{"id":500591,"date":"2026-05-24T15:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T15:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/500591\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T15:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T15:24:18","slug":"sebastian-stan-on-fjord-and-shooting-the-batman-ii-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/500591\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Stan On ‘Fjord’ And Shooting ‘The Batman II’ In London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE<\/strong>: Sebastian Stan is that rare breed of actor who uses his star superpower to help get movies such as Cristian Mungiu\u2019s Palme d\u2019Or winner\u00a0Fjord\u00a0made \u2013 a film that explores topics of religious intolerance and violence towards children.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a thespian, he will do whatever\u2019s necessary for the character. For\u00a0Fjord,\u00a0he\u2019s almost unrecognizable\u00a0with his hair shaved down to his scalp and unflattering costumes that could\u2019ve been made outta potato sacks.<\/p>\n

\n\tSoon, he says, he\u2019ll be in London (over summer)\u00a0\u00a0for Matt Reeves\u2019\u00a0The Batman: Part II, where he\u2019ll play \u201cmany roles in this one\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s referring to the character Harvey Dent, who starts off as Gotham\u2019s crime-fighting\u00a0District Attorney who descends into madness when underworld figure Sal \u201cBoss\u201d Maroni hurls acid in his face scarring the left side, hence the Two-Face moniker he takes up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving mastered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this marks his first foray into WB\u2019s Batman DC world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201dI\u2019m excited, I\u2019m nervous and trying to keep surprising myself,\u201d he says of taking on Two-Face and working with the hair and makeup teams who have devised how his disfigurement will look.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve met a few times, notably, here and at Telluride when he was travelling with\u00a0The Apprentice\u00a0film where he portrayed a young Donald Trump, a portrayal\u00a0\u00a0that garnered him a much deserved Best Actor Oscar nomination.<\/p>\n

\n\tI can well imagine that Neon, which has\u00a0Fjord\u00a0in the U.S., will have the actor, and Renate Reinsve, who plays his wife in the film that\u2019s set in small-town Norway [some might say small-minded Norway, parts of it anyway], on the next awards season cycle. In reality, the next awards season began Saturday night when the prizes were being handed out in the Grand Theatre Auditorium Louis Lumi\u00e8re.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRomanian director, screenwriter and producer Cristian Mungiu greets Scottish actress Tilda Swinton after winning the Palme d\u2019Or for the film \u201cFjord\u201d during the closing ceremony of the 79th edition of the Cannes<\/a> Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 23, 2026. (Photo by Valery HACHE \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tStan plays a Romanian family man who travels with his five children to live in his wife\u2019s Norwegian hometown.<\/p>\n

\n\tTheir strong Christian beliefs become an issue with some locals and they\u2019re accused of violence towards their children who are removed and placed with foster parents.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving knowledge of fostering and violence towards children [my wife was once a communications director with the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children], the movie struck a chord; I was totally captivated by it.<\/p>\n

\n\tStan says he thought it was \u201cvery brave of the jury to recognize\u00a0the film in terms of just the questions it raises\u00a0\u2014 this divisiveness, this inability to agree on anything and to me the film really speaks towards doubt, but not necessarily in a negative way, in a positive way that perhaps\u00a0we should invite more doubt into our lives, not necessarily doubt in other people but doubting ourselves a bit and our own mindsets and our own belief systems \u2014 we could be wrong about other people. We just need to get away from extremism because it doesn\u2019t work.\u201c<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen he came to live in the U.S. with his mother, having been raised in Romania, he was the age of the two older children in\u00a0Fjord. \u201cI was twelve and I have the most empathy for the children in the movie. All they want is to fit in and to be accepted. But when you\u2019re an immigrant and you\u2019re a kid, and you\u2019ve got society telling you one thing and your parents are telling you another thing,\u00a0where\u2019s room for you [the kid] left in any of that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHopefully, after he completes\u00a0The Batman: Part II, he\u2019ll take on another powerful, socially aware picture.<\/p>\n

\n\tI always enjoy the traditions and panoply of Cannes Closing Ceremony and being inside the Lumi\u00e8re is such fun. It\u2019s where I saw\u00a0\u00a0all the Competition films, and a few that were shown Out of Competition.<\/p>\n

\n\tQuite a few film critics have declared the 79th festival a rotten year. I call bullsh** on that, as does Tilda Swinton who presented Saturday night\u2019s top trophy to\u00a0Fjord.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe says that she read some commentary that it was supposedly a \u201cbad year\u201d and she refutes that suggestion. \u201cNo it isn\u2019t. These films are so substantial and so specific,\u201d she argues as we take in the view of the sea shimmering in the moonlight at the splendid cocktail party on the Majestic Beach.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTilda Swinton. Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s films, Swinton continues \u201cto my mind have been about\u00a0difference\u00a0and this is something that has become a certain taboo in a kind of mainstream culture, but it\u2019s so important\u00a0and this is exactly what Cannes is for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEach film, love \u2018em or hate \u2018em, reflect what\u2019s going on in the world, I say. \u201cNot only what\u2019s going on in the world\u00a0but what\u00a0could\u00a0go on in the world if we tried a little harder,\u201d the Oscar-winning star delicately opines.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe looks over at people dancing while others stroll along the pier eating caviar canap\u00e9s or small plates of roast lamb with potato pur\u00e9e and a selection of vegetables. \u201cI think it\u2019s really encouraging\u00a0and people at this party are so full of hope tonight and it\u2019s not just about filmmakers getting prizes, it\u2019s about these sort of messages in bottles that we know are going to go out\u00a0to cinema audiences around the world over the next year,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd by the way, we know, don\u2019t we Baz, that young people are going more and more for the big screen experience,\u201d she suggests \u201cand they want to see these films, to argue and discuss with their friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her travels, Swinton has found that young people do not want to wait for the films to come onto their television screens, they want \u201cthe collective experience\u201d of seeing them in film palaces upon release.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, she continues, the films honoured, \u201calmost with no exception\u201c have got \u201cwhat they used to call crossover appeal. They\u2019re absolutely relatable. They\u2019re big cinema and they\u2019re big stories\u00a0and they\u2019re going to be good for people and that\u2019s what art needs to be, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWe digress to talk about those familiar strains of the festival\u2019s audio signature we hear before every premiere. It\u2019s\u00a0Aquarium\u00a0from\u00a0The Carnival of Animals\u00a0written by French composer Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns. \u201cWe are in an aquarium when we\u2019re in there, \u201c she says,\u00a0\u00a0her eyes dancing as she hums the melody.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s magic. People talk about glamour in Cannes and I always say, \u201cNo that\u2019s\u00a0the\u00a0glamour [the cinema], we\u2019re all a bunch of bridesmaid\u2019s dressed up for a wedding. The bride is the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI ask her\u00a0if the future of cinema is safe?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCinema\u2019s future is always safe because she\u2019s so elastic, so malleable,\u201d she reassures.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was a moment when sound came in and all the studios in the 1920s were shutting down because there was no way of recording film with\u00a0sound and everybody talked about cinema dying. What happened? Adaptation. Then color came in, TV came in as did DVD, video, streaming. Cinema is not going anywhere,\u201d she says slapping her hands together.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nadine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNadine Labaki, Marie Clementine Dusabejambo, Tilda Swinton, Renate Reinsve, Cristian Mungiu, Emmanuel Macchia, Pawe\u0142 Pawlikowski, Isabelle Huppert, Valentin Campagne, Andrey Zvyagintsev and Federico Luis Tachella pose on stage during the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2026 in Cannes, France.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndreas Rentz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tBut isn\u2019t AI a threat, I wonder?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201dWell, we just have to do better than AI and I believe that art is our best bet in doing better than AI because humans make art and I believe humans can do better than AI in almost every capacity and certainly in the world of art, so we just have to do better,\u201d she insists.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut she cautions that \u201cas long as we make formulaic films that AI could do, we\u2019re sunk. But films like these, the films that were honoured tonight are really particular, really messy\u00a0and about the human experience, we\u2019re safe. We\u2019re seeing life on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer film museum show\u00a0Tilda Swinton \u2013 Ongoing\u00a0which launched at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, just opened it in Athens, then\u00a0heads to Warsaw in September and at some point it will visit the U.K and U.S.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition explores her collaborations with the likes of Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Almod\u00f3var and the late Derek Jarman.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, Swinton and I first met on the set of Jarman\u2019s\u00a0Caravaggio\u00a0in 1985 and I remember Jarman saying I should meet and interview this \u201cfree spirit\u201d called Tilda who happens to be a general\u2019s daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI like that the general\u2019s daughter is still a \u201cfree spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe party kicked off soon after the closing ceremony wrapped and kept firing itself up throughout the night. It wasn\u2019t for Demi Moore, though. She scooted away before 11.<\/p>\n

\n\tZoe Salda\u00f1a and Pen\u00e9lope Cruz stopped by around midnight. I spotted Isabelle Huppert around 1am.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tZoe Salda\u00f1a and Pen\u00e9lope Cruz. Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tAround 2am, I remarked to a friend that that the dude in dark glasses, sporting a black leather jacket looked\u00a0just like Rami Malek, and heck, it was Rami Malek, who was pretty darn good in Ira Sachs\u2019 film\u00a0The Man I Love.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRami Malek. Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan Skarsg\u00e4rd was there pretty much the whole night.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Norwegian star says he had a good time on the jury observing that \u201cwhen we weren\u2019t agreeing we compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was simple, he adds. \u201cIf we couldn\u2019t agree we thought, well, we\u2019ll give two awards,\u201d although he says that they had to \u201cseek permission from the powers that be\u201d to honor two films, as in the case of the\u00a0directors prize, where\u00a0young up-and-coming Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish directors of\u00a0La Bola Negra,\u00a0were named best director as was \u201cthe old Wolf,\u201d as he describes\u00a0Fatherland\u2019s\u00a0Pawel Pawlikowski.<\/p>\n

\n\tSimilarly, in the thespian prizes, Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the two actors from Lukas Dhont\u2019s World War One drama,\u00a0Coward\u00a0shared the actor\u2019s prize as did Virginie Esiri and Tao Okamoto for their beautifully performed roles in Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s tremendously moving\u00a0All Of A Sudden.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn July, Skarsg\u00e5rd begins shooting\u00a0Apple\u2019s new, as yet untitled,\u00a0criminal adventure TV drama series with Dakota Fanning, the sister of Elle Fanning with whom he developed a close bond during the shooting\u00a0of Joachim Trier\u2019s\u00a0Sentimental Value,\u00a0which won last year\u2019s Grand Prix at the 78th Cannes and the Oscar for Best International Film.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI play a rich guy, probably rather shady,\u201d he says with wry understatement.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tStellan Skarsgard. Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline <\/p>\n

\n\tThe show shoots in the U.S. and in France. \u201cWe have direct flights from Stockholm\u00a0\u00a0to New York,\u00a0which is very useful,\u201d he advises.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I saw Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, she spoke of the youthfulness of the directors of\u00a0La Bola Negra.<\/p>\n

\n\tI saw that also with\u00a0\u00a0Emmanuel Macchia, who won the best actor prize with Valentin Campagne for\u00a0Coward.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNever, never acted before,\u201d 20 year-old Macchia\u00a0from Charleroi, near Lille, says.\u00a0He was studying landscape architecture when\u00a0Dhont discovered him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMacchia says that he now has an appetite for acting, as long as it\u2019s to tell stories with \u201ca good message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe had no sense at all that he could win. \u201cThe other actors are so famous and so good, and for me to win I cannot imagine this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow there are agents circling, hoping to sign him up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEmmanuel Macchia. Baz Bamigboye\/Deadline <\/p>\n

\n\tHis parents accompanied him to Cannes. \u201cThey are surprised I won, they can\u2019t believe it. Just like me. I still can\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs I waited to chat with the young Belgian a producer was pitching him an idea about a film set in the Boer War and I thought: this kid needs an agent fast.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 79th Cannes Film Festival was either my 42nd or my 43rd, math not being my strong point. A few of us left the Closing Night party and chatted in a hotel until 6am or so.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong many other things to ponder, we wondered, or rather I wondered, what would\u00a0become of Emmanuel Macchia in four decades? Will he survive? I have to believe in the hope that Tilda Swinton desires for cinema\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\n\tOtherwise, to put it bluntly, we\u2019re f***ed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Sebastian Stan is that rare breed of actor who uses his star superpower to help get movies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[34619,10404,199290,434,18,117,19,17],"class_list":["post-500591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-breaking-baz","tag-cannes","tag-cannes-market","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116630249587905864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}