Sebastian Stan

An encounter with one of the most successful Romanian-born Hollywood actors right now

Corina Sabău, 29.09.2018, 12:00

The guest of honor of this year’s edition of the
American International Film Festival, actor Sebastian Stan, had a number of
meetings with the Romanian audience, and talked about his Hollywood career, his
collaborations and meetings with famous actors and directors, such as Nicole
Kidman, Natalie Portman, Matt Damon or Michael Haneke. He was first cast in a
film at the age of 10, but the role that got him international fame was the one
in the American TV series Gossip Girl.
In the most recent film of the trilogy Captain
America, he plays the lead role, alongside Robert Downey Junior, Scarlet
Johanson, Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones.

In spite of the fact that Captain America, in
which he even has several lines in Romanian, is the film that brought him
international fame, Sebastian Stan counts on the less commercial films and
favors art films, even if they are low-budget. Sebastian Stan agreed to give an
interview in Romanian to the ambassador of the American International Film
Festival, journalist Andreea Esca:

At present, this type of films, the less
commercial ones, are difficult to make. This is hard even in the US, because
it’s the blockbusters that bring money, so most producers opt for them. Of
course, among these super-productions, there are very good films as well. But
the ones I grew up with are the type of The
Godfather, Goodfellas, landmark
films of the 1970s. So for me the film I,
Tonya, was an opportunity which you don’t come across very often in
America. This film tackles some very important themes. So I was very happy to
be a part of the team.

Sebastian Stan was born on August 13, 1982, in Constanta. He moved to
Vienna, together with his mother, when he was eight years old. When he was 10,
he played his first role in a film, 71 fragments of a Chronology of Chance, directed
by the world-famous Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke. Two years later, his
family crossed the Ocean and settled in Rockland County, New York. Sebastian graduated
from the Rutgers University in New Jersey and studied at Globe Theatre in
London for a year.

While in Bucharest, ahead of the
screening of the film I, Tonya, Sebastian Stan talked about his life and career.
He referred, among other things, to his special bond with the Romanian
language, as he spent the first four years of his life in Romania, a communist
country at the time. Years later, his friends in the film industry used to tease his, calling him the
communist.

When asked to
give some pieces of advice to budding actors, Sebastian Stan said it is
important to focus on the process and not on rewards or recognition. Two of the
Romanian directors whom he admires a lot are Corneliu Porumboiu and Cristian
Mungiu, but in order to play in a Romanian film he should spend at least a
month in Romania, to regain his Romanian accent.

(Translated by E. Enache & D. Vijeu)