Behold, it is Sebastian Stan, outside in Los Angeles. The last time we saw him was at Kevin Feige’s Walk of Fame ceremony, which precipitated Marvel’s triumphant return to Hall H at Comic-Con.
There, the trailer for Thunderbolts*, which represents his next outing as Bucky Barnes, was very well received. Granted, Hall H is a deeply biased audience, but having spoken to people who have seen the film as a work in progress, I am inclined to believe that Thunderbolts* might legit be good. One person described it as “Guardians vibes”, another said it’s what he assumes Warner Brothers/DC Films wanted Suicide Squad to be the first time around. He said it’s fun and the ensemble is GREAT. Like, the potential for a viral press tour is high, the cast genuinely enjoy each other. (Hearing this about Fantastic Four, too, that the cast is locked in and determined to be the ones to really make it work this time.)
But that’s for next year, as Thunderbolts* doesn’t come out until next May. It just occurred to me Marvel made their villain/anti-hero team-up flick their big summer release, and wow, that IS a vote of confidence, especially after the last couple years, when they really need a winning streak. Anyway, Sebastian’s next film is the identity drama A Different Man, due out in a month. So far, this film has garnered Sebastian some of the best reviews of his career. He might even make an Oscar run, we’ll see. Managing momentum from September till next March is tough but not impossible, and right now, every category is wide open. There’s no consensus yet on what this award season will look like, especially with some films sprinting to the finish to make a late December release date.
This will change drastically over the next few weeks, as the Venice Film Festival kicks off next week, followed rapidly by Telluride and TIFF, and we’ll finally get a look at the major contenders. And then will come the blockbuster hopefuls like Wicked and Gladiator II, which is getting an early leg up because Gladiator was a major Oscar film, winning Best Picture in 2001, but the Oscar landscape is very different (read: less blockbuster friendly) now, and Ridley Scott is not a consistent director. A visual genius, yes, but the output is not reliable. Gladiator II LOOKS good, but every time Ridley Scott makes a film, the gods flip a coin and so on.
As for Sebastian Stan and his prospects, for now it’s all on A Different Man. No one has bought the Trump movie he made, still. Eventually, it will sell to a distributor, probably right after the election should Trump lose. I actually can’t wait for that scenario, because 1) Trump losing, and 2) just to see the inevitable craven posturing the distributor engages in to seem like waiting until after the election was ever about anything except not risking Trump’s ire in case he won. If he loses, you just know someone will pretend to be a hero for releasing that movie when it’s like, where were you BEFORE the election? I still have deep misgivings about making ANY movie about Trump, but at least Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and the rest of the cast had the stones to make it.
