SEBASTIAN STAN

WANTS TO ROCK YOU…

The Winter Soldier’s about to spring back into action.

When Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes became the Winter Soldier, some style adjustments were needed. Hair extensions, a metal sleeve for his arm, some lube to squeeze it on when his biceps got too sick… Now, a raucous remix of said ingredients is suggested by his next role: as a hair-metal trouble-causer whose peak-celeb infamy probably involved sex aids.

For Hulu eight-parter Pam & Tommy, Stan will play Tommy Lee, the Mötley Crüe star whose appetite for attention (like playing drum solos upside-down live) got more than it bargained for when his and Pamela Anderson’s sex tapes leaked. As with Lily James’ intriguingly left-field casting as Baywatch’s Anderson, the role is a tantalising pick for Stan. Reuniting him with I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie, the series offers the Romania-born actor another chance to get under a real-life person’s skin, which he did so insidiously well as Tonya Harding’s ex, Jeff Gillooly.

Stan has been a quietly lethal weapon in the MCU’s armoury, capable of saying more with his hair and eyes than his sparse words. He’ll flex the arm and stare again in Disney+’s The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, striking buddy-movie sparks with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson.

Outside Marvel, the Gossip Girl graduate has swung confidently between major releases (The Martian) and shape-shifting indie/telly character roles. He banked awards noms for his affecting performance as gay First Son TJ in TV’s Political Animals; more recently, his crooked cop stood out in Netflix’s star-studded The Devil All The Time. With tats and shaved hair, he was magnetic as an undercover agent in Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer. And he tested his improv capacity in Drake Doremus’ relationships drama Endings, Beginnings.

He’ll also be seen in Jessica Chastain-led thriller The 355, now delayed to 2022, plus Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ revealing Monday, and Brady Vox Lux Corbet’s immigrant drama The Brutalist. But it’s perhaps the Gillespie reunion that cleaves closest to Stan’s ambitions, after I, Tonya opened his eyes to fresh possibilities. “It led me to want to look for that again, to find more things that scare me, and that are challenging,” he said. A walk on Lee’s wild side sounds like just the headline-grabbing ticket. KH

ETA | 19 MARCH 2021 / THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER BEGINS STREAMING ON DISNEY+ NEXT MONTH. PAM & TOMMY IS TBC.