A Different Manis in theaters September 20.
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Adam Pearsoninsists his acting career started as something of a joke.
But he had never acted before and had no intention of doing so.
Lets waste someones time for a while, he remembers thinking as he sent off his CV.
Then he was asked to record a short video.
Quite a bit has indeed happened since then.
(Much of their dialogue, it should be noted, was improvised.)
And it seems hes rather nervous about it.
Then he meets Pearsons Oswald, who has the same condition.
I think the audience just assumed Adam was playing himself inChained for Life, Schimberg says.
He looks a little nervous and awkward, and people thought thats who he was.
But the character was really based more on myself.
The director wanted to write a role for Pearson that reflected the actors range and his effervescent charm.
It turns out I have 118!
Almost everybody at this cafe seems to know the 39-year-old Pearson.
Some of his childhood friends now own bars and restaurants in the area.
Hes also preparing a documentary, a sitcom, and a book proposal.
(Amid his current whirlwind of activity, he has also been going to the gym a lot more.
I want to get fit, he says.
It helps that he has basically been an extrovert all his life.
Next came years of doctor appointments and facial surgeries: 39 to date.
When youre that age, youre mildly oblivious to it, Pearson recalls.
So Ive always been this sort of head-down, crack-on kind of kid.
I almost became the architect of my own downfall because I became the problem.
If I could go back and do it, Id do it differently.
That whole middle ground of nuanced conversation doesnt exist.
His first documentary appearance was in a 2005 TV special calledWhen Your Face Doesnt Fitas a teenager.
After graduating from university, he found work at the BBC as an assistant in commissioning.
He soon found himself working in development and began researching and presenting his own shows.
WhatChained for Lifedid through its playful deconstruction of exploitation movies,A Different Mandoes in more structural ways.
The film essentially contains a conversation about the portrayal of disability onscreen.
That anxiety is wholly intentional.
Its damned if you do, damned if you dont.
Its a means to an end in a way thats clever, says Pearson.
Were highlighting the fallacy of doing it by doing it.
Also, he may not have the time.
Pearson has enjoyed his experiences at the worlds big film festivals.
He fondly remembers a woman at Sundance who had a matching outfit and sunglasses with her Chihuahua.
For years, my mom said, Im sorry, I just dont believe youre famous, he says.
And then she realizes that I am actually.
Shes there on the red carpet pissing herself laughing.
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