damn-stevens

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🎃 SARA’S SPOOKTOBER 🎃 ↳ THE GUEST (2014) dir. adam wingard a soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

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I've been seeing some online journalism claiming that Ken from Barbie is changing men's fashion by allowing more personal expression and color, and I'm like, where have you been? Have you not been watching the runways and red carpets for the last few years? Do you not know Dan Stevens, Harry Styles, Ncuti Gatwa, Billy Porter, etc, etc?

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Miss you forever and always, Miz Jordan.

Ok def was not expecting this level of relatability

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GdT’s Cabinet of Curiosities - The Outside commentary (Spoilers)

I think most people will miss the complexity of this story and simply side with Keith, who keeps insisting to Stacey that she is "perfect just the way she is" because HE is satisfied with their life. But Stacey's life is clearly not perfect in the beginning of the story. She's unhappy, deeply insecure, depressed, socially isolated, and riddled with anxiety. Keith tries to solve her problems by taking a parental role in their relationship and insisting that it's all "just in her head", as if that means that her issues are insignificant. Stacey gives him a lot of power, but it doesn't do anything to alleviate her depression and self-loathing.

It's also hard to know how to feel about Stacey's transformation. On the one hand, it's clearly an insidious process to try to become something horrible that she shouldn't aspire to be. But we love to see someone work hard to improve their life. Stacey is taking control over her own life for a change and tries to be happy instead of being defeatist. We love that kind of thing. It's the theme of many reality tv shows related to the health/beauty industry, even if those shows often feel shallow, cruel, and self-destructive underneath their inspirational surface.

When Stacey finally goes "all the way" it's horrific and yet, there's a subtle feeling of "Good for her!" about the conclusion. Perhaps it's because Stacey finally has self-confidence and obtains attractiveness with very little actual physical transformation. She's clearly completely insane and it will all end in a sensationalist news headline about how she murdered and stuffed her husband over Alo Glo, but we still want to applaud someone who obtains full self-actualization, which Stacey unfortunately has (especially for Keith).

Whether or not it's all objectively real is irrelevant. It's real to Stacey and her pov is everything in this story, so I don’t think it’s something worth trying to find evidence for one way or another. A lot of what is “real” is beside the point in horror.

I think Dan Stevens deserves special mention for his excellent work as the Alo Glo guy, especially the inspired, nebulous accent he came up with for the character.

Extra: some great quotes about Dan Stevens from a Netflix Tudum artlcle

Director Ana Lily Amirpour previously worked with Stevens when he starred in Legion. She came up with the look for the Alo Glo Man, which required the actor to dye his hair platinum blond — a process that took six hours at a hair salon.

“Dan has a really big presence, and I worshiped him on Legion,” Amirpour tells Tudum. “I feel like he can really go anywhere and do anything. He can be the good guy, he can be the villain, he can be a dreamboat, he can be the monster. With the Alo Glo Man, he’s somewhere between a cult leader and an evangelist.”

Stevens dresses in a dazzling white suit and sits in a bright set, which provides a sharp visual contrast to Stacy’s cozy living room, giving her a glimpse of a very different life.

“Dan is the perfect guy to play this because he’s an incredible actor and he’s very, very beautiful and enticing,” Micucci says. “You see those blue eyes and you’re like, ‘What do you want me to buy?’ ”

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Dan has 0 fucks left.

Dan Stevens roasting Boris Johnson on The One Show 13/4/22

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Just spotted some new additions to Dan Stevens' wardrobe.

MOSCHINO Pre-Fall 2022 (part 4) if you want to support this blog consider donating to: ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

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Thanks to @danstevensnation instagram stories.

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Hmmm. Well I'm gonna hope it's Dr. Doom or possibly a new version of Magneto. That's a very dramatic hair color, suitable for a comic book villain.

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If you're referring to the scenes with the older, powerful David and his harem, I have to point out something. Not that I object to bi David, but that was actually his possession by the Shadow King showing itself. Amahl Farouk always kept a harem of "exotic beauties" around him like that. David gravitates toward women for validation because of his mommy issues, while his daddy issues make him more inclined to fight other men. But imo he's an open-minded person and his tendency to think of himself as a god would make "conventional" sexuality something that he'd transcend without a thought if he ever had the inclination to.

i don't know who needs to hear this, but david haller is bisexual as depicted on fx's legion. like, in canon. as in, they show him being bisexual in s2e6.

there are other less direct hints throughout the show, and people can 'debate' those i suppose. but s2e6 makes his bisexuality canon. yes, it appears that he does prefer women, but he's not straight.

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The prince was selfish and unkind

[click for higher resolution]

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Dan Stevens continues to live his best life outside the world of good boy characters in historical dramas.

The idiosyncratic actor/fashion plate has been seemingly quiet of late while working on some of his characteristically unique projects. I'm Your Man is the current big news in Dan fan circles, and rightfully so, but something that's nearly slipped under the radar is that it's highly likely that he's playing the big bad in Marvel's The Eternals.

This is the leader of the Deviants, Kro. He's got a thing going on with Thena, Angelina Jolie's character. It's a relationship which is fraught with juicy drama.

In the trailers we only see Kro in a few shots as the shapeshifting Deviant who manhandles Jolie a bit and whispers, "You can't protect...*huge pause*...any of them." The line is a bit hard to hear and I can't determine if it's Dan's voice or not, but Dan as close to outright said that he's playing him, without just saying, "I'm playing Kro."

Now since this is a cgi character, ntm a shapeshifter, it's impossible to say whether Dan just voiced him or did any mo-cap or live acting in this. I'm hoping for all three. One of the greatest joys about Dan Stevens is listening to his voice (for instance, he recently did a hilarious animated turn as both Prince Philip and Prince Charles in HBO Max's The Prince), but that still comes in a distant second to watching him on screen. And Kro has apparently posed as the Devil in front of humans during part of his history, so...Kro-phisto confirmed?

What's exciting about this for me as a Dan fan is that if the movie and Kro are a hit with audiences, we could see Dan continue to emerge as a great character/mo-cap actor, like the iconic Andy Serkis. Stevens is intensely physical and emotive, and he did a fantastic job as the prince/Beast in the Beauty and the Beast live action remake. That movie is not remembered all that fondly though, and especially not for its use of cgi, even though Dan's performance easily stole the film. He deserves a quality team like the one that the MCU provides to technologically back up his acting.

So here's me crossing my fingers for some big success to Dan Stevens in the MCU! 🤞

Enjoy this obligatory Dan photo

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MUCH EXCITE

I'm Your Man is now 96 on Rotten Tomatoes with 98 reviews.❤

This is from the latest Top Critic review named Terrence Todd in a longer review of TIFF. No spoilers. Just someone who gets Dan....

“As a working member of the Critics Choice Association with Rotten Tomatoes accreditation, I know I will eventually have access to the awards season’s usual suspects. The honest truth about covering festival is, at least for me, about stumbling upon a find that lets you know your instincts are sharp and attuned to the cultural zeitgeist. I received confirmation of my underground credibility when Germany selected I’m Your Man from Maria Schrader as their submission for Foreign Language Academy Award consideration.

From the moment I read the festival synopsis – and saw the name Dan Stevens – I was all in. I was a latecomer to Legion, but thanks to quarantine, I binged my way through that delirious mind-trip and I’ve dedicated a probably not insignificant portion of my brain to furthering the narrative on my own. Maybe it’s just so I can spend more time with Stevens.

I’m Your Man provided me with the opportunity to get out of my head and still spend some quality time with a Stevens character who reminded me of Legion’s David Haller. Here, instead of being a schizophrenic mutant, Stevens is a humanoid robot named Tom assigned to a research scientist named Alma (Maren Eggert) who doesn’t believe in the experiment she’s taking part in. Alma is supposed to see if she can develop feelings for Tom, who is algorithmically designed to be her perfect partner.

The surreal twist of Stevens being Stevens is that he’s always the most human being onscreen, regardless of the role. In the hands of anyone else, Tom and I’m Your Man would be a broad lark playing to an assumed laugh track, but the drama in this dramedy matters more, which means the humor will too.”

I ❤️ this critic. Not just because he liked Dan's movie...but he GETS Dan. Gets what he tries to do in everything.

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Omagerd

If I may direct your attention to this tweet- the power this man holds

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Here it comes again!

Happy Birthday Dan! 

Daniel Jonathan Stevens

Born 10 October 1982 in Croydon, Surrey UK Dan was adopted shortly after his birth and raised in Wales and later Sussex along with a brother (also adopted). His parents are retired teachers. During the summers when he was young, his family visited friends in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. He also briefly did an internship in Germany. He attended Holmewood House prep school at 10.

“I think growing up around people with faith is a very interesting thing to have witnessed. I feel very lucky,” he says. “My grandfather is a very devout man, and I found that dedication and the spirit with which it infused his whole life was very inspiring, really. I could only ever hope to be that at peace,” 

At 13 he earned an academic scholarship to Tonbridge School  in Kent where he starred in school productions of Macbeth, Murder in the Cathedral  and Henry IV Pt I under the guidance of Jonathan Smith. In the summers from the age of 15 he acted with the National Youth Theater under the guidance of his other mentor Sir Peter Hall.  

Dan, after completing his A levels, won another academic scholarship to study English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 2001. There he joined the Marlowe Society (where he once again played Macbeth with friend and flat mate Rebecca Hall as Lady Macbeth) and was active in the Footlights (where he directed and performed in shows like Cabaret  (I’d love to have seen that) and comedic skits, writing and performing his own stand-up routines.

“I had very, very long hair. I was quite active when I was younger and, quite naïvely, I used to go on May Day marches every year and anti-capitalist things, before I really knew what any of that meant…now I’m a bit jaded.’”

He starred alongside Rebecca Hall in an acclaimed production under her father Sir Peter Hall’s direction of As You Like It in 2004 first in London and then in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He was nominated for the Ian Charleson Awards (for best classical stage performance by British actors under 30). In 2018 Permission once again saw him co-star with his long time friend Rebecca Hall.  He attended and spoke at one of the memorial services to her father, his mentor, Sir Peter Hall in September 2018–alongside his mother-in-law (in red below), an actress from South Africa. 

Dan met his soon to be wife South African Royal Academy of Music post graduate scholar Susie Hariet in 2006 while performing Romans in Britain in Sheffield. They married in 2009.

“My wife once built me a bookcase,” chips in Stevens. “It is probably the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”

They have three children: Willow, Aubrey, and Eden and currently reside in a suburb of Los Angeles,CA.

“I don’t really fully engage with something unless I’m a little bit scared. I don’t want to be terrified stalk-still, but I don’t love the feeling that something’s too easy.”

In 2006 he starred as Nick Guest in the BBC adaptation of the Man Booker prize winning novel The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and adapted by Andrew Davies.  

He starred in numerous plays over the next few years including Hay Fever with Dame Judi Dench and Arcadia playing Septimus Hodge. In 2006 he played Marban the Druid in Samuel West’s revival of The Romans in Britain to critical acclaim. Highlights would include 2008’s Sense & Sensibility as Edward Ferrars, 2009’s Hilde in which he first spoke fluent German playing Hildegarde Knef’s husband David Cameron. In 2010 he was cast as Matthew Crawley in ITV’s Downton Abbey which launched him to international success alongside Michelle Dockery when they memorably played Matthew and Mary Crawley.  

Rebecca Eaton, PBS Masterpiece exec producer, noted that “Dan and Michelle had each other’s back and loved to cut loose before interviews. She said before one panel they were dancing in the wings as the music blasted the Petula Clark oldie “Downtown.”

“I really knackered my back …[an old rugby spinal bruising that gave him temporary paralysis for about a month] …They (got) the smallest lightest man for me to carry across no man’s land… I should have had a corset… the whalebone support would have been great for my back.”

In 2012 he moved with his family to New York City where he made his Broadway debut opposite Jessica Chastain in The Heiress at the Walter Kerr Theater in October 2012. They later lived in Brooklyn Heights for four years.

Dan appeared in numerous movies including Summer in February, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Criminal Activities, and as Sir Lancelot in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

In 2014 he earned critical acclaim and cult status for his role as David Collins in The Guest.

“I play characters who begin with  the  polite home invasion… Then I kill everyone or cause a political scandal.”

In March 2015 Dan was cast as The Beast in Walt Disney’s live action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Filming took up much of the summer of 2015 as the complicated process of bringing the Beast to life required him to essentially play the role once in a cgi suit with Emma Watson (Belle), another using MOVA technology to animate the Beast’s face, and a third for the voice and singing.

Beauty and the Beast had its world wide release 17 March 2017 and  went on to earn over $1 billion at the world wide box office.

In 2016 he was cast as the lead David Haller in Noah Hawley’s take on the X Men franchise Legion for FX television. The show premiered in February 2017. The final season of Legion ended in August 2019 where it received almost 100% critical acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes.

Projects also released in 2017  included The Ticket, Norman, and Colossal. Marshall – where he played the prosecutor Lorin Willis going up against Chadwick Boseman’s Thurgood Marshall and saw him co star once again with Josh Gad.  Dan played the young Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas. This role will always be one of my very very favorites… that scene with the children never fails to make me smile…

Other projects included Apostle, directed by Gareth Evans now on Netflix. The indie film directed by Alex Perry Ross, Her Smell with Elisabeth Moss was released on April 12 2019. Lucy in the Sky directed by Noah Hawley, has Dan co starring with Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm was released 4 October 2019. Call of the Wild with Harrison Ford opened in theaters in February 2020.

Eurovision, starring Will Ferrell. and Rachel McAdams was released to great critical acclaim for Dan playing the billionaire, lion loving singer Alexander Lemtov on Netflix, June 26, 2020.

The Rental, co starring Alison Brie was released in select drive-ins, and on demand streaming July 24.  Blithe Spirit ,where Dan once again co starred with Dame Judi Dench, was released in 2020 in UK and 2021 in USA. During the pandemic Dan worked on Solos, an Amazon prime anthology, where he co-starred with Morgan Freeman, released in June 2021. 

In 2021 Dan starred In the German language Film Ich bin dein Mensch (I’m Your Man) from Emmy award winning director Maria Schrader.  Maren Eggert plays a scientist who is confronted with a “partnership robot” against her will in performances that are both funny and extraordinarily moving. 

I’m Your Man won Best Film of 2021 at the German Film Awards, Deutscher Filmpreis, known as the Lolas. It has a 96 certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been praised by all major critics:  “Tom, played with elegant, fluent German by Dan Stevens”  with his upright “posture, frictionless locomotion and unflappably upbeat facial expression, Stevens delivers a performance that’s subtly comical and stylized” “ wryly smiling… absolutely spot on, and once again having the time of his life.”   The “surreal twist of Stevens being Stevens is that he’s always the most human being onscreen, regardless of the role.”

Dan starred in the Broadway premiere of the Oliver award winning  Martin McDonagh play Hangmen as the brooding, mysterious character of Peter Mooney. The play was supposed to run from February - July 2020 but was cut short because of the Covid-19 global pandemic. He had two glorious weeks on stage.

“Security is also terrifying. There’s something thrilling in not going the coziest route…”

Dan will never take the easy route. It’s too boring lol :). Next on the agenda is a mini series, Gaslit, where he’ll play Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean caught up in the dark days of the Watergate Scandal. It will be on Starz sometime in 2022.

“I look at other performances … whether it’s imitative or trying to absorb the modes of acting in my memory bank, I don’t know.” 

In addition to film and theater work Dan has other interests. In 2012 Dan sat on the Man Booker literary prize committee.  He’s written freelance stories and articles and the chapter on making the cricket episode of Downton for The Authors XI: The Authors Cricket Club Book. Dan is also acclaimed for his audio work having won prizes for reading Louisa Young’s My Dear I Wanted to Tell You and The Heroes’ Welcome and Stef Penney’s The Invisible Ones. He has read over 30 audio books and numerous BBC radio plays.

“There’s still some rebelling in me to be done. Maybe I’ll now rebel against my own career. For my next part I should choose something completely out of character to what everyone expects.

To sum up: In a review of Ich bin dein Mensch from the Times of London (a paper usually averse to admitting Dan even exists, much less praise him)…

“More versatile than Eddie Redmayne, more nuanced than Tom Hiddleston (both Cambridge peers of Dan), Stevens has been effortlessly firing out these types of roles every since the Downton gamble paid off with a vibrant Hollywood career as a chameleonic leading man and eccentric supporting player.”