The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff speaks with
A Different Man
writer-director Aaron Schimberg and co-stars Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson at Fantastic Fest 2024.
In
A Different Man
, an aspiring actor with NF1 undergoes reconstructive surgery in hopes of becoming more confident but is upstaged by another actor with the same condition.
During their conversation, Schimberg, Stan, and Pearson discuss working with A24, filming in 22 days, challenging scenes, and more.

For its darkly comedic swings, the A24 thriller A Different Man played to audiences at this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. While there, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sat down with writer and director Aaron Schimberg and the film’s co-stars, Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, to discuss telling this story through genre filmmaking and prioritizing the creative through their partnership with A24, and doing it all in a tight turnaround.

A Different Man tells the story of Edward (Stan), an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis (NF1). Edward’s facial disfigurement causes him day-to-day anxieties, and when he’s offered reconstructive treatment, it seems like the opportunity he’s been waiting for. After the procedure, Edward finds new confidence in himself and goes out for a play that just so happens to have been written about him prior to the surgery by his neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve). Just when he’s settling into this new life, however, Oswald (Pearson), a man with the same condition, begins to upstage him with his outstanding personality. Suddenly, Edward finds himself in a new nightmare.

During their conversation with Nemiroff, Schimberg, Stan, and Pearson discuss challenging scenes, how the crew reacted to that surprise cameo, and the visual language of a particularly sinister oner. They talk about teaming up with A24, channeling Buster Keaton, and Pearson weighs in on nailing Oswald’s too-good-to-be-true charms. You can watch the full interview in the video above or read the transcript below.

A24 “Really Did Prioritize the Creative” With ‘A Different Man’

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for A DIFFERENT MAN.]

PERRI NEMIROFF: Aaron, we’re at Fantastic Fest right now and it is a genre film festival, so I am curious, why did genre storytelling feel like the best way for you to explore the themes and ideas you wanted to in A Different Man ?

AARON SCHIMBERG: I don’t know that I ever considered it strictly in the genre realm, although all my films have played at genre festivals and my last film played at this festival and played quite well. I thought it was one of our best screenings. So, I’m very comfortable in this genre. To me, some people consider it a dark comedy, and there are certainly body horror elements, so I think it’s many different things.

Adam, I was watching another interview where it was mentioned that this is the very first time that Aaron has written a role specifically for a particular actor. What was your reaction to finding out he did that, and does it create more pressure when you know something was designed for you?

ADAM PEARSON: It’s always an honor or privilege to have something written for you, and the fact that it’s written by someone who I already love and respect as a writer, director, and human is the cherry on the proverbial cake. And, yeah, a lot of pressure because I’m like, “Okay, I fooled him with Chained for Life that I could act, and he’s properly called my bluff on this one. So now I’ve got to learn by doing it on the job.” And luckily, I had the Human Highlight Reel with Sebastian Stan to sort of bounce off and go with.

SEBASTIAN STAN: We were just going round and round.

Sebastian, you are a producer on this movie and that’s a very big deal. I believe this is your first film producing credit, right?

STAN: Yeah, it is.

What was it about the material that made you think you could best support it by being a lead actor in the movie and also a producer?

STAN: It kind of happened because everything was happening very quickly. I met Aaron and Vanessa [McDonnell], who’s a producer on the film as well, his wife, fairly early in the process. Then, I was lucky and fortunate to be included in some of the discussions, along with them and Christine Vachon, about “Where is the best place for this? When should we do it? How do we do it?” And then, fortunately, we met with A24. They were the only meeting we had, and they really were excited about it. They loved Chained for Life. Then, we sort of got going.

But in terms of your question, I guess because it was such a quick shoot of 22 days, and time was of the essence, sometimes, if you’re in the film, it helps a little bit because you’re part of the conversation, perhaps, behind the scenes a little bit more. And then when you do need to kind of pull some strings in the sense of maybe we keep shooting, maybe it doesn’t matter what day, what hour, you start shooting the next day. You can help with that a little bit, and that happened here a bit.

Is there anything you wished more sets had as an actor earlier on in your career that you will strive to bring to them as a producer going forward?

STAN: You’re always hoping to be on a set where the creative is a priority and is just as important as everything else, but it’s not always the case. Again, I wanna go back to A24 with that because they really did prioritize the creative, and we did feel that. I felt like Aaron had the time and space to prioritize that, and that doesn’t happen very often. So, maybe as a producer, if you’re also in it, you can help make sure that we’re all on the same page about that.

A24 always prioritizes the creative, and that’s what keeps me coming back for more!

Sebastian Stan Shares the Scene He Was Most Concerned About
Image via A24

This really does feel like a movie that does not work without a pitch-perfect lead trio. Aaron, I very much think you found that in the two of them and also Renate [Reinsve]. Sebastian and Adam, do you remember the very first moment, either in prep or on set, when you stopped, looked around at each other and said, “This feels right. We are the right team for this?”

PEARSON: We had a lot of Zoom meetings really early on to discuss the whole thing and the method and the affection and whatnot. But I think to me, it all felt really good that first day we all met at the theater and went through a few bits and pieces. Straight away, I felt really comfortable, and I was like, “Yeah, I’m in good hands here.”

STAN: I really wish I could remember what Aaron said that first day of rehearsal in the first theater that we used because you gave a very encouraging, rallying speech about, “Okay, we’re gonna go into this. This is the text, but feel free to bring what you need to bring with it, ‘This is what I know, this is what I don’t know.’” And I remember in that moment feeling like, “This is gonna definitely be really special because everybody wants this to turn out great. We’re all speaking the same language.”

Do you remember much about that speech and what you wanted to share with your team in order to see this through to the finish line?

SCHIMBERG: I don’t remember what I said during the speech, but I do remember that first rehearsal and feeling very emboldened by this cast that we assembled. I think I said something about, “I know what the characters do and say in the script, but other than that, I don’t know anything.” So, I let them come up with what they’re thinking and what their backstories are or whether they wanted to do that or not do that. I sort of stay out of that unless they want something from me in that regard.

Image via A24

I feel like, more often than not, folks in this industry say, “What does a director bring out of an actor?” I do think that’s applicable, but I also think the reverse applies, so, Aaron, what is something about the three of them that brought something new out of you as a director?

SCHIMBERG: Oh, all sorts of things. As a director, I think one of my jobs is to react to what I’m seeing and putting the pieces in place, and just encouraging what’s working and maybe discouraging if something isn’t working. With Sebastian, for instance, we shot much of the film out of order and there are two halves to this movie in a sense, so I couldn’t always track the way that Sebastian was building this character because we go at the end and then at the beginning again. So sometimes, I would move him in a direction that when I looked back at the footage, I’d say, “Oh, he was right the first time.” So, once we put it in order, he was doing things that I couldn’t quite see when we were just doing it sort of piecemeal in a sense.

Before digging into the ending, I did want to tease your characters a little more. Sebastian, I’ll come to you first. There’s a particular quote where you said, “On an emotional level, this was very new territory for me.” Going into filming, what scene did you think would be the most emotionally challenging for you, and ultimately, was it or did a different one catch you by surprise?

STAN: Many, many caught me by surprise in this. I think the whole theater sequence towards the end was definitely a scary one. Sometimes, you highlight a day of filming on a calendar, and you kind of stare at it every day as you get closer, and that was one of them. But I was always really concerned with that transition in the middle of the film where Edward goes through the changes that he goes through, and hoping that we were going to have enough there to make that bridge into the second half so that we could carry the audience and they would still feel like when he walks into that bar that it is the same guy, even though we’ve just taken them on this leap. So, that was really scary for me, but somehow I think it worked out.

What Was With That Michael Shannon Cameo?
Image via Focus Features

Adam, I wanted to ask you this question because I think it’s something you do exceptionally well. When we first meet Oswald, he’s a ray of light, and you’re effervescent in the role. Oswald basically feels like a perfect person to spend time with. What is the key to making him come across that way but doing it in a grounded and believable manner?

PEARSON: You try and act like a person you would wanna hang out with. You’re going in with a clear head and a full heart, and I’m sort of doing what I would normally do in the world, but really overblowing it slightly because you’ve gotta make things bigger so that the camera picks them up. But just come in, be witty, be funny, be charming. I think the accent does a lot of heavy lifting, as well.

I’ll start to teeter towards the end of the movie now. First, I’ll ask the cameo question to you, Aaron. How did Michael Shannon become the person who would fill that role?

STAN: Finally, someone actually asked that question!

Has no one asked that question?

STAN: Honestly, you’re the first one.

That’s genuinely shocking to me!

SCHIMBERG: He had seen my previous film, and we’d spoken, and I definitely wanted to work with him. I think he’s one of our greatest actors. I wrote the role of Oswald for Adam, and it was one of the first roles that I’d written for somebody, but I think in the back of my mind, that Michael Shannon part, I think I was thinking about him the whole time. It was very nice of him to come in and do this small part for us.

PEARSON: And I had no idea either! He was in the script as “famous actor.” I got in the day of that scene, and this guy was like, “Hey, Adam, come here. This is Michael Shannon!” I’m like, “Oh, what the hell, Aaron?” [Laughs]

SCHIMBERG: Another thing, I didn’t realize this, but I guess there was also a Marvel vs. DC face off in that scene.

STAN: I didn’t even think about that!

SCHIMBERG: But somebody mentioned this to me.

STAN: I was very excited. I went up to him, and I was like, “Hey, I just…” and he was very overwhelmed, I think. He was like, “We’ll speak later.” [Laughs] And I was like, “Oh my god.”

You could not have found a better person in this industry for that particular role.

SCHIMBERG: I think he worked out perfectly, and I think if we hadn’t gotten him, I don’t know what we would’ve done.

Edward “Is Constantly Revealing Who He Is” in ‘A Different Man’
Image via A24

The next moment I wanted to hit was figuring out the right time and the right way for Guy to finally say, “I’m Edward,” even though it goes unheard. People hear him, but they don’t actually let it sink in and believe.

SCHIMBERG: I’m glad you’re saying this because the question I get the most is, “Why doesn’t he reveal who he is?” And my answer is that he’s constantly revealing who he is, but nobody’s taking him seriously. Maybe he’s not pushing it but it’s also not like him to really push it. He puts it out there, and nobody’s responding, and it’s very like Edward of him to just go back into himself and not push it. But in various ways, he says it several times.

STAN: The first time that I always felt was really sincere and genuine is during the audition when he goes on. I think he is saying the truth. But also, the circumstances of that moment allow him to give him the confidence to own it because he’s still behind a mask. But again, that’s why I loved the script so much. A moment like that, for instance, for an actor, with everything that’s going on, he’s wearing a mask of his previous self, and he’s telling her, and she’s like, “Yeah, I get it,” and he’s like, “No, I’m telling you the truth!” There are so many layers to that to unpack, so even when you go back and you watch the movie, you will pick up on things that you didn’t before because the characters are communicating in subtext in different scenes, as well.

Sebastian Stan Channels Buster Keaton for ‘A Different Man’
Image via Sundance

I want to go to the stabbing scene next. Aaron, I’ll give you my first question on that. This is hyper-specific. I don’t know how much you thought this through. You capture it somewhat in a oner, and the way that it is in the film is the trainer’s in the scene, and then Guy comes in with the knife. Why do it that way and not the reverse, where we’re with Guy when he gets the knife and makes the decision and then goes over to the trainer?

SCHIMBERG: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I never thought about it. I think I always knew it was going to be this way. For one thing, it’s a different way of building suspense. I think you can sense that something is happening. You don’t really know why we’re following this physical trainer, but I guess we’re seeing him in his final moments, although it’s unclear, I guess, if he dies or not. But I don’t know. It’s the way I thought about it. It’s a good question. I never considered it any other way.

That kind of paves the way to a question for you, Sebastian. In the moments before, what are you thinking about trying to convey in order to justify why he would take such drastic actions there?

STAN: It’s a tricky one because you don’t want to try to convey too much with it. I think it’s amazing the way it’s shot, and it was structured because it, without knowing, subconsciously, sort of seduces the audience. It takes their focus away and puts it in a certain situation to amplify that coming out of nowhere. But in terms of performance, Aaron kind of gave me this Buster Keaton thought for actually a lot of situations, but really, in that time when Edward, after the ceiling falls on him, almost goes into kind of a shock, in a sense, and is really numb to some extent. You don’t really know what he’s thinking or what he’s feeling, or you’re trying to read it. But there’s something interesting about trying to make the choice of him having a certain neutral, almost lack of emotion, kind of state of mind throughout that situation.

Adam Pearson Hints Oswald May Not Be So Innocent
“He’s a bit of a social maneuverer.”
Adam, even after everything Guy has done, when he returns and they bump into each other for the first time in many years, Oswald embraces him. There is basically no judgment of what he’s done. Oswald is just there for him. What do you think makes Oswald such a forgiving person and willing to welcome him back into his life with open arms like that?

PEARSON: I think Oswald is sort of forgiving, but I also think he’s a bit of a social maneuverer. He’s always in the right place at the right time. I think is his idea is, “Cool, Guy’s back. Let’s go give him a hug and kind of keep him around.” Guy is more useful to Oswald in his life than not in his life. I think Oswald’s a lot more manipulative than people may be giving credit for.

I was determined to end on this particular question because it was inspired by the very first interview we conducted at Fantastic Fest this year, and I just think it’s a beautiful idea. The first movie that came in was The Rule of Jenny Pen . It stars Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, and their director, [James Ashcroft], explained that these two acting titans are so great and can see the joy they have when they’re on set doing their work. For each of you, what single day of making A Different Man brought you the most joy as a creative?

PEARSON: Oh, wow!

STAN: I mean, every day. I think we were all exhausted at the end, but I also remember being genuinely sad that it was over but relief that we got there.

PEARSON: Totally! Because my last day was the karaoke scene, and then we go just rousing round the streets and then I made you sign a bunch of stuff in my trailer that had nothing to do with A Different Man. And it was kind of, “Oh, so this is goodbye?” And you were like, “For now, my friend. For now.” So, I really like that fight scene. I think that’s such a good little scene.

STAN: [Laughs] There are so many good pieces! Especially when you have your hand out.

PEARSON: “Come inside! Come inside! Cool, cool.” Then you run at me. The most ridiculous line in the film is when Oswald goes, “I didn’t know my own strength!” [Laughs]

STAN: Also, Renate was super fun. She really is one of those actors that I think just really enjoys people, enjoys being on set and working and connecting. I don’t remember her ever not having a smile on her face, even when we were under pressure and trying to figure things out. So, she’s great energy and obviously phenomenal in the film.

Without a doubt.

PEARSON: She’s amazing.

SCHIMBERG: I do think, for as much pressure as there was to do this — we had 22 days — everybody had an upbeat attitude, and that really saved us. Everybody — the actors, lead actors, but the crew as well. For me, the love scene is one scene where, when I was watching it, I realized what kind of movie we were making. For me, it was not a scene that had a lot of weight on the page. It just seemed like a short, quarter-of-a-page scene with not a lot of dialogue in it. Also, it’s a heavy scene between the actors, but the way that they were just so professional and willing to go there, and then when I’m watching it unfold, I thought, “Okay, I didn’t realize what we were doing or what we had,” and I really felt confidence after that.