Here's What Happened When Gwyneth Paltrow Didn't Recognize Her 'Avengers' Co-Star Sebastian Stan
"We were in the same film," he tweeted.
Instagram Not many people would call Sebastian Stan’s performance as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Comic Universe films forgettable. But then, Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t most people. The GOOP creator is an MCU star in her own right, having played Pepper Potts in the Iron Man and Avengers franchises. Her own Marvel resume, however, didn’t stop her from forgetting her fellow Avenger, not once but twice in recent months.
Stan took to Twitter this week to share that he enjoyed Paris Fashion Week and added a jab at Paltrow, saying “Glad I got to reintroduce myself to @gwynethpaltrow for the third time…” She hadn’t recognized him at a party a few months ago either. That follows her failure to remember even being in the movie Spider-Man: Homecoming, and forgetting Spider-Man star, Tom Holland.
Who is Sebastian Stan? To refresh Paltrow’s memory about her co-star, here are some details about Sebastian Stan.
1. Early life
Stan was born in Constanța, Romania where he lived until he was 8-years-old. His parents divorced when he was only two and his mother moved him to Vienna, Austria after the Romanian Revolution in 1989. She worked there as a pianist. A few years later, she married Anthony Fruhauf, the headmaster of Rockland Country Day School, and they moved to New York to be with him, Stan attended RCDS and was active in their drama program, starring in shows such as Harvey, Cyrano de Bergerac, Little Shop of Horrors, Over Here!, and West Side Story. He went on to study acting at Rutgers University and spent time abroad studying acting at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.
Stan as the Winter Soldier.
2. Actor
Once he finished his training, Stan started working steadily in New York. He starred in Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio in 2007 then started doing television work such as Gossip Girl, where he played Carter Baizen. He played roles in Hot Tub Time Machine and The Swan before nailing down the role of Bucky Barnes in the first Captain America movie in 2011. Once he was into the Marvel Comic Universe, he kept reprising the role in a number of other films, including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
3. Gwyneth
Gwyneth Paltrow is another MCU staple, appearing as Pepper Potts in all of the Avengers films, and doing cameos in other Marvel films as well. But the Marvel filming process is apparently quite convoluted and actors don’t always know what they’re filming until it shows up on screen. Such was the case with Paltrow’s short appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming. While appearing on The Chef Show with her Avengers co-star Jon Favreau, he reminded her about their scene in the film. She responded with total bewilderment, saying "We’re weren’t in Spider-Man.” Favreau kept trying to coax the memory out of her, saying the name of the film several times and giving her the background of the scene they shot, prompting “Remember Spider-Man in the end and…and…Tom Holland’s there, and you’re going to walk out and do a press conference?” She said “Oh! Yes! That was Spider-Man? Oh my god!”
Paltrow has a similar block on her memory of Stan, which could be understandable since Bucky and Pepper may not have appeared in any scenes together. But Paltrow still made waves she was caught on tape asking Chris Pratt who Stan was. Pratt not only had to explain that he was the actor who played Bucky Barnes, he had to clarify for Paltrow that Barnes is the Winter Soldier, something most MCU fans - not to mention MCU movies stars - know.
Paltrow was also in Avengers: Endgame.
4. Fashion week
Stan may have hoped that the lesson Chris Pratt taught Paltrow about the Marvel Universe would have sunk in but apparently not. He took to Twitter this weekend to express his delight about getting to see a Valentino fashion show. He then shared a photo of himself with creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, house founder Valentino Garavani, supermodel Lauren Hutton and Paltrow, quipping “Glad I got to reintroduce myself to @gwynethpaltrow for the third time. We are in the same film…”
Stan and Patrow.
5. Future projects
Even if Gwyneth Patrolw can’t keep Stan in her head, other Hollywood types certainly can. Stan has in pre-production initial episodes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a Marvel series that will be available on the Disney streaming service. And he’s in production on 355, a spy thriller produced by Jessica Chastain.
Stan will be working with Chastain as well as watching soccer with her.
So far Paltrow hasn’t commented on her repeated incidents of not knowing her co-stars.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.