'Avengers' star Sebastian Stan on landing the life-changing role of Bucky Barnes

and you have to wait for the credits you do have to wait to the credits like I said it's not something my mom did when she went see that movie what do you mean she said no I'm not going through the credits no she didn't know she had to wait for the credits so she missed you completely did hi everybody I'm Peter Travers and this is popcorn where we tell you what's happening at the movies and there's a little movie called Avengers infinity war now maybe you've heard of it maybe haven't but you know just look around and you'll see lines of people going to see it my guest today Sebastian Stan he's in this movie and he plays Bucky Barnes he plays the Winter Soldier he plays the white wolf or they're all the same person but look at you schizophrenic with all of these people I've always believed that but not because of this movie that's from my own personal progress no but yeah I guess it's fitting for the character if that's the case then I don't know yeah well I guess it is fitting I just meant as actor actors must have some kind of professional schizophrenia because all those characters are alive in you you know well you I'm looking at you I see Jeff and I Tania oh I see Carl's amazing oh oh come on that's not a good come on we're gonna turn on Gossett listen I would really not try to use my filmography to to understand me otherwise you know it wouldn't be good you know I do get cast as these think I I don't know I've never really tried to figure out why I end up in certain things you know I just I just do I just think to me of the three that I mentioned they're all kind of rat bastards in their own way yes what why would they see that in you special that's a good question I don't know because III don't know because I was never really as far as I know like that in real life you know I mean I just I've been around a lot of people like that when I was growing up so maybe it was sort of something that I kind of saw and then finally found a way to put forward I I don't know I just or maybe with great charms well Joe that really helps because when I'll talk about the Avengers first because this character I'm a big fan of the Captain America yeah yeah I think they're really really good and the the sense of what goes on in Winter Soldier and civil yeah well those were my favorite too yeah and they've been what you're seeing with your character is somebody's brainwashed to be the bad guy brainwashed yeah but you know the thing about those movies is that even though they're that's the those are the comic books there's so many parallels to real life I mean you know I mean that there's kind of when you look into the Cold War history and you look at sort of Vietnam or you know post-traumatic stress disorder and I mean there's there's a lot of history to it and and Ed Brubaker who resurrected my character Bucky Barnes because he originally died and then years later they brought him back as this Winter Soldier was I think really study the Cold War and was very obsessed with that era and so you know it's got a little bit up Manchurian Candidate thing going for it and the thing that kind of blows my mind all the time it's like sort of a conventions or even sometimes on the street you know I'll run into people who who actually have come back from war and have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and they'll come and say to me you know it's so interesting watching this because it really brings me back or it makes me feel like you know better about some things or it's helped me dealt with certain things in my life so you know it even though they're comic book movies there's sort of this other layer to it that I think is you know full of other depth so to speak in the best then they resonate with the audiences it really does because it's it's a parallel to what's going on with Steve Rogers / Captain America and what's going on with you a friendship a friendship I can't actually survive when terrible things have happened - well yeah and I mean look it's just so interesting isn't it like even the dichotomy of Steve Rogers and Captain America I mean like it's just it's just interesting that we're in this time right now that these movies are sort of coming out and they've really popped out and it and you know you can ask that question well who is Captain America really which is what that character does at this point you know what what does it mean to be Captain America in a way and in a way we're all asking ourselves and what does it mean to be American you know so it's like there's definitely all these other things to it that I think sometimes you know not to point to it but you can just throw a name on top of the film and say oh it's a popcorn movie you know and it is it's there too for your escapism and all these things but what I'm saying there's all these layers to these characters and sometimes people I think may or may not see that I don't know I think they do see it because I think the interest that happens when we get to see everybody together yeah an infinity war is that even if like in black panther you're in it for what for a second yeah but we breathe but I mean yeah and you have to wait for the credits you do have to like I said it's not something my mom did when she went to see that movie what do you mean she said no I'm not going through the credits no she didn't know she had to wait for the credits so she missed you completely did yeah so you have to stay for the credits and then I didn't say mom it's really important if you want to see well I didn't I didn't say that you're right I should have maybe said that but you know I learned that a long time ago cuz I remember when Ironman when some of the movies came out first before I was ever involved I I hadn't waited for the credits and then I learned that I have to stay for them especially at the end of this one I think there's a real togetherness though in infinity war yeah it's a different of when you're doing Captain America movie and we might see a couple because everybody it's the culmination so far of these past 10 Marvel years and so and I think that's what makes it special probably for the fans as well as when you are seeing these people together you are seeing you know that these people have actually spent this amount of time together as actors and as characters and then it's what you've invested in these characters for ten years so it's you wouldn't be able to have a movie like this if you didn't have the history as my point but what happens being a member of what everybody calls to the MCU the Marvel Cinematic Universe how is it basically changed your life can you go out and people don't come up to you and say you're Bucky Barnes no I do it does happen for sure you know it does happen more and more and it happens when these movies are out simultaneously you know but I don't it's it's definitely changed my life I feel it a lot in my work and stuff you know in terms of you know you mentioned I Tanya before I mean it's it's arguable you know I had a movie like that come on my radar you know what would I have come up on their radar had I not had some of the exposure from these films I don't know what you do in I Tanya is something that took me totally by surprise well that's good you're playing somebody who we don't look at and say what a swell guy you know and yeah I mean certainly it was a very yeah for me anyway you made me understand them well that's in a way that it's very difficult to do they were always trying yeah I mean you're always trying to I think when you're playing a difficult character you're always posing that question which is why would someone do this you know what what makes a person behavior sort of behave a certain way you know I think even with serial killers you'd ask that question you because you it's just you know it's fascinating but it's you go why why why you know and so that was you know a I'm happy to hear that because I thought it was very difficult and I think one of the things with Margo and the director we were always worried about is how do we tell the story without alienating the audience entirely and then also make and also have people understand why it was such a toxic and yet at times maybe even a good relationship for these people I mean and you learn that from her past you know unfortunately we do drama continues in your adulthood and then you sometimes seek the very thing that you want escape and that's the big yes I mean taking on that question of domestic violence which we see that happen to be hard to play it was it was hard to play I mean I think you know there were two ways we could look we could have looked at it you know and and there was a reality part of it which we couldn't ignore obviously of the story that this happened these are real people and so on and you know and then kind of the Craig Gillespie the director had a great idea which was like look we got to think of this movie in the in the same world totally as perhaps the Coen Brothers movies you know we have to look at it from a we have to embrace it from a dark possible humor perspective otherwise because we're not making a documentary then you just can't you can't serve that issue topic and story that way and do it justice so we're making a movie of what we're hearing - people say contrasting things of then we'll never know the truth of so so it was very important for us to understand that tone you know that yes we're gonna there's gonna be violence in it but I think if we keep pointing a light that how ridiculous some of the choices that these people were making you know then we can kind of still come away with you know and make art of it so to speak where did this start you mentioned Romanian that your friend Romania so you know I haven't had many people in that chair that have said that oh by the way you know Peter I'm from romaine you know so how do you get from Romania to the Marvel Cinematic Universe what's this no I look it's a lot of luck for sure and and there's definitely some hard work you know I mean I've had a lot of luck with it you know it took me 14 years I'll give you this will hopefully capture it I you know it took me 14 years to go back to Romania my last time I was there was in 2004 so and there was that one other time I wanted to go back I was like very close to go back to Romania and that was when we were shooting I was doing a movie in early 2010 in in Germany and I just said all right I'm gonna go back to Romania I'm close enough and then I had a I had a you know I got a phone call and it was the Captain America people and they said you know I'd sent in three tapes I made three auditions from Germany to LA auditioning for the Steve Rogers role oh so you made love the cap well that was the only role that was auditioning but then they said look if you want we can have you go in the room so would you want to come in now but you'd have to come this day you know and so I ended up canceling the Romania trip fly him back you know and then getting in the room which led to the screen test but if I had not done that and I've gone Romania earlier you know then I may be wouldn't have been in this movie I don't I'm so I'm just saying there's so many circumstances that happen sometimes where you know it's luck or it's you know it's sliding doors and it's sometimes like things happen but and then you know it's not it's not easy you hear no all the time I mean you're well where are you in Wendy when you say I want to act I mean I heard that you I wasn't there I didn't want it when I I left when I was 8 and also you weren't up for many roles in it no no I was not other than the roles that my mom was having me play at home you know in imitating people but she was already fostering this talent that you hadn't well I think she saw that I was very you know impatient and had a lot of energy I think the word would be a TD but I don't think I don't think I actually had a TD but I don't know but but channeling it but she was like oh you know there's a lot of energy going on so like it seems like he's a very expressive person so I guess she was trying to kind of give it give it a some perimeter you know but I but it wasn't until I came back I got here 95 and really a 97 I believe or 98 when I was 15 that I went to stage-door Manor which was a they made the movie campus yeah yeah and that's really what that's really what solidified it for me but that camp that's where I met my manager for 17 years and you know she started sending me out and you know instead of she was also very supportive that I went to guide that I go to college had she been different had she told me you know I should move into the city now I mean so I think when you're asking it's a big question you know I think I think it is a lot it comes down to sometimes being at the plate the right place the right time and then when you are in the right place the right time making hopefully the right decision yeah you have no accent at all well yeah where's Romania I don't know I have an action when I speak Romanian dude so it's flipped no yeah you just say hello how are you in Romanian she Gurkhas ah bueno Z watch watch it's when I've lost our thoughts for the Venus those I said you look great today it's a little more fresh because I because I went there literally this past weekend so how did you feel when you went back it's been a long time then it was a long time and and it was you know the the the feelings that I had were just now kind of starting to digest and settle in but it's uh it's wild I mean the humbling is is really the major word that I take from that because a I think it's very different than I remember it and and second of all I just did not expect to be embraced by the people there in the in the way that I thought I was you know and and and also just to see kind of the journey it was very emotional at times for me and so but it was but it but I broke the ice you know and I thought that was that that was a good part I broke the ice in the sense that now I feel like I have a connection to it again and an opportunity to kind of reestablish something over there in a sense of place with it did you grow up with the Marvel Universe did you did you read these things when you were a kid so we didn't have comic books I didn't have comics calling up so I wish I did yeah no no I didn't so you didn't get into a - you were actually cast in it yeah I knew nothing about in America until I went out auditioning for it yeah which is then I started kind of looking into it and reading it and and understanding how you know it's such a massive thing I mean the things that I had growing up were like I mean you know Power Rangers I remember that and then in Vienna I remember watching Beverly Hills 90210 I mean I was 9 10 years old I'm watching better Hillshire natural segue yeah I don't know if that's watch that tape right that's it probably a reason why my relationships have been great just kidding um no but uh no but but but what I was going to say was yeah I think you I always saw in Moore I didn't grow up with the regular stuff you know I didn't I've never seen a wonder years or something you know for example you know what I was getting at is sometimes as an actor you can you can reach a place where you do something that resonates for you personally payoff the character yeah well that's why everybody always asks me you know what what advice do you have as an actor and I always go you know try to it's who you surround yourself with you know what you what do you you know what are you reading what are you watching if you are watching movies what which actors what are you watching all that stuff I think helps kind of what you said it's like what you put in your mind is what so you were watching a lot of those classic actor of course yeah I mean you know it was all you know the 70s to me were great I mean the Francis Coppola movies did the Martin Scorsese movies you know in any of those movies and feeling the French Connection all those The Birdcage is an amazing movie my first two movies in the theater were Jurassic Park mrs. Doubtfire okay that explains a lot yeah so one day when you're deep into therapy yeah why those tunes why are you dressing like an older woman yeah thought that will come up well you've never been on this show so I'm happy thank you don't know it ends in song constantly does it it does always does right people yeah they support me in that now you can do anything a little piece of anything but I was hoping for something in Romanian but I guess it stage-door Manor there weren't a lot of remaining oh no way I mean what did you sing when you were in musical theater at stage-door Manor what was your first I'll tell you but i but i but I don't remember any of the songs well I did grease that was the first money a little bit of that we go together like ramma lamma lamma shoot at remote no that's not it that was the option yeah that one or what was the one that the the main one didn't didn't the the Rhys lightning yeah I can't remember that one either no there now I'm on the spot I'm like and I go to karaoke all the time do you really what do you what do you like to do karaoke that all I'll sing like I'll be like you know the door or the doors will be great you know you say that a would be on true they say that it would if you wouldn't be alive come on baby light my fire perfect yeah that's it that's the perfect way to go light my fire there are clues into everything he's saying as to what's gonna happen in the next oh good god yeah great you know everything I say I know it has a clue that's the truth thank you so much to have absolutely a pleasure thank you you [Music]

Channel: Popcorn with Peter Travers

Views: 295,360

Keywords: Avengers, Infinity War, Sebastian Stan, Bucky Barnes, Popcorn ABC, Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Id: psa27afkCRE

Length: 19min 20sec (1160 seconds)

Published: Fri May 11 2018