Breaking Baz: Scottish-Italian Newcomer Ruaridh Mollica On His Breakthrough Performance In Mikko Makela’s Sundance-Bound ‘Sebastian’

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Ruaridh Mollica says he had a year to prepare for his “role of a lifetime — so far” in Finnish filmmaker Mikko Makela’s powerful new film Sebastian, which premieres at Sundance on Sunday.

The film follows a culture journalist who goes undercover and leads a double life as a sex worker to research a debut novel.

The 24-year-old Mollica, born to a Scottish mother and an Italian father, gives a superlative performance in his first feature film lead role, as he assumes the split personalities of Max, a young wannabe literary sensation, and Sebastian, who hires himself out to desirous older male clients.

The intimate moments, though at times full-on, actually serve the narrative to reflect Max/Sebastian’s state of mind. Between his initial self-tape, first audition and screen tests, Mollica had 12 months to enter into full character research mode before officially being handed the part, and the experience helped him become a champion of Makela’s vision. “Yes, I wanted the role, but I just wanted to see the film made,” he tells me, modestly. “And I think that’s the most beautiful thing: When you can detach the ego and the competitiveness of wanting a role and just being like, ‘Whether I get this or not, I want to see this film.'” He dived in, read and re-read Makela’s script, highlighting “every single” book, author and single film that was mentioned. “If I didn’t know them, I got to know them.