Forget Sebastian Stan ⏤ there’s another ‘Different Man’ star we need to be talking about
It’s Oscars week! Time is narrowing down to the biggest event of the season, and it still does not seem like there are any clear-cut, unanimous winners. However, there are some curiously missing nominations, and I do need to put aside my fondness for Sebastian Stan for a bit here.
As a fan of Stan since the early Marvel days, his run this awards season has been, as I have said before, a long time coming. Though I would rather see less The Apprentice and more A Different Man, it’s just good for him to finally have the recognition. But he isn’t the only star from A Different Man that we should be talking about.
I am, of course, referring to Stan’s costar, Adam Pearson. In A Different Man, Pearson plays Oswald, a fellow actor with whom Edward (Stan) becomes obsessed with. In the film, Oswald is a charismatic guy who easily draws everyone in.
Nothing is ever said about his appearance besides him being the fit for the play Edward is no longer able to star in after undergoing a radical procedure to change his own appearance. At its core, A Different Man is about the ugliness that is inside us regardless of how we look on the outside. There is no better person they could have cast other than Pearson.
So who is Adam Pearson?
Though his name may be new to many viewers, Pearson has a rich history as a speaker and ambassador, among campaigning and presenting. He has given a TEDx talk and has been the host of documentaries such as The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime. He also starred in 2013’s Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson, which brought him to the more mainstream eye.
He has been open about his own diagnosis of neurofibromatosis, and he believes in visibility for those with disabilities. Currently he’s an ambassador for organizations like Changing Faces and Jeans for Genes.
He and Stan are also best friends and each other’s hype-man. I mean, come on. I love them. We should all hope to have this kind of relationship.
Throughout his Oscar campaign, Stan has made it a point to talk about Pearson, who has been absent at such events as the Golden Globes, where Stan won his first Globe. Oswald is a very important character in the film, it is has been surprising to see Pearson absent from certain ceremonies, as well as not even garnering nominations at all.
At the very least, he should have been a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor. At the bare minimum, he should have been there. There really is no excuse. At least he presented at the BAFTAs (and we had his absolutely devastatingly perfect response to an online troll).
One of the absolute best things is Pearson’s X (formerly Twitter) presence. Alongside his advocacy work, Pearson does not hesitate to call out people being assholes on the internet. It is not uncommon to find a retweet from him directly calling a tweet out.
Unfortunately, most of those original tweets end up being deleted, but if you can catch them in time, Pearson’s clapbacks are absolutely legendary. His brand of positivity over all is so incredibly refreshing to see. I hope Hollywood sees the response to him and decides to be more inclusive in the future.
On the red carpet at the BAFTAs, he had powerful words to say about his nonstop past year and how he views himself: “I don’t say disabled anymore. I’m an actor. I’m in this room because I’m the best in the world at what I do.”
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