As Sarah wrote last week in her post pegged to his Variety cover, Sebastian Stan has kicked off his Oscar campaign as he has two films he’s promoting right now: A Different Man and The Apprentice. She also pointed out that it’ll probably be The Apprentice for which he gets the most attention, even though he’s already won an award (in Berlin) for his performance in A Different Man. Because, of course, in The Apprentice, he plays a young(er) Donald Trump.
Sebastian has spoken thoughtfully about portraying a person that, in these parts, we consider a monster. Sarah has written often about how well he does in these “rich asshole” roles. Because he doesn’t treat them as caricatures – and in doing so he makes them more human, more tangible, and therefore even more harmful. That’s how he approached Trump but it’s one thing convey those ideas on set, in the performance, it’s another to have to promote it.
Sebastian was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. Talking about the acting process is different when you’re doing a print interview and have more time. On a late night talk show, when you only have eight to ten minutes or so, and when it’s television, which is a whole different artform because people are tuning in for a quick high, to be ENTERTAINED, going on about process is… well… it’s a challenge.
Jimmy jokes about Trump almost every night, he mocks him mercilessly. He’s a comedian, obviously, so the way he covers Trump is by leaning into his foolery. And that was Jimmy’s tone in his interview with Sebastian. But Sebastian’s not a comedian, and his performance as Trump isn’t comedic. I mean, sure, there may be elements of the ridiculous in it, but as he says, he tried to find a common truth in the person so as to extract some bigger ideas about what choices we all have as human beings who want to do better by other human beings. These are choices that Donald Trump actively refuses to make – but to play him, and to ground him, Sebastian wasn’t going for the laughs.
So the interview, to me, reads awkward, which Sebastian kind of acknowledges at one point when he admits that he was “anxious” to come on Kimmel and talk about the film. It’ll be interesting to see as we get deeper into the campaign whether or not he gets more comfortable. And if his interviews, if he’s still doing them, change or not depending on what happens with the election. On a lighter note? My GOD he looks hot.
