Aaron Schimberg's fantastic black comedy a different man is one of the richest and strangest films of 2024: a film about a man who radically changes his appearance and his life, but is tormented by the success of someone who looks exactly like he used to be. It is a perfect viewing companion for The substanceanother dizzying, haunting film from 2024 about a beautiful changeling fighting an older version of herself. But Schimberg's take on the story is funnier and more realistic, built around believable performances and a situation steeped in both reality and fantasy.
Sebastian Stan (MCU Winter Soldier; Donald Trump in 2024 film) The apprentice) plays Edward, an actor with significant facial tumors who lives in isolation until he begins to meet his new neighbor Ingrid (The worst person in the world star Renate Reinsve). A radically new treatment for neurofibromatosis gives him a new face, so he takes on a new identity and finds success in every aspect of his life except his relationship with Ingrid, especially when a wildly popular and cheerfully charismatic man named Oswald (under the skin's Adam Pearson), who looks exactly like Edward used to be, enters their lives.
Like so many doppelgänger movies (Dual, Enemy, doubleand Cam immediately comes to mind), a different man finds horror at the idea of someone facing a more successful version of themselves that represents paths not taken and decisions not made. However, unlike most of those films, a different man It's tremendously funny, when it's not tragic or terrifying. Polygon sat down with Stan and his previous film partners Pearson and Schimberg (who worked together on the 2019 comedy-drama). Chained for life) at the 2024 Fantastic Fest film festival to discuss how they found the right tone for the film.
[Ed. note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
Polygon: A lot of this movie is about simmering and suppressing a lot of frustration about how the world works and how people work. It all leads to a rather unexpected cathartic point at the end. Sebastian, how did you approach that scene??
Sebastian Stan: Well, we do that all the time. We always repress things, all the time, so [in a role like this]just keep doing it more extensively.
But I think there are so many things you read that try to explain things. [in movies]. They are always overwritten. This often happens in bigger budget films, where the concern is always that the audience won't understand what's happening, so you need to make sure they do. I'm so grateful we didn't have to deal with that kind of thinking and focus on this. Because instead of [explaining the ending] —I think it's interpretation. People will identify with that moment or find things about it differently. You don't want to comment on it, tell people how you feel about it.
I will say it's interesting: Edward, Oswald, and Ingrid, they all strangely need each other, and they're all kind of planets that revolve around each other in a necessary way, whether there are all these other feelings there. It's a mix of emotions. It's not just one thing that motivates him at the end of the movie, it's many things. There is probably an internal struggle between being in awe of these people and, at the same time, feeling incredible hatred and anger towards them.
Image: A24/Everett Collection
After the Fantastic Fest screening, you mentioned in a Q&A that you worked with Adam to find out how Edward would have experienced life, given his condition. You said Adam was very generous with his life experience. What did you learn from him that was important when playing Edward?
Are: Well, one of the things that my task was (and Aaron mentioned this in the essay) was to discover [Edward’s] backstory. Who was Eduardo? How did you get this apartment, how did you decide to be an actor? What happened to your mother? There were these things that aren't in the script.
So I was researching and creating a backstory, looking at things online and talking to people who, for example, had dealt with weight issues and had lost weight drastically, and had an identity crisis as a result. And then I just absorbed everything I could that was online from anyone who was dealing with neurofibromatosis or any other ailment or disfigurement.
Many of those people were orphans. They spoke of having been abandoned by their families. So there were things there. But with Adam, I actually had someone by my side who I could ask questions about how he grew up or what he had experienced even on the playground.
[To Adam] I think my most important lesson was: you had a very strong support system in your family and in your mother, who, as I understand it, always said, “Look, you're going to walk through this room with your head held high, no matter what.” let it happen.” “It happens.” And a lot of people didn't have that.
But at the same time, that didn't necessarily mean that he didn't encounter the same set of stereotypical responses from everyone around him. For me personally, [the important lesson] Maybe it was understanding this property that Adam has over himself, in more ways, I think, than I have over myself or other people I know in the world. Maybe more than Edward too.
Adam, what was your side of that? What was important for you to see reflected in Edward or see in this film?
Adam Pearson: First of all, regarding the conversations Sebastian and I had, unless someone was really and truly honest, there was no point in having them. It can be very easy to water it down and skip the more visceral moments. Then it would have been an incredibly counterproductive effort.
And for me, a lot of that was just about trust. [To Stan] I can only give you so much information or equip you so far, and I need to take my hands off the shooting range and trust that you know what you're doing on your end. And luckily I arrived very quickly.
I think Sebastian has this warmth and integrity that goes beyond his years, beyond what you see in other actors. And then there's Aaron's excellent writing and understanding of the subject area. I had no qualms or fears that this could go the other way and become stereotypical or problematic. So yeah, you go in, you trust the material, you trust the people you're working with, and you come at it all with honesty, integrity, a clear head, and a full heart. And then you can't go wrong.
Aaron, the tone of this movie is very complicated. There's a lot going on with drama and comedy. How did the three of you work to get to the tone you wanted?
Aaron Schimberg: I agonize over the tone before I start writing. I don't agonize over how I'm going to do it. I'm so worried about what it will be like, and I'm so worried that I don't write. I procrastinate. And then eventually, when I can't take it anymore, I'll write a scene. And as soon as I start writing the scene, the tone comes to me.
I discovered that this is the truth, such as it is: everything I have written seems to come naturally. I think, on the one hand, I think that in every film that I make or project that I take on, I take something that is painful to me and that I want to explore and I put it under the microscope. It comes from a place of trauma or whatever, let's not overuse that word.
And then I also have a distance with it and a comical side. I want to make it light, I don't want to make it dark. And these two things together create this tone, you don't need to analyze it too much. And then I think the tone is set in the script, but then when I get everyone together, sometimes it leans a little more toward following and sometimes it leans a little more toward comedy. And I designed it that way. And my only job is to make sure there are guardrails up so it doesn't lean in one direction or so it doesn't get too heavy. And we make sure to bring it back: we put a comedic moment into something dark. But I also have to give it to my collaborators, who are capable of interpreting this tone.
He knew what Adam was capable of. I wrote the role for him. And the first time I spoke to Sebastian I knew he understood that tone. So that calmed me down. Sebastian's performance is both tragic and comic. [I had] a general fear about it, because without this tonal balance, everything falls apart. But I don't know if I'm controlling it as much as protecting it from falling apart.
That sounds a lot like what Adam said about dealing with imposter syndrome in last night's Q&A, about how the only people who never suffer from imposter syndrome are impostors.
Pearson: Yes. It is something very strange. I've been thinking about it a lot, because I approach everything with a certain degree of insecurity and nervousness. And for years it bothered me, like, You should have gotten over this feeling by now.. But then one of my friends took me aside and said, “If that feeling ever leaves you, you're not in the right place. Because it means you don’t care.”
a different man is now available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and other platforms.