A Different Man is a movie that had multiple nominations for everything from acting to makeup. Among the accolades it earned Sebastian Stan a Best Actor Award at the Golden Globes and Best Film of 2024 at The Gotham awards beating out Anora. This leaves no doubt that this film is unique on many levels, but it’s also groundbreaking in its own right. Spoilers Below!
The film follows Edward/Guy, played by Sebastian Stan, who has neurofibromatosis type 1 which causes non-cancerous tumors to grow. Edward undergoes an experimental treatment that cures his disability and dramatically alters his appearance, making him conventionally ‘handsome.’ After a painful night his face is 100% transformed—so much that even two doctors who conducted the trial don’t recognize him. Seizing the opportunity, Edward reinvents himself as Guy Morayz, claiming that Edward took his own life. He leaves behind everything about Edwards life, including his growing friendship with his next-door neighbor Ingrid Vold, played by Renate Reinsve, whom he secretly admires, as well as his dream of becoming an actor.
Guy thinks because his looks are better and he is treated better, he is now able to get everything he wants from life, which he does for a while. His world begins to tilt when he sees Ingrid whilst coming out of the subway. He follows her to a theatre where there is a sign about auditions for “Edward.” He walks in to hear that the audition side (monologue) is what Guy said to Ingrid (i.e. the author). She steals Edward’s life and writes a show, including many conversations verbatim. However, it didn’t seem to bother Guy. After a bad first audition, he came back with a mask the doctors made of him and gave him before the treatment started. One of the most heartbreaking moments is in this scene where he is asked who he is and he says, “I’m Edward,” while a member of the production team says, “Guy Moratz, supposedly.” He is treated like he’s a method actor who is refusing to break character by saying “I was born for this” and “I am this guy”. However, he refuses to answer Ingrid’s question about whether he is deformed and fails to tell the truth. It finally seems like Guy got what he wanted—he wins the lead role of Edward in the play, as well as the girl, both as Edward and as Guy.
Shortly into the rehearsal period, Oswald, played by Adam Pearson, who has the same condition, enters and attempts to steal the role of Edward from Guy. And he succeeds, causing Guy’s world to spiral. Suddenly, Oswald is everywhere. Guy spends more time with him and notices that Oswald is treated like everyone else, not singled out or treated differently because of his appearance. This contrasts sharply with Guy/Edward’s experiences, leading Guy to spiral out of control.
However, throughout the film we see Edward/Guy learn that his life had nothing to do with how he looks, he could’ve gotten what he wanted without changing a thing through the inclusion of Oswald.
Oswald has the same medical condition that Guy did. However, Oswald is being treated normally by everyone around him. It then seems like Oswald is just turning up everywhere causing Guy to slowly descend into a negative mindset.
Then Guy’s world starts to collapse when he realizes he didn’t need to change his name, his face, or the way he talked to have a happy, successful life. Before he became Guy, he was seemingly on the outside of society, treated and spoken to differently than ‘normal’ people. The film does a great job of showing this as Guy goes to the same bar both before and after he changes, along with other interactions including being stared at by random people on the street and people insisting they know him. Sebastian compared this to being a celebrity,
“I felt the same invasion of privacy and the same kind of continuous scrutinizing in both experiences. People look at you. They try to film you. They take pictures. They think of you as public property because you look different, or because you’re recognizable. It’s, it’s easy to just kind of, you know, do or say whatever you want.”
This movie is billed as a comedy, and it does have its dramatic and realistic moments. One of the most striking dramatic moments is when Edward/Guy undergoes his transformation at home. After enduring intense pain, he simply sits in bed, exhausted, eating a bowl of cereal. This small, quiet moment captures the reality of physical suffering and recovery in a way that feels incredibly relatable and realistic. It isn’t just in how Sebastian portrayed severe pain but also afterward, how he looks exhausted and is just sitting there. I think anyone who has had severe pain can identify with both the feeling and relief afterward.
However, the movie isn’t just about undergoing a transformation—it has a broadened meaning regarding acceptance. The fact that it has comedy seamlessly mixed in with serious issues points to its brilliance.
But what really makes this movie stand out, in my opinion—aside the acting from Sebastian Stan, is that they constantly include disabled actors throughout the film. You may be reading this and thinking, ‘So what? There are disabled people in the world.’ Yes, there are. But when’s the last time you saw a movie or series that had people on crutches, in a wheelchair, or with a visible facial condition? And I don’t mean ‘little old ladies with walkers’ either. Personally, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen a disabled person in films or TV.
But make no mistake, while this is a movie about disabled people, this isn’t a ‘disabled movie.’ I spoke to Adam about this very point: “What is a disabled film anyway? Even saying it sounds utterly ridiculous. They also want to lower the drawbridge slightly.” He continued on, saying, “How many other great, disheartened actors are out there that we just haven’t found yet because Hollywood either isn’t looking, doesn’t know where to look, or can’t revolve it to that.”
This movie is universal. It makes a point that anyone, regardless of whether you’re disabled or not, can relate to and learn from; it doesn’t matter what you look like because you can still have friends, be successful, find love, and most importantly, find peace in your life.
This film, despite not having the budget of a blockbuster film, has garnered a lot of prestigious nominations and wins, including Best Film from the Gotham Awards. Lead Actor and executive producer, Sebastian Stan, won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. The fact that the nominations and wins are proof that disabled actors don’t hold a movie back.