A Different Man trailer transforms Sebastian Stan, in more ways than one

The Apprentice may be Sebastian Stan’s most high-profile project this year (given the layers upon layers of Donald Trump drama), but it’s A Different Man that’s garnering some of the best reviews of the Marvel star’s career. From writer-director Aaron Schimberg, the dark comedy follows an aspiring actor who struggles with neurofibromatosis until a miraculous cure transforms his appearance and his entire life. Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person In The World) and Adam Pearson (Under The Skin) also star in the film, which premieres in theaters September 20.

Mirrors are a major theme of the trailer—Edward (Stan) can’t help but be mesmerized by the sight of his own radically transformed reflection. But Oswald (Pearson) is a reflection of a different kind. Edward clearly thought his life would improve with conventional good looks, but Oswald’s confidence and cheer living with the very same condition haunts him. Despite now having everything he thought he wanted, “his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost,” per the A24 synopsis.

The A.V. Club’s Drew Gillis gave A Different Man an A, writing that it is “quite possibly a career-best performance” from Stan with a screenplay from Schimberg that’s “deliciously layered, structured around winking callbacks but clever enough to never show its cards or where it’s going.” The director’s “tact and taste [keep] this story from turning into, say, Shallow Hal,” Gillis writes. “A Different Man acknowledges the vague ethical debate surrounding casting actors with physical differences like Pearson’s… But A Different Man is less concerned with the ethics of representation than with questioning how one’s mindset can affect their life, and blowing that question up.”