Sebastian Stan Says Playing a Man with a Facial Disfigurement Alongside Adam Pearson 'Was All About Trust' (Exclusive)

Sebastian Stan opens up about portraying a man with neurofibromatosis alongside British actor Adam Pearson, who lives with a rare genetic disease, in their new film.

In an interview with PEOPLE about their drama A24 A different manStan, 42, says Pearson’s life experience proved “incredible” in developing his character Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes facial reconstruction surgery and subsequently becomes obsessed with Oswald (Pearson), another man with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).

“I was kind of picking up different pieces from different places. And a lot of Adam’s experience that he shared with me was really helpful in that sense,” Stan says of Pearson, who was diagnosed with a neurogenetic disorder that left his skin covered in thousands of thick, painful tumors. at the age of 5 years. “It’s very easy to work with Adam and I feel we hit it off very quickly. I think s [filmmaker Aaron Schimberg] it was all about trust and making sure we were all on the same page. And once you have that, it’s just on and off, you know?”

Pearson, who previously appeared in director Schimberg’s 2019 film Chained for life and the 2013 film Under the skintells PEOPLE that he and Stan “had really open, honest conversations” about their upbringing and life experiences over Zoom before production began on 2022.

‘A Different Man’ Star Adam Pearson Says Face Distortion ‘Opened Doors’ For Him (Exclusive)

Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan in A24’s A Different Man.

A24

“Disfigurement and disability are unique in the sense that you don’t get them until you get them. So I have to find parallels so that I can get [someone’s] he taps into this and sort of processes it differently,” he says. “And I always say that the two ways to lose social anonymity in society in 2024 is to either have some kind of discrepancy or disability or become a celebrity.”

“And so while [Stan] maybe he doesn’t know the level of invasiveness, I feel with the pointing, the staring and the camera phones, he absolutely gets it from a different angle,” adds Pearson.

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Although Pearson has a handful of acting credits, A different man makes for a bigger role — and a higher-profile release — than his past films. The actor tells PEOPLE that he was “putting it off [the movie’s release] in my mind for quite a long time” before the press tour.

“I got on the plane on Sunday and I just thought, ‘Oh no, this is happening. It’s happening now,'” he says. “And my family as a whole is not upset about it, which is good because it kind of keeps me humble and keeps me in check at home.”

Sebastian Stan is completely unrecognizable thanks to the prosthetic transformation A different man Trailer

Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson in A24’s A Different Man.

A24

“I’m going to enjoy this while it’s happening. If this is the end, I was on a high,” he says when asked where his acting career might take him next. “I’ve made some great friends. I’ll be friends with them [Stan] for the rest of his life, if he wants.”

“We’ll see what happens, but yeah — Kevin Feige, call me,” Pearson adds, jokingly referencing the Marvel Studios executive and Stan’s role as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A different man it’s in theaters now.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education