Dan Stevens Interview: I’m Your Man

Dan Stevens plays a humanoid robot designed to be the perfect life partner in the new film, I’m Your Man. Directed by Maria Schrader, who co-wrote the script alongside Jan Schomberg, the film takes a playful look at relationships, romance, and what it means to be human. Stevens stars alongside Maren Eggert who plays Alma. She is persuaded to partake in a study that requires her to live alongside the robot in order to receive research funding.

Stevens spoke to Screen Rant about the unique new film and how he chooses his roles.

Screen Rant: I loved this movie, it was so darling. But this is also the moment that I learned that Dan Stevens speaks fluent German! What is your history with German, and was there a challenge in doing a romantic comedy in a language that isn’t your first language?

Dan Stevens: I spoke German from quite an early age. I learned it at school, and we had some family friends who lived there, and we used to vacation there a lot, and [I] just fell in love with the language and the country pretty early on. I did a movie there about 13 years ago, so I’d had some familiarity with film German, which it is its own kind of language in a way.

It definitely improved a lot last summer, and I polished it up pretty quickly to tackle this role. The language, and the heightened language that this role requires is I think pretty complex even for a German. And it was a tremendous challenge, the physical challenge of portraying this evolving Android. But also you had the linguistic challenge of just getting my head around some of the languages, and thinking almost doubly differently. It was kind of wonderful.

My favorite characters to watch are those newborn-baby type adults, like in Wonder Woman when she’s discovering the world for the first time. What was your favorite part about playing a character like that? 

Dan Stevens: There’s a certain kind of naivety to him, for sure. And in that sense, it falls into a classic genre in a way, whether it’s like a caveman coming back to modern-day or whatever. It’s like, “What is this world?”

I think in this film, you sort of see-through both the character’s eyes, really, and I think Alma is a wonderfully naturalistic human character. And then you have this, as you say, this naive man-baby very quickly trying to adjust. And yeah, just looking and learning, and that’s kind of a delightful space to be and a place to play. And just calibrating exactly how quickly he’s learning, and how much he’s learning, and watching him get it wrong as well. And I think that’s what the film looks at very much, is about imperfections, and how human it is to get things wrong, and to be off.

You’re one of those people I run to the theater for, because what I love about you so much is that you haven’t fallen into this typecast thing, you’re not pigeonholed into any certain type of role. How do you feel like you’ve managed to navigate that? And is that something that’s intentional, because you’re so great at every single genre, you’re so funny too.

Dan Stevens: Thank you very much. I definitely am always looking for challenges, and that’s not to say that I wouldn’t retread old ground sometimes, but trying to look for things that stimulate me, and hopefully stimulate audiences. And also to keep surprising people, I think, and it’s as much about what you say no to, as what you say yes to. I could tell you the things that I would like to do, but I don’t know if somebody out there might not want me to do those. But there are plenty of people who want me to do certain things that I’ve maybe already done, and I feel I’ve done those, or the way they’re presented, it doesn’t make me want to do them again yet. So, it’s about just picking and choosing, it’s as much about the filmmaker, and the role, and the quality of the writing as the genre, exactly. So if someone came up with any number of genres I’ve already done that really appealed, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Was there something that came up to replay a character, and you were like, “No, I’m not ready to do that yet”?

Dan Stevens: I don’t know. I struggle to think of specifics, but it’s funny, each time you do something, well usually, there’ll be a wake of similar things that come along, whatever that is. But yeah, not many German sci-fi rom-coms come my way. So yeah. It’s the challenge.

If I could pitch one to you, I feel like it would really save the day if you would do a Eurovision prequel or sequel with your character, because that was my favorite role you’ve done. I thought it was so funny.

Dan Stevens: Oh, bless you. Yeah, it was one of my favorites too. I had a huge amount of fun doing that, and yeah, getting to learn from the likes of Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. And it was a real treat, that one. So yeah, thank you.

About The Author

Ash Crossan
(225 Articles Published)

Ash Crossan is a Lead Content Producer & Host for Screen Rant. With nearly a decade of experience under her belt, Ash joined Screen Rant in 2021 as a lead interviewer. Based in Los Angeles, Ash is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, 90s Nickelodeon and rom-coms. Follow Ash on Twitter: @AshCrossan.

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