Sebastian Stan talks about his suffering from body dysmorphia as he recalls that his physical transformation was the hardest part of his portrayal of Tommy Lee.
“It was always difficult because I just wasn’t in the same frame as him,” the 39-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly about his role on the Hulu series Pam & Tommy. “I had so much weight to lose and the drums were a real pressure for me; I had never played any instrument before and I needed to learn. some uneasiness about it.”
While Stan is best known for his bulky body, which he retained for his role as Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, working to achieve the exact opposite of the look was a unique challenge. He explained that he did not feel he had done enough to change his physique.
“I tried to lose weight, but I still felt like I didn’t lose enough weight,” he said. “And people told me I was crazy and said, ‘Now you have body dysmorphia’ – which I always did anyway.”
Stan further explained that his preparation for the show consisted of “running and trying to get 20,000 steps a day” and “fasting 16 to 18 hours a day”. And although these were extreme measures, he said that this was not the beginning of his difficult relationship with his body.
“Any person who even has a healthy physique has some degree of body dysmorphia,” he said. “Because once you enter the peak, you look your best, which, by the way, I don’t care what they say, unless there are some magic formulas – which there are, but some of us are not in this pocket – your the body can only be 100 percent for a week or so. At least the way I experienced it, and I mean diet, exercise, tanning, water, lighting, and everything else. And then you spend the rest. time goes by, ‘I’m not what I used to be’. But it’s all in my head.”
The story goes on
Ultimately, Stan said, “I’m proud of it all,” noting that physical transformations are an important and exciting part of his job.
“I look for these things because I get tired of myself,” he said. “I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. I know my sebastianisms and the things I do, so I like being challenged. And the physical aspect of it, whether it’s losing weight or gaining weight or changing your hair color, it changes perspective.”
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