The latest Sebastian Stan movie The Bronze is in cinemas today, and to celebrate we reviewed 10 lesser known projects in his back catalog – for better or worse.
We might be counting down the days until Captain America: Civil War (Bucky Barnes is my everything) but before we get to that fateful day, Sebastian Stan has another movie to promote in which you’ll be seeing sides of him you’ve never seen before. That’s right, I’m talking about The Bronze, the raunchy comedy starring The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch, which opened Sundance Film Festival in 2015. There was some conflict over the film’s distribution but over a year later, The Bronze is finally receiving a wide release in cinemas from today, March 18.
The Bronze features Rauch (who co-wrote the film with her husband) as a former Olympic gymnast Hope Gregory, a bronze medalist desperate to relive her glory days as she trains a new young star. Stan was hand-picked to co-star alongside Rauch as her ex Lance Tucker, an Olympic gold gymnast. This movie is touted as being incredibly filthy, not just due to the deplorable behavior and foul language of the characters, but because of the ridiculous, gymnastically assisted, utterly NSFW sex scene between Rauch and Stan that is apparently what The Bronze is going to go down in history for. Stan did not use a body double for most of the shots. “It’s remarkable. The only time you’ve seen anything close to it is in Team America: World Police — and that’s with dolls,” said Bronze co-star Thomas Middleditch. Yikes.
Anyway, the point is, Sebastian Stan is branching out from Bucky, to say the very least. But Captain America isn’t his only claim to fame. His heartfelt dedication to that franchise is admirable, but this fan favorite actor has been notable for a long time in quite a few circles, and has always been involved in very successful projects. He was an iconic recurring character in both Gossip Girl and Once Upon a Time, and can be seen in Black Swan and The Martian, both nominated for Best Picture at their respective Academy Awards.
Stan generally attaches himself to good projects, even in small roles, so his back catalog isn’t quite as embarrassing as, say, that of his buddy Chris Evans. However, like any young actor trying to build a career, there are some questionable choices in there. While you toss up whether The Bronze is something you can stomach or if it’s going to scar you for life, we’ve reviewed 10 other projects from his career in order to tell you which Sebastian Stan movies and tv shows are worth your time.
Sebastian Stan: a filmography review
‘Red Doors’ (2005)
What is it? An introspective comedy about a Chinese-American family in suburban New York. Red Doors follows the lives of the Wong family — their oldest daughter is re-evaluating her engagement to a rather controlling man, the middle daughter is a medical student who falls in love with a famous actress shadowing her team at the hospital as research for a role, and the father struggles to find meaning in life after retiring. Sebastian Stan plays Simon, a high school senior who’s engaged in a pretty violent prank war with the Wong’s youngest daughter Katie. Red Doors premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won an award for Best Narrative Feature, and it also received an Audience Award at Outfest.
Should you watch it? If you can get your hands on it, definitely. Come for Sebastian — his role is near-silent, but has some phenomenal sight gags — and stay for a truthful, female-driven film which happens to include the most adorable lesbian relationship I’ve seen onscreen in ages.
‘The Covenant’ (2005)
What is it? Sebastian joins Taylor “Tim Riggins” Kitsch and Chace “Nate Archibald” Crawford in this messy supernatural thriller about the descendants of colonial Massachusetts witches. The four “Sons of Ipswich,” members of the town’s oldest families, are the teenage kings of their private boarding school, bonded by a lifelong secret — they all have magic, passed down through those family lines since the Salem witch trials. At age 18, they “ascend” into their full power, which can have dire drug-addiction-like consequences. The Sons find themselves in trouble with the arrival of Seb’s character, Chase Collins, who seems to be an even more powerful magic user with very bad intentions.
Should you watch it? This movie is bad, but it’s like, infamously bad. Visually, it looks like Teen Wolf if that show had zero redeeming qualities and it has some of the worst special effects I’ve ever seen. But if you’re a fan of Stan, you’ve gotta do it. It’s a rite of passage. He’s the true antagonist, with second-top billing, and his is the film’s best performance — at least for the first half, anyway. Don’t even ask about the weird “show of power” gay kiss that happens mid-movie and is never mentioned again. Just appreciate that these dudes bonded over this disaster and are still BFFs — they even spent New Year’s Eve together last December.
‘The Architect’ (2005)
What is it? The Architect focuses on architect Leo Waters as he’s approached by a resident from the Chicago public-housing projects he designed, who’s organizing a petition to get them torn down, due to the unhealthy environment that’s been created there. As he struggles with this issue due to his own pride in his work, he’s oblivious to the goings-on of his family — his increasingly unstable wife, his 15 year old daughter who’s not coping well with developing a body that adult men are noticing, and his college dropout son (Stan, obviously) who befriends another boy, a resident of the projects, and has a confusing romance with him that ultimately ends in the other boy’s suicide.
Should you watch it? No. Despite an unbelievably strong lead cast — Anthony LaPaglia, Isabella Rossellini and Viola Davis, for Christ’s sake — this movie is pretty bland, and nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. It’s uncomfortable and unpleasant, and not in a smart, challenging way. None of the characters are developed enough for their issues to make sense, and Sebastian’s arc is both miserable and nonsensical.
‘The Education of Charlie Banks’ (2007)
What is it? Jesse Eisenberg plays the title character in this coming-of-age college drama set in the early 80s. As a teenager, Charlie Banks witnessed a legend of his social scene, Mick Leery, brutally attack two other teens at a party. Charlie goes to the police, helps get Mick taken into custody, and then recants his statement, feeling guilt and social pressure. A few years later, Charlie is enjoying life at college when Mick shows up in his dorm room, due to a mutual friend’s invitation. Neither Charlie or Mick comes from money, but Mick becomes part of the “idle rich” circle that has adopted Charlie, a stressful situation that spills over at boiling point. Sebastian Stan plays Leo, the hedonistic, foppish, thoughtless, ultra-positive ringleader of Charlie’s group of friends — the idlest of idle rich.
Should you watch it? Yes! Not only is this such a fun performance from Sebastian, it’s a pretty good movie overall. It’s a little bit run-of-the-mill “white boy has a childhood experience that colors his life as a young man and tells us his story about it,” but there’s a reason movies with that trope keep getting made — people keep eating them up. Like Red Doors, it premiered at Tribeca, and it ended up winning the same award — Best Narrative Feature Made in New York.
‘Rachel Getting Married’ (2008)
What is it? In Rachel Getting Married, drug addict Kym, played by Anne Hathaway, is released from rehab for a few days to attend her sister’s wedding at their childhood home. It’s a close look at a troubled family dynamic, with all parties struggling to understand the motivations of each other despite loving each other. The root of most of their issues stem from an incident when the girls were teenagers — Kym was held responsible for the death of their little brother, Ethan. She crashed her car into a lake while intoxicated and he drowned. She’s taunted about this by Stan’s character Walter, a volatile patient at rehab, who’s with Kym and her doctor when her family arrives to pick her up.
Should you watch it? Hmmm. On one hand, Sebastian only appears in the first minute of the film — literally. That’s it. On the other hand, it’s in a role unlike any other he’s done before, so it’s worth checking out at least his one scene. The movie itself features a fantastic, Oscar nominated performance by Anne Hathaway and received wide critical acclaim, so you may as well keep watching the other hour and 54 minutes.
‘Kings’ (2009)
What is it? Kings was an NBC series cancelled after one season, a modern re-telling of the Biblical story of King David, set in a fictional kingdom called Gilboa that resembles the present-day United States. King Silas Benjamin, played by Ian McShane, believes himself divinely anointed to rule after uniting three warring kingdoms. When David Shepherd, a young soldier, destroys a Goliath-class tank (get it?) and rescues a captive officer who turns out to be Prince Jack, the royal family honors David and makes him into a public figure, but Silas becomes disturbed when he witnesses an event that makes him believe that God no longer favors him and that David is fated to be the next king.
Should you watch it? Debatable. Sebastian Stan gets to show off some of his primary skill sets in this show — crying, daddy issues, military trauma and kissing boys, although it doesn’t Go There between his Jack (the biblical Jonathan) and Christopher Egan’s David, a historical partnership that has a lot of weight behind it and that has long been theorized as romantic. Kings was a great concept for a show that was made maybe five years too early, or picked up by the wrong network. It’s not as envelope-pushing as it should have been.
‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ (2010)
What is it? A truly ludicrous R-rated science fiction adventure comedy about a miserable group of friends in their mid-40s brought back together by the attempted suicide of their resident deadbeat party animal. The three men, along with the nephew of one of their number, take a trip to the old ski resort where they use to party in the 80s in an attempt to recreate the good old days. Long, stupid story short, their hot tub is a time machine that takes them back to 1986, on a crucial weekend of their young adult lives. At first, they try to recreate their steps exactly so that they don’t mess with the events of the future, but eventually some of them choose to change their destiny. Sebastian plays Blaine, an aggressive ski patrol officer from their past, who had a fight with one of the guys on the original night in question, and ends up thinking the gang are communist spies due to their advanced technology.
Should you watch it? I mean, this movie is literally called Hot Tub Time Machine. It’s aware of how bad it is. Sebastian basically plays a mall cop of the snow, and his quotes shouting about how he’s a patriot have been transposed over many a Captain America gif. This is the role that probably comes the closest to anything he offers in The Bronze, on sheer ridiculousness value, but it isn’t really the same type of comedy. It shows his range, I guess?
‘Political Animals’ (2012)
What is it? Created by Greg Berlanti, this bit-too-close-to-home-right-now mini-series is the story of an ex-First Lady who’s a politician in her own right. Secretary of State Elaine Barrish is the relatively amicable ex-wife of beloved president Bud Hammond, and we meet this former first family two years into the term of President Garcetti, the person who beat Elaine in the Democratic nomination on her first attempt at running. Her campaign has taken its toll on her family — Bud, who is still obsessed with her, her son Doug who’s the Chief of Staff, and his twin brother T.J. (Stan), an unstable and openly gay recovering addict who wants to branch out on his own but struggles to gain his family’s respect. Things in the family are thrown into chaos when a reporter gets the scoop on some of their personal business, including T.J.’s suicide attempt due to failed romance with a married Republican congressman, and Elaine’s plans to run for President again.
Should you watch it? YES. Every single person alive needs to watch this show and it needs to have seven more seasons. It is flaw free.
‘Labyrinth’ (2012)
What is it? A two-part mini-series based on the best-selling novel by British author Kate Mosse. It follows two women, linked across time — medieval noblewoman Alaïs, in the time of the Crusades, and modern-day Alice Tanner, a volunteer at a French archaeological dig. At the time of the Cathar massacre, Alaïs and her father are protecting three books that reveal the true secret of the Holy Grail, and Alice finds herself caught up in a plot involving the recovery of these artifacts when she discovers skeletons and a mysterious ring in a cave, and experiences visions of the past. Sebastian Stan plays Will, a writer in the present day who starts out as the toyboy boyfriend of the story’s antagonist, a ruthless Grail cult leader whom he believes to be a pharmaceutical executive. However, he starts to realize something shady is going on with his lover, and becomes an ally of Alice’s.
Should you watch it? This is actually a really solid three hours of television if “cold case” historical drama is your thing. The idea of a Grail quest may sound a bit Da Vinci Code to current audiences, but the concept has existed for much, much longer than Dan Brown has. Seb’s very natural, not to mention very handsome, in this particular part.
‘Ricki and the Flash’ (2015)
What is it? Ricki and the Flash is a comedy-drama penned by Juno writer Diablo Cody and starring Meryl Streep as an aging wannabe rocker who abandoned her family to pursue her music career. Ricki returns to visit her family when she hears of her daughter’s divorce, and the movie mainly focuses on the relationship between the characters of Streep and her real-life daughter. However, Ricki also has two sons, one of which, Josh — an eco-friendly, eager-to-please, upper class hipster — is played by Sebastian Stan. Josh’s upcoming wedding to Emily, a girlfriend Ricki has never met before, is a point of contention for the family, as Ricki was not invited, and it’s at his wedding where the family comes together again in some form of reconciliation.
Should you watch it? It’s honestly not the best thing Meryl Streep has ever done, but this movie is 1000% worth sitting through as a Sebastian Stan fan purely for the final scenes of Josh’s first dance, and the shots of him singing along with his mom’s band at his wedding.