Adam Pearson and Hollywood star Sebastian Stan on changing perceptions of disfigurement
One is a disability rights campaigner, the other is a Hollywood star - but now Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan are coming together on the big screen in psychological thriller A Different Man.
The duo spoke to Ben and Cat to discuss how they're using black comedy in the new film to change perceptions about disability, how Adam's real experiences helped shape his character.
A Different Man is a psychological thriller comedy about a man who undergoes facialreconstruction surgery only to become obsessed with the actor who plays him in a stageproduction based on his former life.
The film features two characters with neurofibromatosis (a genetic conditioncommonly referred to as “NF1”). The film is a passing of the torch from non-disabledactors portraying characters with disabilities to actors with disabilities playing who theywant to play – beyond villain, victim, or outcast roles.
When discussing his role in the film, Adam said, "There's no suspense or jump scare, or any of the old tropes that we normally see around disfigurement, like villainy, victimhood or false heroism. He's just a guy that charms his way through life."
Sebastian comments that the film was 'really special', calling it 'unpredictable and a lot of fun!'
Make-up artist Mike Marino, who did Sebastian’s makeup for the film and also Colin Farrell’s makeup for The Penguin, was double booked for another project, meaning he had to do Sebastian’s makeup four or five hours early and then leave to go and work on his other job. Sebastian used to take this opportunity to walk around New York in full prosthetics as his character, Edward.
"It was extremely isolating. I was very scared." said Sebastian. "You stand out obviously, and there's a powerless feeling to it - at least that was my experience. It really pointed out that we still have to normalise this idea of being different."
A Different Man is out in UK cinemas from Friday 4th October.