Sebastian Stan

“I did see something when I walked in here – where is it? – that I’m going to have to go with, because it’s about passion, and we can’t really forget about passion in this world, because it’s dying. I’m going to go with… As my first choice, I’m going to go with Moonstruck. And then Nicolas Cage is phenomenal. He’s like, “The hand! This hand!” And Cher was so beautiful in the movie. And the moon, and then you have the streetlamps, and her father’s walking the dog, and shouldn’t life really just be like that? So anyway, I’ll go with that to start with.”

“I see Hud, which is a very, very particular Paul Newman movie, and it’s an amazing performance. Martin Ritt directed it. I just remember watching this and thinking to myself that I need to play a character like this at some point. I also just love Paul Newman because he never, ever stopped working on himself. No matter what, he was always determined to be three-dimensional in his characters, and this is a very three-dimensional performance that he got nominated for.”

“Oh, my God. I mean, okay, well, you know, I’m just going to do it. I know it’s been talked a lot about, Paris, Texas, okay, but this is an unbelievable movie and a great performance by Harry Dean Stanton. I love it so much because it’s about memory and how inaccurate it often is, and how much we want to remember people and things that have happened a certain way, and reality is often very different. And Nastassja Kinski was so beautiful, and I love that shot, there’s one shot where she’s leaning in the glass and he’s coming in and you see his reflection with her hair and her all around his face, and it’s pretty great. So I’m going to go with that.”

“To Die For, because Nicole Kidman was so unbelievable in this movie. And how can you watch this movie and not fall in love with her? I mean, I just remember going like, “Yeah, I get why Joaquin Phoenix is just going to do everything this woman says, because I would.” And Matt Dillon, of course, is the husband and the victim. And it’s also got that structure where there’s the… they talk at the camera, very When Harry Met Sally... But obviously very different. But I just think she’s timeless. It’s a timeless, timeless performance.”

“Being There. I always loved Peter Sellers. I loved all the Pink Panther movies and everything, and I love Hal Ashby. We maybe are in the movie Being There right now, in some ways. So, if you are wondering what that means, go watch this movie, because it’s very much about what we want to believe rather than reality, and it just shows you how flawed we are as human beings. We want so desperately to believe in something or someone to come save us.”

“I think I’m going to have to go with Shampoo as well, because it’s another Hal Ashby movie. There’s something very interesting about the way this movie ends that always kind of leaves me weirdly feeling unsettled and kind of content at the same time, because, you know, you really can’t have it all. And if you think you can, you may actually miss out on the things you could have. And that’s how I sort of feel about Warren Beatty’s character in this movie. And it’s great. He rides a motorcycle without a helmet and, like, fixes hair, I mean… Also he answers the telephone by a bedstand, you know, the old days, before or after a cigarette. Important stuff.”

“Well, of course, Cristian Mungiu would be here. I’m going to have to go with Beyond the Hills, which is one movie that really made me want to work with him. Again, about how blind we can be as people sometimes, when we just… we just see only what we want to see, and this movie is scary to me as it is funny at times, because it’s really about absolutism and how it can be devastating and quite dangerous in mindset. And the two what I would think lead performances from the two women are spectacular. So, anyway, Cristian Mungiu, thank you for your ambiguity and terrifying realism.”

“I have to do a Michael Haneke movie, I have to, because that was the first thing that I ever… the first set I ever was on was 71 Fragments. I didn’t even know who Michael Haneke was. I was ten years old. Oh, it’s Michael Haneke: Trilogy. Oh, dear. Oh, 71 Fragments on this! That’s so crazy. I don’t think I knew that. All right, so there you go, 71 Fragments. A Romanian orphan in the subway system, that was me. I can’t get him to cast me in anything, so that was… This is going to be as close as I get to Michael Haneke, is right here.”