Sebastian Stan Defends Costar Adam Pearson’s Condition After Reporter Uses Term "Beast" in Interview

Sebastian Stan is hoping his new film will encourage an insightful point of view. 

After a Berlin-based reporter hastily referred to Sebastian’s A Different Man character—who is supposed to initially look like costar Adam Pearson, who in real life has a rare genetic condition Neurofibromatosis that causes tumors to grow in the nervous system and skin—as a “so-called beast” during a press conference, Stan used the opportunity to discuss the message of the film. 

“I have to call you out a little bit on the choice of words there,” Sebastian said during the February press conference in a video that recently went viral. “I think part of why the film is important is because we often don’t have even the right vocabulary. I think it’s a little more complex than that, and obviously there’s language barriers and so on and so forth but ‘beast’ isn’t the word.”

The reporter—who said he “really liked” the film and thought it was “interesting”—nodded along to Sebastian’s words as the actor continued.

“I think to some extent it shows us—that’s one of the things the film is saying,” Sebastian added. “We have these preconceived ideas and we’re not really educated on how to understand this experience.”

And the actor also pushed back on the reporter’s take that his character had a “lack of appreciation” and “love” for himself at the beginning of the movie, while he still had his facial tumors. 

“The things that you’re saying about him at the beginning, that’s your interpretation,” The Fresh actor added. “One might have a different interpretation of what he’s going through. That might not be it. It might’ve been just for you. I can’t really speak to that. I think it’s just one of the things I love about the movie.”

Sebastian concluded with more insight on his character and the film as a whole. 

“It’s that he’s offering you a way to look at it, and hopefully if you can have the same objective point of view while you’re experiencing the film,” he noted. “Then maybe you can pick apart initial instincts that you have and maybe those aren’t always the right ones.” 

Elsewhere during the conference, Adam also emphasized that he didn’t think there was one decisive takeaway from the film, praising the film’s director Aaron Schimberg. 

“I think it would be really easy to make this film a little bit more campaigny or shouty and get on a soapbox,” he said. “A good film will change what an audience thinks in a day, but a great film will change how an audience thinks for the rest of their lives, and Aaron Schimberg is in the great film business.”