Sebastian Stan has a new perspective on his upcoming film, Fjord, after becoming a father.
“Obviously, it’s interesting looking back now having had some time away from it and kind of coming at it objectively,” Stan, 44, said during a recent episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “Because I’m asking myself: What are these things that I grew up with that I should pass on to my kid? And what are the things that I grew up with that really didn’t work that I don’t wanna pass on?”
The Thunderbolts actor welcomed his first baby with his partner, Annabelle Wallis, in July.
In Fjord, a film loosely inspired by the true story of the Bodnariu family, Stan and Renate Reinsve star as a conservative Romanian-Norwegian couple who face scrutiny after moving to the wife’s progressive remote Norwegian hometown, where they are accused of abusing their children.
Stan noted on the podcast that “so much of what we pass on” to children revolves around generational customs.
“I think looking at this movie, it’s really quite wild,” he said. “I play a character that was raised very differently than me, but these were very traditional male Eastern European figures that I sort of saw in my own dad, my grandfather, and so on.”
Stan continued, “I’m at it from the same point that I think, and I hope, any viewer would be, which is now to try to ask: ‘What would you do in that situation?’ ‘What would you do if you’re being accused of those things and your kids are being taken away from it?’”
Stan added that parents will likely “have a very different experience” watching the movie.
“But I do feel like the movie still makes a case for also showing there is a reason why these allegations are happening,” he said.
News broke in April that Stan and Wallis, 42 — who have been romantically linked since May 2022 — were expecting their first baby together. Stan broke his silence on the pregnancy the following month, telling Deadline, “I want to be a good dad.”
“I’m feeling the responsibility of being a good father. And not to mention a good man,” he said at the time. “I’m 43 and I feel, in a lot of ways, I’m just starting to learn now. It’s just crazy to me. So, I love when I see I’m discovering different people’s point of view. I try to read as much as I can, no matter what the point of view is, just to understand it.”
Fjord premieres in theaters Friday, October 9.
