Berlin – Le magazine Hollywood Reporter

Berlin – Le Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood a long history of casting and rewarding able-bodied actors to portray disabled characters. In the Best Actor category alone at the Oscars, there’s Daniel Day-Lewis for « My Left Foot, » Eddie Redmayne in « The Theory of Everything, » Colin Firth for « The King’s Speech, » and Jamie Foxx for « Ray. » Throughout the history of the Oscars, only three disabled actors have received the trophy for Best Performance for portraying a disabled character.

Director Aaron Schimberg notes that screen portrayals of disfigured people, as seen in his latest film « A Different Man, » are still largely practiced by able-bodied people with prosthetics. « On the other hand, » he continues, « when I cast disfigured actors, people have labeled it as exploitation, which seems to go against all this talk of representation that we have. » For his new film, he wanted to explore the complexities of this sometimes counterproductive conversation.

Schimberg’s « A Different Man, » which will be screened on February 16 at the Berlin Film Festival, follows Edward (played by Sebastian Stan), an aspiring actor with a disfigured face who, after undergoing reconstructive surgery, starts a new life only to become obsessed with an actor (Adam Pearson) who portrays him in a play based on his former life.

« This is a subject I’ve explored in my previous films. In fact, in all my films, » says Schimberg, whose previous film « Chained for Life » centered around an actress struggling to connect with her disfigured co-star, also played by Pearson, the British actor and activist whose neurofibromatosis has caused facial disfigurement.

For « A Different Man, » Schimberg says he wants to « explore the idea of identity. To what extent is our definition of self influenced by how others define us, especially if the general consensus is against you. Can we stand alone in defending our own dignity against the judgment of others? »

He adds that films and storytelling can perhaps force the audience to confront their prejudices. « By watching other films about prejudice, if you show a character acting in a harmful or cruel way towards someone – for example, a person with facial disfigurement in a film – the audience will distance themselves from that behavior, even if deep down, they may have similar opinions. »

His pitch to A24 for « A Different Man » was simple: by the end of the film, Stan will be jealous of Pearson, and the audience will fully feel and understand that jealousy.

« In not many scenarios do you get to not predict what’s going to happen, » Stan says of the script. « And I thought if I could just get what he was looking for with this, then I knew that something new was going to come out of me that I hadn’t been able to do before. »

Stan, of course, is best known for his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bucky Barnes. While « A Different Man » is clearly a departure from the world of blockbuster films, he says he signed on immediately after reading the script. With a tight shooting schedule to adhere to, just six weeks after Stan joined the project, he and Schimberg began shooting the film, which lasted 22 days, in New York.

But before getting to that first day in front of the cameras, they had to find a central element: the prosthesis that Stan would wear during the first half of the film.

« The prosthesis was something that when I was writing the script, I thought, ‘Eventually, this will be figured out in some way,' » says Schimberg. « But we’re three weeks out from shooting, and I’m like, ‘What are we going to do here? There’s no movie without this prosthesis.’ Luckily, Stan, who is also a producer on the film, had a solution in prosthetic designer and makeup artist Michael Marino, whose recent credits include transforming Colin Farrell into the Penguin for ‘The Batman.' »

Stan says the prosthesis helped him establish Edward’s physicality, how he moved and interacted with the world. « You have one-eyed vision, and you don’t see someone coming from the other side as quickly, » explains the actor, who even briefly wore the prosthetic while walking around New York, allowing him to firsthand see how people interacted with him. The prosthesis even influenced his performance in the second half of the film, after Edward undergoes reconstructive surgery. « Even if the prostheses had physically disappeared, they would still be there for him (mentally). »

Another major challenge for « A Different Man » was shooting in New York, which Schimberg wasn’t sure he could pull off while writing the film.

« I come from an indie filmmaking background. So, when I’m writing a script, I think, whatever location I’m using for a scene, I think money, » explains the director, who initially thought about doubling the location in Toronto or Albuquerque. But A24 and production company Killer Films managed to make an outdoor shoot work. While most of the film’s action takes place in nondescript apartments, black box theaters, and parks, it is filled with the grunge and character that are deeply rooted in New York. « In fact, I find it to be a pretty realistic depiction of New York, » says Schimberg. « But I think that comes from the fact that I was trying to write my way out of New York. »

After casting Stan and Pearson, the production needed to find Ingrid, Edward’s neighbor, a playwright who turns her time with Edward into a play. After Stan signed on, he asked Schimberg if he had seen « The Worst Person in the World, » the 2021 film by Joachim Trier with Renate Reinsve. « He said yes. And I said, ‘Okay, we have to have her,' » recalls Stan.

They indeed got Reinsve, but the busy schedules of the three actors, along with an accelerated pre-production schedule, required a complex shooting schedule. « I think we had everyone together for two weeks, » remembers Schimberg, who adds they had one day of rehearsal with the three lead actors. But Stan didn’t mind. « I remember Aaron came and said something I had never heard a director say before, which was very helpful at the time. (He) essentially sat down and said, ‘I wrote this thing. You guys are the actors. But we’re all here now and we have to take ownership of this.' »

« A Different Man » premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film observed that Schimberg « manages to thread things together by asking the same question, in different ways, right up to the very last scene: What’s in a face? »

Inside the Park City’s Eccles Theater, which can hold over 1,200 people, the director says it was difficult to gauge how his film was being received. « I really didn’t know what people felt, so it was kind of nerve-wracking, » he says. « But that’s also why I made this film: so people could bring their own experience to it. »

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