Before director Benjamin Caron’s (Andor) neo-noir thriller, A24’s Sharper, premiered on Apple TV+, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with members of the ensemble cast about the movie. Alongside stars Julianne Moore and John Lithgow, Sharper features Captain America’s Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and Brianna Middleton as pawns in this ever-evolving game of wits and deception.

Taking its audience to the penthouses of Manhattan, Sharper weaves a web of intricate lies revolving around billionaire Richard Hobbes’ (Lithgow) wealth. It begins with a love story between the bookish Tom (Smith) and graduate student, Sandra (Middleton), who encounter one another serendipitously at the bookstore Tom works at. The movie takes a sharp turn when Max (Stan), the con artist son of Hobbes’ girlfriend Madeline (Moore), breaks into his high rise. Tensions simmer when a scam begins to unfold between the mother-son duo, right around the time Hobbes is looking for someone to inherit his empire, someone other than his estranged son Tom who Richard believes to be incapable of taking over the family’s business.

Sharper’s twisting narrative keeps viewers guessing through its four acts, as more lies and deceit unravel between them all. During their interview, Stan, Smith, and Middleton talk about how the script for Sharper kept them guessing until the last page, what the filming schedule was like for a movie with so many plot twists, and encourage viewers to go in completely blind. Middleton discusses playing a character with many different facets, Stan shares the nuanced direction from Caron, they all suggest previous work for fans to check out, and Stan teases Bucky Barnes’ arc in Marvel Studios’ upcoming feature, Thunderbolts. For all of this and more, check out the interview in the player above, or you can read the full transcript below.

COLLIDER: First, I want to say congrats on the movie. I watched without having seen a trailer or anything, and it kept me guessing. Justice, I want to start with you. The last time I saw you was in Brazil, and I'm curious how much you enjoyed standing in front of thousands of people trying to promote something. Sebastian is probably used to it.

JUSTICE SMITH: It was my second time doing it, so it wasn't as like, “Wow” as the first time, but it was still pretty wow. I have this fascination with being on stage and being watched, but not doing anything. Like, specifically when other people would answer questions, I would just look at the crowd, and I was like, “I'm home.” I don't know what it is about my personality, I'm a narcissist or something. I just really like sitting there and being observed. I don't know, I don't know what that is. I'm addicted to that feeling.

That's not the answer I was expecting. Sebastian, you've obviously done stuff where you're standing in front of thousands of people talking about promoting something. I'm curious if you enjoy that, or is it something where you're in your head a little bit?

SEBASTIAN STAN: I always just wonder how I'm going to get through that for about like the first hour up to. Then, once I finally get outside, the energy is usually so impactful that I actually get excited in a way, and then it just feels like I'm more present than I ever would think I am. I mean we're not – some of us – we’re not rock stars. I was going to say, I don't know, maybe Justice, you are. I have no idea.

SMITH: In my heart.

STAN: Yeah, it's like this is what maybe being at a concert, you know, on that stage… It's just, it's a wild feeling.

Sebastian, you danced in Fresh and you dance in this movie, and I'm curious if that means it's in your contract going forward.

STAN: I’m just trying to stay alive, Steve. That's it. You know, it's doing the best I can.

If someone has never seen anything you've done before, what is the first thing you'd like them watching, and why?

SMITH: If someone has never seen anything that we've done before, what's the first thing we would like them to watch, like from our career?

STAN: It's funny you should say that because there's a way to prepare for this. I actually sent Briana a gift set of the Gossip Girl series that I was involved in, and I just said to her, “I don't know you might want to watch this before we enter into this scene.”

BRIANA MIDDLETON: Yeah, it’s good prep. Good prep. It helped.

STAN: I like to go method, Steve.

I've heard that about you.

SMITH: For me… What would I want people to watch of mine? I have a lot of stuff that I'm really proud of and I have a lot of stuff that I'm not as proud of, and I would say probably The Get Down. Probably The Get Down, Baz Luhrmann, baby.

MIDDLETON: Yeah, that was a good show.

SMITH: Yeah, that was a good show. That was a fun experience.

MIDDLETON: I’ve got about two choices, so I'll go with this one tomorrow.

I also enjoyed your work in The Tender Bar, you could say that.

MIDDLETON: Oh, thanks.

STAN: The Tender Bar was amazing. That was great.

MIDDLETON: Thanks, it was fun. Good entry point.

STAN: Yeah, and that was such an entirely different character.

MIDDLETON: I know, she's dope.

STAN: I actually saw The Tender Bar after we worked together. Look, I don't know, Steve, I really don't. Like part of me, in my head, I'm like, “What was I the most terrible at?” So that then maybe I can try and top that.

MIDDLETON: Oh, subvert expectations.

STAN: Yeah, when we work together.

Yeah, all three of you are really good in Sharper. Speaking of Sharper, one of the things about this is the film keeps you guessing the entire way through. So I'm curious for all three of you, what was it like reading the script for the first time, and how much had you been told about the arcs, or how much were you reading the script for the first time of being like, “Holy… what is going on here?”

MIDDLETON: I think we got everything. I mean, when I read it, I was doing what you explained exactly, just thinking, “Oh, I have this figured out.” Then 10 pages later it's completely destroyed and put on its head, and I knew it'd be a really exciting thing to experience in a film. Yeah, very exciting.

SMITH: Yeah, I read it all in one sitting, which is very rare to me because my brain is broken, and I can't focus on anything.

STAN: I’m just thinking about you enjoying being watched. I thought that's what you were just doing.

SMITH: I do love… I don't know what it is, I really like just sitting here. Will you watch me, Steve? But no, I got through it pretty quickly because it was amazing. I never knew where it was going to go next. And I highly suggest audiences do the same. Go in blind and don't look up anything about it – except this interview specifically because we won't spoil anything – because it will take you on a wild ride, and you won't be disappointed.

STAN: It was not a predictable outcome. You don't really get to read a lot of things that really surprise you, that you don't see things coming the way that they do in this film. It didn't explain too much, it made you have your own impression about the characters and their backgrounds without giving you too much explanation.

Brianna, I would imagine that when you were offered this role, obviously it's a cool movie, but it allows you as an actor to show so many different sides of yourself, the range of what the character goes through. Can you talk about playing a character like this that allows you so many different things?

MIDDLETON: Yeah, it was as exciting as it was terrifying. I mean, it's an actor's dream to get to play essentially different people in one film. I was joking that I don't ever have to audition again, people just need to watch this film and be like, “Okay, she can do that.” No, I mean I tried not to get too heady about how different she was in different points in the film. I think I just tried to lock down on the things that were similar and to ground me in just a throughline of truth throughout the whole movie. If things were different, it was more technical than anything, it was body language or voice stuff. Yeah, I just really tried to be present. Justice has been saying this the whole time, like, “Presence is kind of a good, safe place to be the whole time.” Just dealing with what's in front of you and playing the sincerity of it.

Were you ever shooting different parts of the movie on the same day? Because each chapter has its own aesthetic. So what was that like?

SMITH: Yeah, the answer is yes. The nature of filming, in general, like if you have a location booked, you're gonna bang out all the things that are in that location. So that would often require us to shoot – I mean, you know, shooting is always out of order, but we would overlap different perspectives and pick up different shots depending on which character we're focusing on in that part of the movie, even though earlier that day was more focused on my character and then later that day it might be more focused on Brianna's character, or whatever. But yeah, it's kind of all packaged in a nice organized way so that we can meet our days.

Why are you laughing?

STAN: Because I wanted to see how that thought was gonna end. Because in my head, I lost you like at least 10 words before…

SMITH: You know what I’m saying! No, no.

STAN: Of course, I know exactly what you're saying. I just, I've been there. You're like, “I knew where this was going…”

I can see that you guys had a very, very tough time making this movie, and you did not like each other.

SMITH: Yeah, very true.

MIDDLETON: So awful.

STAN: I think we had a lot of fun and that was one of the things, [Benjamin Caron] would always be like, “Less is more, less is more.” At least with me. He would always be like, “Remember, just one look rather than a whole face of expressions.” He was actually really great, too, because a lot of directors don't give you the technical side of it, and here we got the technical side to go with the emotional direction.

Sebastian, I'm just about out of time, but I have to ask you an individual question. You obviously are gearing up this year to play Bucky again. It's been a little while since you've played the role. Is it something that you are looking forward to getting back to, and what can you tease people about Thunderbolts?

STAN: No, of course. As always, it's always a pleasure going back. Now it's an exciting time because this character can kind of go every which way. We sort of opened up the door for him in a lot of ways, but I haven't read the script. I still have not been sent it. It's pretty much on par as how it usually goes.

I've heard good things.

STAN: I'm really excited about the cast. There's a lot of great people in there that I'm looking forward to working with.

David Harbor was telling me that he's looking forward to shooting Stranger Things Season 5 and Thunderbolts at exactly the same time.

STAN: That's crazy. Yeah, I don't know how he's gonna do that.

Atlanta, that's how.

STAN: Right. Maybe he's not in the movie that much. I don't know, don’t quote me. I didn’t say that. He’s a great guy. I love David Harbour.

Sharper is in now showing in limited theaters, and also playing on Apple TV+. For more on Thunderbolts and Stranger Things Season 5, you can check out our interview with David Harbour below.