The cast of 'A Different Man,' Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson, along with Director Aaron Schimberg discuss the film about an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, discusses how the role was far removed for the typical roles he and other actors with disabilities usually get.
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00:00 Does anyone have any classic movies that they have pretended to have seen?
00:07 I'm willing to...
00:10 I haven't seen "The Winter Soldier."
00:14 That's an error.
00:16 It's fine.
00:17 I loved working with Adam on my last film.
00:24 I thought he was amazing in that film, but I think people
00:28 thought that he was playing a version of himself.
00:31 He plays a kind of shy character,
00:34 which is not at all like Adam.
00:38 So I felt maybe his performance was underrated in a way
00:41 because they didn't see that it was actually a very nuanced performance.
00:44 So I had this idea to write a role that was the opposite end of the spectrum,
00:51 this very gregarious character,
00:55 and show this other side of Adam.
00:58 So that was an early inspiration for the film.
01:02 Did you feel the same way, like,
01:04 "Oh, I want to show people that that was actually not like me"?
01:08 Well, I think the end game for any actor
01:13 is to be able to show as much range as they can.
01:16 And of course, with any role,
01:18 you tap into the bits of the character that you identify with
01:22 and exaggerate those.
01:24 But it's also far removed from other stereotypes
01:29 and other kinds of roles that actors like myself
01:32 and other disabled actors get offered,
01:34 something that was out there, gregarious, successful.
01:38 And what I liked about the character and the way it came across on paper
01:43 is that the disability is rarely mentioned, if at all.
01:47 Sebastian, how did this come to you?
01:51 Did you guys know each other? How did that...?
01:54 My agent just loved Chain for Life
01:58 and sent me the script to end the movie
02:00 and said, "You really should look at this filmmaker and the script."
02:05 And then I just immediately, when I saw his film and then I read it,
02:09 I recognized how different it was, obviously, for many, many reasons,
02:15 but also how important and how something like this doesn't usually--
02:19 it just doesn't get made, and it certainly doesn't come to me.
02:23 And so then I felt more really in pursuit of him and Vanessa,
02:28 his wife and producing partner,
02:31 and really trying to make sure I am understanding what he's after.
02:35 What felt most different for you in production of this film
02:39 and in making it on set versus stuff you've done before?
02:43 I mean, everything.
02:46 [laughter]
02:47 Everything about it.
02:49 We were, again, a very low-budgeted movie
02:53 that we were shooting in New York City for, I get the days-- 22 days?
02:57 - Two days. - 22 days, and it was COVID.
03:01 There was a lot of things, and there was a timing issue.
03:05 There was a prosthetics piece to it that I'd never really encountered
03:08 that was important to find, and there was not a lot of time to get these shots.
03:13 And he was very specific with how he wanted to make this movie.
03:17 We were in this tiny apartment with dollies and tracking shots and stuff,
03:23 and so everybody on that movie, all the crews,
03:26 had to just be on top of their game, and also 'cause he's doing one takes,
03:31 which was incredible 'cause it keeps all of us on our toes.
03:36 And when it goes, it's amazing, but all it takes is one little thing to not--
03:40 it takes one sound person or just one thing to kind of screw up the take on film,
03:48 which also you don't get a lot of takes, so the anxiety level was pretty high.
03:52 But when you get it, and when it works, it's just the most unbelievable feeling.
03:58 You just feel gratified and unified.
04:00 I just had to accept the nervousness.
04:03 It was my first English-speaking movie, or outside Norway at all,
04:08 and yeah, I didn't know it was one takes, one shots,
04:14 and it was a lot of text.
04:16 It was very intimidating.
04:17 I said to Aaron early on, I was like, "I really want to speak to Adam,"
04:22 and he was very kind and gracious to be very candid with me
04:26 about his experience in growing up and so on,
04:28 and I was like, "I'm never going to understand how to approach this."
04:32 But he brought up this point, which I never would have thought,
04:35 which was like, "Look, you understand what it's like to be a public figure, right?
04:39 To some extent, like if you're recognized for public property."
04:43 And that I understand, and it's not--I've had my little--
04:47 very different, but some experience with just the invasion of that,
04:51 and the public property idea here was really interesting.
04:55 I hadn't thought about that.
04:56 that.
04:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]