My Captain America Winter Soldier Interview with Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier)

Thankfully Sebastian Stan isn’t anything like his on screen character, Winter Soldier. First, no one was injured during our interview. Second, We were able to see his face (and his smile). Third, on screen, Sebastian Stan (a.k.a. The Winter Soldier) didn’t have much to say, but once he was in the room with us we got him talking (us bloggers have a way with people I guess)

What was your reaction when you found out that you were coming back as a soldier?

I always played that moment in my head over and over again… that when I was gunna get that phone call no matter where I was at the time…I was gunna scream and I was just gunna have this big reaction. And it’s actually the opposite. I just sort of was quiet and still…trying to replay the conversation in my head and was just really excited. I mean for me it’d really been two years of sort of not knowing what was gunna happen next.

Did you know that Bucky would come back to life as a winter soldier later? Or did you think he was dead?

Well I didn’t because I hadn’t read anything, and there was no script for Captain America when I was auditioning for Steve Rodgers, not Bucky. Actually all I really had was a scene between Steve Rodgers and Bucky and I was auditioning for Steve Rodgers. So, obviously I looked up things about Steve Rodgers but I never looked up anything about Bucky and then I didn’t get that and then you know I sort of thought that was that.

I actually didn’t wanna read any of the comic books or anything going into the audition process because I wanted to sort of just have a fresh perspective. But then when I talked to them about Bucky after that they educated me on the story.

So was it difficult to change form from Bucky into the winter soldier?

Well, yes and no. I would say no in the sense that everything is so spelled out for me in the comic books that I sort of feel like I have that to follow as a guide. Yes in that certain things from comic books…they’re not so easily translated to the screen, and so there were things visually that were new that we had to discover about the character…in terms of how the winter soldier moved, how he behaved, what his presence was like on screen, those were all things I had to sort of discover once I was in the outfit and we were actually shooting the movie. That was more difficult I suppose. At the end of the day the most difficult part was playing someone that’s very different while at the same time the same person.

How do you mentally prepare for a role like this in terms of playing someone who doesn’t even know who they are?

I don’t wanna get too down here or anything but my stepdad was actually recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and he’s been going through that for at least the last two years. So it was
interesting because while that sort of process was very painful as an observer, that was one of the things that I found to be very helpful for me to kind of observe as somebody going through Alzheimer’s. What their behavior is like and the way they don’t know certain things anymore, who they are. There is still that struggle within them to wanna try and kind of know things. They respond to certain things they see or sounds that they see, a song or something kinda triggers a memory, and so it’s a very weird internal battle…I watched him a lot for some references

How did you physically train for this role?

The training was really hard for me. I mean I was never used to that type of training before. Some of the diet and the working out that was happening six months before we started shooting was really difficult at times. You’re learning to fight…and it’s really hard, you might get it quickly and you’re excited, you see the stunt guys are just phenomenal and you just wanna jump in and do it but the whole thing has to be so planned out and detailed, and you can’t have a lot of room for errors because people can get hurt. So, just practicing that and repeating that everyday for about two to three months I’d say was hard, but the results were always very gratifying.

Who’s your favorite villain?

He’s right there. [LAUGHTER] Just kidding!…I’ve had a few I mean the T-1000 was always somebody that I thought was an incredible villain…and the joker.

What was your favorite fight scene?

Any of the stuff that was shot outside, which was in Cleveland, was really exciting because there was no CGI green screen. I mean it was literally long sequences with all the car explosions, people sort of falling and being shot and then us jumping into that one on one combat—combat. That was all really fun because it was really all happening around you and you don’t often get that when you work on these big movies, you always have to deal with the green screen.

What was your most memorable moment while filming?

Probably any of the stuff that I had with Robert Redford, was pretty memorable. That’s where I really remember sort of telling myself you know just like be here, be present, take him in, you know, on and off set. On set it was like suddenly I was in a situation where the whole reason for me going to acting school and everything was sort of here. I was with this man and he was being very generous as an actor with me even though he’s obviously who he is.Then off set sort of just wanting to kind of like see if there was anything I could pick his brain about in terms of like people he’s worked with or um, so that was pretty special.

Want to read more about what the cast of Captain America had to say, check out my interviews with Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Feige.



Disclosure: I went on this trip as part of a Disney press trip. All of my travel, lodging and meal expenses were covered by them. No other compensation was received. However, all opinions/thoughts are 100% my own