JEREMY STRONG:Thanks.
DEADLINE:A buzzcut suits you.
Whats the story there?
(L-R) Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong at the London Film Festival in OctoberNeil Mockford/Getty Images for BFI
STRONG:My hair was not my own for a long time.
And when I wrapped this last film, I buzzed it off… within minutes.
DEADLINE:This was yourJon Landaurole inDeliver Me from Nowhere, the Springsteen biopic?
DEADLINE:What a time this has been for you both.
And here you are with Oscar nominations, after all the ups and downsThe Apprenticehas been through.
STRONG:Thank you so much.
I actually havent seen Sebastian since it happened.
We spoke, we texted.
STAN:Its surreal.
Yeah, its very strange.
How has it felt to you both being together and talking about this film in this time?
STAN:I think weve just taken it a day at a time, it feels like.
And I think that was always a goal of this film, in my point of view.
When I watched the inauguration, I just thought of [Roy Cohn] hovering over the Capitol Rotunda.
STRONG:I always hear myself talking about wanting to make work that touches the third rail.
And I think thats been uncomfortable for a lot of people.
And I think that theres really a virtue in film certainly that is willing to make people slightly uncomfortable.
So I love that.
I see this film not as a political polemic, but as a character study.
So I love that were getting to do this with you together, Sebastian.
DEADLINE:I love that comparison toMidnight Cowboy.
I havent heard that before, but that really resonates.
STRONG: Donald Trump as the Joe Buck to my Ratso Roy Rizzo.
When I watched the inauguration, I just thought of him hovering over the Capitol Rotunda.
Roy said, Hate is a powerful weapon.
He used it as a weapon and as a cudgel.
He is encoded in everything that we are seeing unfold today and in these last weeks and months.
Itsback in theaters again right now too.
I think this focus on character is really very important.
Thats why I think the movie is vital.
And the truth is somewhere in the middle, and nobody is really spared from that.
And were really testing out that thesis right now in America.
It is being proven out by Trump.
Hes the ultimate Machiavellian in the sense that Machiavelli said that, The ends justify the means.
In the film, Roy Cohn and Donald Trump are shown as people that didnt want to be themselves.
And thats where we run into trouble.
This is a study in that.
If you arent your authentic self…
STAN:Well, yeah, because its about lying to yourself.
And I think there is a suppression on both of these mens parts.
Deep, deep suppression.
STRONG:I love what you said about to thine own selfnotbe true.
And the sort of terrible fruits that that could bear.
Not that its even an intentional thing.
I think theyre both escaping a kind of bottomless void and original trauma.
Hes a fantasist in a way.
Like Peter Pan is a fantasist.
And part of that fantasy involves a level of denial of reality.
But its very, very dangerous when truth becomes malleable the way that Roy Cohn espoused.
And I think were seeing that happen.
Everythings just turning into spaghetti.
DEADLINE:Each of you did this forensic-level dive into these characters.
How do you emerge?
STRONG:I actually have no desire to preserve myself.
So depending on the material, you go into these lives for a little while and submerge yourself.
And at the same time, its a game.
But its like you commit utterly to the game.
And I love that Roy also was a pretty gleeful guy.
You look at him, and you see something monstrous and you see the heart of darkness.
But from inside of him, he actually had a tremendous elan and life force.
He loved being Roy Cohn with his Rolls Royce and lunch at Le Cirque.
So it wasnt as heavy as one might think.
And the truth is somewhere in the middle, and nobody is really spared from that.
DEADLINE:I would find that so threatening to my mental health.
So I think we all have, especially as children, a plasticity of self.
I am not sure if there is some core self.
We certainly cling to that, but I think its interesting to explore the malleability of self.
DEADLINE:Sebastian, what do you think about this idea of such immersion that you let go fully?
And how have you managed that?
STAN:I mean, I find it to be very freeing at the end of the day.
I almost wish that I could be as courageous within my own life.
There are things in life that Im scared of almost more than what the work demands.
I dont know what that says about me.
Your brain can judge so quickly and stifle every instinct you have.
Whats really maybe uncomfortable, and scary, is these people exist in all of us to some extent.
There was a Trump in me and there was a Roy in Jeremy.
And they can come out.
DEADLINE:Tell me about when you first met?
STAN:We met atLe Club.
There was a place in New York City called The Nines, which Jeremy suggested we meet at.
So I thought that was pretty telling, I suppose.
And then the next time, we were in another world.
But I did take him to The Nines.
I made him drink [like Cohn in the film].
Youre in this sort of liminal zone before you roll something.
I remember thinking, Im not inside of this thing yet.
I have to be in a month from now.
We were in this in-between where we were meeting each other.
And I think it was important to just connect and say hello.
I couldnt have done this without Sebastian.
What have we gotten ourselves into here?
DEADLINE:How do you feel hearing that, Sebastian?
STAN:Genuinely, I feel blessed to been able to have had Jeremy.
I mean, I was always a great admirer of his work.
So yeah, like he said, I was excited, but also trepidatious.
And then obviously, my feeling that Jeremy elevated the work at all costs in every single scene.
The element of surprise, thats what you want out of your partner more than anything.
And thats what I feel he does with anybody he works with.
Because I think its the unpredictability that he comes with from being alive in the moment.
So you always want to have that.
The fact that we were so free with real people, playing real people is really unheard of.
It just doesnt work like that.
I mean, at least in my experience with having played real people.
DEADLINE:I hope that the roles youve had after this have been a kind of palette cleanser?
I know that Jon Landau was a beautiful mentor to Springsteen, in contrast to Cohn.
He lifted me out of the gulch.
STAN:I think finally in March, Im going to go off to this new thing.
And we never really do.
Its really like youre sending them off to college.
STRONG:Its likeRosemarys Baby.
STAN:Its nostalgic.
Its freeing and yet weird.
So its a lot of things.
But I think thats when you care.
At least Ive learned going forward, I want to be doing things I care about to that degree.
