Body-horror movies have been killing it at the box office recently, with films likeThe Substancetranscending the usual barriers to find awards success as well as financial wins. Another film that dips a toe into this genre isA Different Man, starring MCU-favoriteSebastian Stanand Adam Pearson. The film scored an impressive 92% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, and has set up Stan as an awards contender, and now it is sitting on top of the Max chart after landing on the platform.
Described as a dark comedy psychological thriller,A Different Mansees Stan playing the role of Edward Lemuel, an aspiring actor with a severe facial disfigurement that he believes will crush his acting dreams. As Edward undergoes surgery to gain his “perfect” face, he discovers that his dream becomes a nightmare when the role he was born to play begins to slip away thanks to his new appearance.
The movie was originally screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and immediately gained strong reactions. Following several other festival appearances,A Different Manwas released in theaters by A24 in September 2024. The release only garnered a $1.3 million box office, which suggested that its arrival on streaming would be welcomed by those who did not catch it in cinemas. Having taken the top spot away fromGerard Butler’s 2018 action thrillerDen of Thievesand surpassed another unfairly treated box-office-dud-turned-streaming-success, Clint Eastwood’sJuror #2,A Different Manis now enjoying the kind of attention it clearly deserves.
‘A Different Man’ Is One of Sebastian Stan’s Best Performances
Part satire, part social commentary and part thriller,A Different Manis a movie that could have fallen into many pitfalls awaiting it. However, from the first reviews, it was clear that director Adam Schimberg had crafted a movie that was going to find a place among some big Oscar contenders thanks in part to Sebastian Stan’s central performance. AlongsideUnder the Skin’s Adam Pearson, Stan’s performance, initially, under a heap of prosthetics became the subject of many early comments on the movie.The Hollywood Reporter’s Jordan Mintzersaid of the film:
“The fact that Pearson is stricken with neurofibromatosis, and that Stan wore tons of makeup to mimic that condition, may raise a few eyebrows. And yet A Different Man is very much about art imitating life and vice-versa, contemplating the different masks — whether real or artificial — we put on when going out into the world.”
A Different Man Review: Ready the Trophies for Sebastian Stan & Adam Pearson
A24’s new dark comedy about a man’s radical transformation is a charming and unique experience that provides the versatile Stan a career-best turn.
A Different Man
An actor named Edward attempts to make himself a more marketable actor by having significant reconstructive surgery on his face, but the results leave much to be desired. Now, having lost the role of his dreams, Edward takes extreme measures to get it back as his obsession turns dark.
