You definitely know Sebastian Stan. The 29-year-old rising star turned in memorable TV performances on Once Upon a Time, Gossip Girl and Political Animals, and he’s graced the movie screen in hits like Black Swan and Captain America. On top of that, Stan is an accomplished theater actor, having appeared on Broadway in 2007 in the Tony-nominated revival of Talk Radio. Nowadays he’s heating up the stage as a handsome, troubled drifter in Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Picnic. Broadway.com chatted with Stan about learning lessons from Ellen Burstyn, growing up in theater and finding what it takes to make it on Broadway.
You play a classic "bad boy" in Picnic. What drew you to the role of Hal?
When I was studying acting at Rutgers, I was obsessed with actors from the ‘50s. I wanted to emulate them, the Montgomery Clifts and James Deans of the world. Everything they did seemed so iconic and so romantic in some broken, terrible way. And this play is, at first glance, an opportunity to explore that world. The challenge was to make that real.
Was it difficult to tap into that ‘50s mindset?
Those black and white pictures ...