Sebastian Stan shared how having direction and an outline was helpful and made him stay true to his character. Sometimes, the lines between performer and character get blurry, but luckily for the actor, the film’s director knew exactly what moments to capture during the ad-libs, and only the chosen ones made it to the movie. The actor was full of praise for the director, and appreciated his talent for filtering performances and sequences that felt right for each character and what they were intended to do:

” … In the editing room, which is what makes Drake brilliant at this, he finds the moments; the way he cuts is just fascinating to me. I remember saying to him, ‘Drake, no take is the same. I don’t know how you’re going to cut this. It’s impossible.’ And yet, he made it work.”

The actor continued, revealing that many scenes he filmed with co-star Shailene Woodley didn’t make it to film:

“He found the conversation, and he found the moments. He’s got a very specific way of cutting that I love which is the reactions and so on. He really filtered those performances in the editing room as well. There was a lot of back-and-forth dialogue between me and Shailene that never made it, but again, it’s about him picking what he feels is right for who each character is.”