Category: Interviews
Zap2it.com — Sebastian Stan has his hands full with his role of Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that doesn’t stop fans from clamoring to have him back on “Once Upon A Time.” His last appearance as The Mad Hatter was in the 2012 episode “The Doctor,” and he says a return likely won’t happen any time soon.
“It’s a hard question to sort of answer,” Stan tells Zap2it while promoting “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” “I really enjoy that character and I have a lot of fun, and I enjoyed both of the showrunners and everyone on the show. Never say never. It’s very possible. At the moment, it’s not really on my radar, but you never know. I remain a big fan of everybody there.”
He does think that there is story left to be told with that character, though he says that any questions about what storylines those could be should be directed to “OUAT” creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis.
“There’s so many possibilities there,” Stan says of The Mad Hatter. “One of the things those guys did so well — out of the many things — is they just reinvented all of those characters in a new way. They reintroduced them to a whole new generation. The Mad Hatter was never like that in just the cartoon. It remains to be seen.”
“Once Upon A Time” airs Sundays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” hits theaters on April 4.
You can read Sebastian’s interview in its entirety over at Collider.com
The original Winter Story arc flashbacks to Bucky and Cap adventures a little bit here and there. Does this film allow you to do that? Kind of go back into Bucky territory again, or was it all present day going forward?
Stan: I think it was important that the movie was going to stick to present day. I think we sort of arrived at that, and we wanted, you know…I think that’s what it called for, but there is a level of reminding everybody in terms of reinstating those things to sort of…so that you really do remember what that relationship was.Right. Right. Obviously, you’re sporting a completely different book for this film. I mean, what was your initial reaction to it? How’s it been, kind of, wearing that new costume?
Stan: “Oh God. What will it look like?” [laughter] I was very open to it, you know? I was very…obviously I’ve never had long hair, I mean…but as an actor, the thing is that you got to get out of that comfortability level once in a while, and I was really excited to sort of not recognize a little bit myself when I looked in the mirror, and between the costume and sort of the overall look of The Winter Soldier, it was nice. Then all the credit really goes to Legacy and the costume team who’ve done, I think, a pretty incredible job in terms of just, you know, going from page to reality, which is obviously really hard to do sometimes with certain characters that look really cool when they’re drawn and then, how do you make them look that way in real life? So it was…I think there was no question that whatever was needed to make him as authentic as possible is where I was at with it.Did they make the arm…does it hinder you at all when you were doing some the action stuff? I don’t know if they made it like…
Stan: No. Actually, I was always worried about that, but no. It actually kind of informed, in a way, a lot of character stuff for me, because I had enough time to sort of work with it. I think it sort of changed the way I was moving, and it was one of those things where you know, I sat and I thought, and thought, and thought about what it was going to be like on the day, but until you just sort of get into it completely, until it was just on and everything, then that discovery kind of came to light, and it was really neat because I felt like…it just was like the missing piece, and then I was really informed kind of where to go with it.How challenging was the physical regimen to be able to train him the way he is now?
Stan: I mean, maybe I walked around the house a little bit with like, a plastic knife in my left hand all the time. There might’ve been some of that, but it’s all in terms of just…the thing for me was, you know, flexibility was kind of like the key factor I think that I was trying to be very mindful of, and obviously that there was so many pieces to the costume and everything. Being able to continue to move freely, and especially the way the team, you know, wanted to take the fighting style of this particular movie and the direction that they wanted to go, it was…yeah.It was important to be flexible and in shape, at least just in terms of a confidence that you can step on set and be comfortable with what you’re doing and…but a lot of it also just has to…a lot of it is just kind of remembering what it was like when you were a kid and when you’re being able to imagine, and go off on it and be free with that, and so that was like, part of the fun with it. I mean, I don’t know how else to explain it. That tends to be a challenge in itself because, you know, you sometimes take things so seriously, and you want to sort of be in the best of this, in the best of shape, the best of that, but at the end of the day, you got to remember to have fun, and if you just kind of like allow yourself to do that, you kind of just somehow end up doing everything better.
Read Sebastian’s interview in its entirety over at io9.com
io9: So Bucky is like Captain America. They’re both from another time, they’re both lost in this new world. How does Bucky deal with that in this new movie?
Sebastian Stan: He doesn’t deal with it. [Laughs]. He just doesn’t deal with it.
I’m curious about the evolution of the hair.
Oh yes! Please ask me, because I’m sure people have opinions.
We’ve been drawing pictures of long hair on you for quite some time on io9. We didn’t know how it would look! How did you guys come to this conclusion of this hairstyle? Was it totally out of your hands?
You know what the funny thing is, we had the artist – Ed Brubaker — on set. I remember I was talking to him and I asked “why the long hair?” And he said, “the thing is we have long hair when you’re drawing comic books, [because it] things look more epic.” This was so funny to me because he was basically also explaining why superheroes have capes. The reason they have capes is because you can tell in a comic book that they’re flying. Or that there’s wind. So I said, “alright, so you’re telling me he has long hair because you wanted it for stylistic purposes.” It makes sense!
In the storyline basically Bucky sort of snapped a little bit. He went on a mission and he went missing for about a month, or so, in New York and they [the Russians] couldn’t find him. So he kind of walked around like a homeless person for a while. He was trying to figure out what he was doing and where he was. And during that process there was no one there giving him a haircut.
But in terms of the movie, I don’t care. You can’t approach something with “oh my god, how am I going to look with long hair,” you just do. I’m playing this part, this guy’s got long hair, I gotta have long hair. What are you gonna do. ?
Well I like it. I think it works. So what is modern-day Bucky (or Winter Soldier’s) fighting-style? He was trained to fight in World War II and then picked up by the Russians. Is there a combination of Russian kickboxing or something?
It’s actually kind of scrappy. The idea was this is the kind of guy who can kill you with a straw. He’s precise, he’s very specific with what he does. But the idea is that it’s messy. He’ll use knives… knives were always a big part of the character. There is a lot of knife work in the movie for sure. And overall brutality. He’ll kill you with whatever is closest.
Check out Sebastian’s interview in full over at MOVIEWEB.COM
It’s a testament to you as an actor, even on TV, you play these popular, memorable recurring characters. And here, we see people in the Marvel Universe get recast all the time. It had to be cool to know that you were wanted back…
Sebastian Stan: I’m so grateful, man! Before I even started on the first movie, and I listened to them describe this character, and where he goes, I wondered…God, I wish I would have know this was how it was all going to play out. But I’m glad…The whole way that all happened…Finding out, coming back around, getting another chance to further develop this character a second time, who I have become so obsessed with…I am so protective of this character, because to some extent, you live with them for quite a while. Its usually only on TV that you really live with a character, and get to add to it, and find new things…This was such a great character, and such a great opportunity to show off such a great side…Here’s what could have happened to this guy. Added onto what did happen to him in the comic books. Its like, it shows you what could happen if one emotion becomes the authority of how a person leads his life. It’s like me saying, everyone gets angry. But if you stay angry all the time, and you prey on that one emotion, and you keep flexing it like a muscle, and that’s the only muscle, you have to wonder what would happen. So, I don’t know if I’m making any sense…
No, you’re making perfect sense. It’s like that scene in the first movie, where they told Steve Rogers that the serum amplifies who you are as a person. And he was such a strong, good hearted, kind man that it allowed him to become Captain America. So, that would be amplified differently in Bucky Barnes, who is holding onto some anger…
Sebastian Stan: For sure. You also have to remember that scene in the first movie, where Steve rescues Bucky. You have to wonder, what is he rescuing him from? For all the fans that thought, ‘Well, god, I thought the guy died when he went off the cliff…’ Those people need to go back and re-watch that scene. Maybe there is a nice little clue on the wall somewhere that says this was going to happen. They are very smart. Marvel amazes me how they plan this out. It’s incredible. I find myself being constantly surprised.
Looking back at the first movie, Bucky and Steve have this neat little arc as friends. Bucky is the better soldier. He’s stronger, faster. But then Steve becomes Captain America. I don’t know if you would call it jealousy…But you do see that, wow, this guy is having a bit of a problem. But here, we see the Winter Soldier is now really giving Captain America a run for his money. Does that play into your relationship with Chris Evans?
Sebastian Stan: Chris Evans is so awesome. He is like one of my brothers. Literally, we show up, we laugh, we talk about our weekends, and then we get back to work. I give it my all, he gives it his all, and I feel so comfortable with him in terms of…You’re doing extremely physical and sometimes dangerous stuff. You’re trying to make something very realistic. So you want to have someone you are doing it with that you trust. You want to get along with the guy. You want to say, “We got each other. We’re gong to go for it this time.” The whole thing is a dance. It’s so technical. You’re trying to be improvisational in a controlled way. We’re really great friends.