Sebastian Stan Confirms What We All Suspected About Darren Aronofsky's On-Set Behavior
Judging strictly by his films — which include "Requiem for a Dream," "The Wrestler," and "mother!" — you might assume that filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is a pretty intense guy. He's generally believed to be an exacting, Kubrickian artist on-set, focused on the smallest details that a typical director might not think about at all. It can be a challenging but rewarding experience for an actor to work with a director like that, which is why it's interesting to learn about how Sebastian Stan, who had a small role in Aronofsky's 2010 film "Black Swan," thinks about it now more than a decade after the fact.
Viewers of Stan's recent appearance on the web series "Hot Ones" were treated to the inside scoop of what his experience on the set of "Black Swan" was like, and it's pretty much in line with how most of us assumed Aronofsky is like on set.
Stan says he was 'really impressed' by the director's methods
"Hot Ones" host Sean Evans asked Sebastian Stan, "What distinguishes Darren Aronofsky's process as a director? You said of working on 'Black Swan,' 'I had to not be scared of him.'"
Stan at first seems surprised to have the film brought up, as it was many years ago and he had a bit part, compared to his leading roles nowadays. "I just have this sort of scene between these two guys, you know, they go and they meet Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman – actually that in itself was kind of a scary scene," explains Stan. The actor went on to say that he considered his role in the film an important step in his career as an actor, and he made sure to prepare and bring his best into the job.
With Aronofsky at the helm, that became an exciting challenge, since the filmmaker "had a whole character breakdown written out for both of us," according to Stan, even though the parts were very small. He adds that Aronofsky "had a whole history of how we got there to that scene, what our whole emotional life was, and just that level of specificity, I was really impressed with that."
It fits in with the general consensus of Aronofsky's personality and also explains how he's able to make such uniquely textured and memorable films.