability and disfigurement has to end. We have to normalize it and continue to expose ourselves and our children to it. [We should] encourage acceptance,” he said.
Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, A24’s A Different Man stars Stan as Edward Lemuel, a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis, a condition causing tumors and facial disfigurement, who undergoes an experimental medical procedure to transform his appearance. He then adopts a new identity as Guy Moratz, claiming that his former self has died.
As he navigates his new life, he becomes obsessed with an actor (Adam Pearson who has the affliction in real life) of uncanny physical similarity to his former self, who is tapped to play him in a stage play based on his life.
“One way we can do that is by continuing to champion stories that are inclusive. This was not an easy movie to make. Neither is The Apprentice, the other film I was lucky to be a part of and I’m proud of being in,” Stan continued, noting the other film for which he was nominated tonight. “These are tough subject matters, but these films are real and they’re necessary and we can’t be afraid and look away.”
Note: For the screencaps in the gallery click here: The Process [Screen Captures]
Heading into work on A24’s A Different Man, a darkly comedic thriller for which he was both executive producer and star, Sebastian Stan had a problem.
He was “in dire need” of the best prosthetic makeup artist he could find, he recalls, without whom the project could very easily fall apart.
Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, pic has Stan playing a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis, a condition causing facial disfigurement, who undergoes an experimental medical procedure to transform his appearance. The character, Edward, then adopts a new identity as Guy Moratz, claiming that his former self has died. As he navigates his new life, he becomes obsessed with an actor (Adam Pearson) of uncanny physical similarity to his former self, who is tapped to play him in a stage play based on his life.
During the early conceptualization of makeup for A Different Man, Stan’s first call was to Mike Marino, an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated master of his craft who, over the course of his career, has done thousands of makeups, most recently drawing rave reviews for his transformative work with Colin Farrell on HBO’s The Penguin.
The circumstances around the job were intense. Marino would have two months or less to prep, while working simultaneously on the fifth and final season of Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the shoot itself would last just 22 days. But fortunately for Stan and Schimberg, the artist was so well versed in all kinds of makeups and production scenarios that he committed to the A24 film without a second thought.
When Marino read the script for A Different Man — a surreal meditation on identity, transformation, and self-acceptance — he was instantly drawn to its “strange…original and intriguing” qualities. He “thought it was saying something unique,” he tells Stan in today’s edition of The Process. “It wasn’t in your face, what it was saying or what it was doing, but that’s the best kind of art.”
The script reminded Marino of some of his favorite films, including The Fly and the works of Charlie Kaufman — not to mention The Elephant Man, which was particularly influential for him early in life. “Not that this film is similar to that,” Marino says, “but I feel that it has an echo of that, in some sense. It has the empathy of that. And I had to do it.”
For Marino, the process of crafting Stan’s prosthetics began with lifecasts taken of his face and that of Pearson — a frequent collaborator of Schimberg’s, who actually has neurofibromatosis. Scanned into a computer, these served as a foundation for Marino’s sculpture process, ahead of the processes of molding, casting, and painting the prosthetics. The final outcome was that Stan, as Edward, looked nearly identical to Pearson, while wearing just a handful of pieces of makeup.
One of the fundamental challenges of the project was ensuring that Stan’s performance would be able to come through, even behind layers of intensive makeup. “In this particular case, it’s rather thick of a sculpture and you’re not so much getting emotion through thick things like that,” Marino tells Stan. “But we did develop a silicone that was very lightweight and soft, and you were able to get very good expressions in it and drive the makeup through your own motions and things.”
Another big point of focus was Edward’s evolution from his original facial features to the visage he takes on following the medical experiment — one that ultimately mirrors Stan’s own. Transitional stages in this process were captured for the camera through the use of a material called methylcellulose, which allowed Stan to pull his face apart, à la Poltergeist.
Premiering at Sundance before screening in Berlin, where Stan won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance, A Different Man was released in September and recently made the Oscars shortlist for Makeup and Hairstyling, also bringing Stan a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor – Musical or Comedy. Remarkably, it was the second he earned this year, the other being for another transformative turn as a young Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice.
Elsewhere in their chat on The Process, Stan and Marino turn to the subject of AI, as it pertains to makeup, with the latter expressing the belief that the technology will never be able to replicate the “soul” that comes with handmade work. Marino also delves into the history of prosthetics, lessons from makeup titans like Dick Smith and Rob Bottin, his recent work on The Penguin, and the timelessness achieved with certain classic makeups from decades past.
View the conversation above . A time-lapse video depicting the prosthetic application process on A Different Man, along with a couple of clips from the film, can be found below. (Site Note: go to the deadline link for the videos etc)
Dec
23
LA Times
For accompanying photo: Session #133 – Sean Dougherty
When Adam Pearson was young, he rubbed elbows with celebrities. “I was at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, one of the best pediatric institutes in the world,” he recalls of the London facility, “and they often had famous people come in to meet the kids. I met Boyzone, a big Irish boy band in the ’90s. The other one was Princess Diana.” The British actor was 5 when he was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis Type 1, a condition that resulted in the growth of large tumors across his face. Those tumors would often cause passersby to gawk cruelly, which made Pearson feel an unlikely kinship with the notable figures who stopped by the hospital. “I was like, ‘Oh, these people get the same staring and pointing I do, but people seem to like them.’ I wasn’t resentful, it was just an observation I made as a 12-year-old: ‘Oh, OK, that’s fascinating.’”
Decades later, Pearson, who turns 40 in January, is on a Zoom call from London alongside his co-star Sebastian Stan, beaming in from New York, to discuss their thought-provoking, satirical film “A Different Man,” which is all about appearance and perception. Writer-director Aaron Schimberg introduces us to Edward (Stan), a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis who believes he’ll be happier once he undergoes an experimental procedure that removes his tumors, revealing the sexy man underneath. Later walking around New York with a new identity — that of the slick real estate agent Guy — he discovers that the aspiring playwright he pined for, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), has written a drama about his former self, who will be portrayed by Oswald (Pearson), a happy, charming man with neurofibromatosis. Guy looks on in horror as his old life is played with such flair by Oswald, who steals Ingrid away as well. Maybe it wasn’t his condition that had held him back — maybe it was just him.
Stan, 42, found two-time Oscar-nominated makeup artist Mike Marino to craft the realistic mask for Edward. But there was something even more important for Stan to get right. “I wanted to talk to Adam about how he was feeling about myself playing this part and having someone step into these shoes without neurofibromatosis,” he says. “Just really trying to be mindful and understand how I need to approach this so I can be of service to the character but also to somebody who actually has this condition.”
It was during those initial conversations that Pearson, who previously appeared in “Under the Skin” and starred in Schimberg’s 2018 drama “Chained for Life,” gave Stan, best known as the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the insight that living with neurofibromatosis was not dissimilar to being famous. “They both come with certain levels of invasiveness,” Pearson explains. “You almost become public property. The public feels that you owe them something. So while Sebastian might not know the staring, the name-calling, the camera phones in a way I do, he certainly knows what it’s like to have people think [they] deserve to have a selfie with him.”
The absolute honesty between the two actors was crucial for a film that is candid about the stigmas around disfigurement. Schimberg, who became friends with Pearson during “Chained for Life,” also drew from his own experience with a cleft palate. “Aaron is such an incredible writer — he’s set up these things that rope you in as a viewer to judge Edward because of his appearance,” Stan says. “We project these stereotypical thoughts: ‘He’s lonely, somebody’s taken pity on him.’”
But with Oswald, “We haven’t made the connection yet that someone like Adam could actually be OK with themselves — and not only that, incredibly confident and accepting of themselves as they are.”
Indeed, “A Different Man” toys with our expectations, depicting Oswald as the life of the party, while the conventionally handsome Guy is riddled with insecurity. Unsurprisingly, Stan and Pearson have noticed that viewers sometimes don’t know what to make of Schimberg’s acerbic sense of humor.
“I’m always looking around to see what’s landing and what isn’t landing, because I’ve never had an audience react the same way,” Pearson says, amused. “Everyone finds different things either funny or uncomfortable.”
“The film asks very important questions in terms of disability and disfigurement,” adds Stan, “but we can also offer people permission to experience the film as they might. It is funny. Aaron Schimberg has said, ‘If you think this is a comedy, that’s fine — if you think this is a tragedy, that’s fine too. It’s both.’”
Much has been made of Stan’s recent so-called risk-taking performances, including in the Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice.” (He won Berlin’s lead actor trophy for “A Different Man.”) “One of the reasons I’ve lately gravitated more toward what I’d call ‘transformational’ roles is because they do make it easier to lose yourself and to stay in it for the entire time,” suggests Stan, who lived in Romania and Vienna as a child. “I wanted to be an actor because it saved my life. I grew up in a very weird, chaotic time. I was always searching for identity — I came to this country when I was 12, and it was a shocking experience. Acting was a way of release and communication — it was a language, in a way, and it allowed me to understand myself.”
Pearson understands that sentiment. “There’s something inherently terrifying about putting yourself out there,” he says. “When I first got into TV when I was 25, one of my friends gave me what we now lovingly call ‘the talk of doom.’ He was like, ‘You are going to go on TV, and people watch TV — if they don’t like you, they will tell you on whatever platforms you are on. Do you think you can handle that?’”
He could, and his work in “A Different Man” has only raised his profile. Now he’s the one who’s a celebrity, although he acknowledges those old anxieties remain.
“Even now, my friends are like, ‘Aren’t you just a little bit scared that people are going to [not like you]?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m always scared,”’ Pearson says. “Option A is, ‘Don’t do it,’ and then Option B is, ‘Do it scared.’ And I’d rather do it scared than not do it at all.”