Sebastian Stan spoke out against growing “negativity” while discussing his upcoming film at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday.
The actor, who stars as a conservative father and husband in the Cristian Mungiu-directed film Fjord, revealed that the current climate is one of the things that “really pushes my buttons.”
“It’s just this negativity that, like, we are unfortunately getting normalized with at the moment,” Stan said at The Hollywood Reporter’s Studio at 1 Hotel during TIFF, presented by sponsor Canada Goose. “The most blatant example is online. It’s just so lazy and it’s so unfortunate because you see people just react. They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re not reacting — half the time they don’t offer a solution to it. They don’t offer a counterargument. It’s all just judgment.”
While Stan did not specifically say where the negativity originated, he did share that he believes the “invitation to be negative… starts at the top.” The actor previously played President Donald Trump in 2024’s The Apprentice, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
“You know where it starts, obviously,” Stan continued. “I don’t wanna go back and take time to point the fingers at anybody, you know. But, it starts, unfortunately, at the top with this invitation to be negative. And it’s like, we’re so fucking special as people. You know what I mean? It’s like, if we can just be curious about it. It’s just, you have the option to have an opinion; form your own opinion. There’s no encouragement for that, seemingly to me, when it comes to, especially, young people.”
The Marvel actor went on to encourage people to “be different” and avoid “the whole looksmaxxing of it all.”
“God forbid that you raise your hand and go, ‘Can I just ask why you feel that way or whatever?’ There’s no encouragement for that, and it’s all we should be doing, is encouraging that,” he said.
Set in Norway, Fjord follows a religious Romanian family who face scrutiny after moving to a progressive small village. Director Mungiu told THR that the film is an “invitation to be more tolerant” and explore different viewpoints. Stan echoed his director’s sentiments, adding that Fjord also touches on the complexities of raising children in modern society. It is a question that Stan has been exploring in his own life after reportedly welcoming his first child in July.
“This idea that I’ve been thinking about in my own life for a while about raising children, and how do you do it in today’s world,” Stan shared. “What works any more; what doesn’t. How can we arrive, mutually, hopefully, at a decision where they [children] benefit. Where not our own prejudice, our own egos, get in the way of that.”
“ I’m at an age now — I mean, I just had a kid,” he added. “So, it’s all very alive and very raw, even the movie, to me. … I can safely say that I don’t know as much as I thought I did. I can look to my parents; I can look to the messages that I received, but I don’t know if [I] necessarily want to pass that on to my children. At the same time, culture still matters. History still matters, you know, these family traditions. One of the reasons the movie’s so relevant is because I think a lot of people will come at it and it will resonate different things for each person.”
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, Fjord is scheduled to hit theaters on Oct. 9.