At a press conference during the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, Sebastian Stan shared his thoughts on returning to the festival, this time as the lead in Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord," a film that has garnered rave reviews. The actor, who previously played Donald Trump in "The Apprentice," revealed that he is still grappling with the role that brought him to Cannes last time, just months before the 2024 election.
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter how his understanding of the president has changed since then, Stan's response was met with laughter from the press room. However, he quickly regained a serious tone, stating that the current political climate is not a laughing matter.
"We're in a really, really bad place," he said. "The consolidation of the media, censorship, threats, and seemingly endless lawsuits are all signs that we're living in a divided society where people have stopped trying to understand each other."
Stan explained that the creative team experienced this firsthand with "The Apprentice," going through a period where they were unsure if the film would even be allowed to premiere at the festival.
In "Fjord," Stan plays Mihai, a conservative Christian father of five who faces Norway's progressive and draconian child protective services. The film raises questions about who is more guilty of imposing their values on others: the conservative family praying in school or the progressive system taking their children away.
The film received a standing ovation of nine and a half minutes at its premiere on Monday night and is currently the frontrunner to win the Palme d'Or. Mungiu based the film on years of news reports, particularly those he read about Norway, where children of immigrants raised in traditionalist families were taken from their parents.
During the press conference, Stan described how the film had been a personal journey for him, as he was born in Romania and moved to Vienna with his single mother, a pianist, before finally settling in Rockland County, New York. He found that film was a way for him to learn more about his country.
Stan had been a fan of Mungiu's work for years and welcomed the opportunity to speak some Romanian onscreen and rehearse in Romania. He and co-star Renate Reinsve visited Pentecostal churches for research, but much of his performance was based on his own upbringing.
"Even though my time was split between America, Vienna, and Romania, I still grew up with pretty traditional Romanian upbringing, so I understood a lot of what was going on in the script," he said.
The actor has been reflecting on having children and trying to understand what it means to be a parent in today's world. He and girlfriend Annabelle Wallis revealed that they are expecting a child just one night before the premiere, when they went to the Kering Women in Motion dinner and revealed she's pregnant.
When asked by a Spanish journalist if he's experienced being ostracized for his accent or language skills, Stan replied, "I think you're talking about discrimination on all levels, which is sort of happening around all of us."
As an actor, he struggles to understand his role in stopping discrimination. "I'm an actor — whatever — but I'm not on the front lines, I'm not in an operating room, I'm not being shot at," he said. "But this is my medium, this is my lane, and all I can do is try to involve myself in movies that bring up conversations and different points of view."
He was reminded of a quote he heard about art once: that it doesn't have to solve problems but just embody them correctly. "And I think as long as we can continue to do that fearlessly, then I think we can actually push back against those things."
