Live on 'Talk Radio,' Sebastian Stan

He's a wild and crazy guy. Well, at least he is in TALK RADIO. I'm talking about about Sebastian Stan who plays Kent in the current production of Eric Bogosian's Pulitzer Prize Nominated play TALK RADIO. This very talented young actor is hitting the Broadway scene with a vengeance in his latest role. He is probably best known for playing a supernatural punk teenager in the 2006 movie "The Covenant, he also has appeared in THE ARCHITECT, opposite Anthony LaPaglia and Isabella Rossellini, and the recently completed THE EDUCATION OF CHARLIE BANKS.  

 I talked with Stan about TALK RADIO and acting after seeing his performance recently and here's what he had to say….

TJ: First of all, congrats on TALK RADIO.  How are things going for you?

STAN: They're going well. They're going really well!

TJ: You totally energized the stage with your performance. It was truly electric. How does it feel to you?

STAN: I still get psyched about coming onto a Broadway stage every night. I mean, I've never done that before. That hasn't sort of played out for me….it's still very exciting. You develop a kind of gratefulness for it when you spend months trying to get a job. 

TJ: Did you base your character of Kent on anyone in particular?

STAN: Yeah, I did. I guess it became a mix of things. I have a couple of friends in musicians, one friend in particular. I never really told him that I was trying to copy him a little bit. He's a little older than me and he was around at that time. And mannerisms of friends that I have seen wasted. A compilation of documentaries that I have watched…Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash and that whole movement. Anything I could find.

TJ: How did you get involved with TALK RADIO?

STAN: I have been having this connection to Eric Bogosian for a couple of years. Not personally, but to his work. His work was pretty much responsible for me getting into college. I used monologues from SUBURBIA and given the school, his work really works well for me…the language, the way he writes…the rhythms. I ended up performing SUBURBIA at school. When  he was casting it here off Broadway at Second Stage this past summer, I was auditioning and I had gone back about six times or so for callbacks and work sessions where  I really got to know him pretty well. Even though that project, in the long run, didn't end up working out. ,  He remembered me when I came into auditions this time around, I think he particularly focused on me this time. 

TJ: Do you remember what you were feeling at the first rehearsal for TALK RADIO with this amazing cast of actors?

STAN: I was really terrified. It was a read-through of the play and a lot of things go through your mind. Of course, you wonder about people's expectations and you want to come in and own up to the job and all that. It's a learning process and many mistakes and failures are bound to happen. I think for me, basically coming and watching Liev struggle his way through the material making discoveries everyday and yet failing all the time and allowing yourself to be vulnerable in front of everybody like that, encouraged me to kind of step up and say to myself, "You know what? I have the job now? So I just have to stop worrying about what people thing and just own up to it. And be ready to fail." 

You always come in with some idea that you think will work.  I developed an idea and sort of knew what worked at the audition but we were at a different level now. I fortunately was patient enough to let it kind of happen on it's own.

TJ: Did you go through that starstruck phase of working with people like Liev and Stephanie March and Peter Hermann?

STAN: I haven't worked on a lot of films. Well, I graduated in 2005 and the only movie I can compare it with is this movie I worked on called THE ARCHITECT with Anthony LaPaglia and Isabella Rossellini. I wasn't really starstuck….I was in the presence of "actors"….people who were really good at their craft. But I am lucky because of that because I would much rather have done something like this at the start as opposed to around some huge star. To come out and just witness actors at work, I mean those two people are seasoned actors and Liev certainly is. Yeah, I was a little starstuck of him . I hadn't seen GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS but I had seen a lot of films he had been in. I had seen him in HENRY V and I remember him being particularly explosive when it came to being on stage, but it was a good thing. I though it was a good thing for me. I let myself being intimidated by him. I let myself be in awe of him. And that worked for my character against his character as well.

TJ: When did you decide you wanted to be an actor?

STAN: I think it happened sometime in high school.  It was probably junior year in high school. I had gone to this camp, StageDoor Manor, and suddenly got a couple of leads there.  And that made me think that people have some sort of faith in me here.  Then it became about, "Well, why don't I try and audition for school for Actors Conservatory and see if I get in there?" I got into this one program. I was really bummed as I was trying to get into NYU forever, but thank god, I am grateful that I didn't because the program I went to was like ten thousand times better , in my opinion at least.  For me, it was. I was at Rutgers, where you go to London for a year, which was really great, You kind of live in this fantasy world, you know. I 'm an acting student in London and I don't have to worry about anything. My parents are paying for it. Then suddenly when you come back, they tell you you've got to do your pictures and headshots and stuff.

I think what made it happen was that I met my manager at StageDoor Manor probably before my senior year in high school.  I was getting sent out and going into the city more and more and auditioning when I could. I started getting a couple of jobs and I got the LAW AND ORDER job while I was still at Rutgers. During the summer, I would always be in the city trying to catch something. I caught a few independent films too. I was really lucky because there were some results happening. If there weren't more results, I would have been scared to pursue it.  

TJ: Were there any actors in particular that inspired you to choose this profession?

STAN: I have a bit of an obsession with the 1950's and all those actors from Montgomery Clift to James Dean and Anthony Perkins. Just that whole era of Tennessee Williams to Elia Kazan. The whole idea of New York and the whole thing becomes kind of romantic in your head.

Sean Penn and Daniel Day Lewis, I really enjoyed. I realize that it's hard when it comes to people my age in the business because it's hard for people my age in this business now to do anything substantial and be given credit and respect them. I really respect Ryan Gosling. Last week, we had Paul Newman at the show and he came with Joanne Woodward and I just needed to go and shake his hand. It was really bizarre because it was like you were reaching through this thick air of something towards this man and in my mind, being that close to James Dean and people he had worked with…yeah, this was the Paul Newman.

TJ: OK let's find out more about you with my special section of the interview called MY FAVORITE THINGS, ready?

STAN: OK.

TJ: Favorite Color?

STAN: Black and red.

TJ: Favorite Dessert?

STAN: Probably tiramisu.

TJ: Favorite Actor?

STAN: I would say Sean Penn.

TJ: Favorite Pasttime Activity?

STAN: Reading.

TJ: What would you want to be if you weren't an actor?

STAN: I think I would want to make toys. Maybe it's that thing about trying to be a kid forever.

TJ: Thank you so much for talking with us and best to you and the show.

STAN: My pleasure. Been great talking with you.

If you haven't seen the show, you really should go. I enjoyed it very much and know you will too.  Eric Bogosian's Pulitzer Prize Nominated play TALK RADIO, about a controversial late night talk radio host, is now playing on Broadway at the Longacre Theater at 220 West 48th Street. For tickets, visit the box office or call Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200. You can also check out their website at http://www.talkradioonbroadway.com. For now I am going to say ciao and remember, theatre is my life.