Sebastian Stan used a Toronto International Film Festival stop for Fjord to take aim at what he described as a culture of increasingly normalized negativity, saying the impulse to judge rather than engage is “so lazy” and that the broader “invitation to be negative” begins “at the top.”
Speaking Friday at The Hollywood Reporter’s Studio at 1 Hotel during TIFF, presented by sponsor Canada Goose, Stan discussed the Cristian Mungiu-directed film, in which he plays a conservative father and husband. The conversation turned to the current social climate, which the actor said 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. “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.”
Stan did not identify a specific source for that negativity. But he said he believes the tone is being set from above.
“You know where it starts, obviously,” he 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 remarks come after Stan played President Donald Trump in 2024’s The Apprentice, a performance for which he received an Oscar nomination.
Stan, who is also described in the source material as a Marvel actor, urged people to “be different” and pushed back on “the whole looksmaxxing of it all.” He framed curiosity as an antidote to reflexive judgment.
“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.
How Fjord Connects to Stan’s Comments
Set in Norway, Fjord centers on a religious Romanian family that comes under scrutiny after relocating to a progressive small village. Mungiu told THR the film is an “invitation to be more tolerant” and to consider differing viewpoints.
Stan echoed that idea while discussing the film, saying Fjord also engages with questions around raising children in the modern world. Those themes have taken on personal resonance for him after he reportedly welcomed 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 said. “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.”
He added that becoming a parent has made the film feel especially immediate.
“I’m at an age now — I mean, I just had a kid,” Stan said. “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.”
Fjord, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Oct. 9.