Director Aaron Schimberg understands his latest movie, “A Different Man,” will make audiences uncomfortable.

“People are made uncomfortable by disfigurement and, therefore, they're made uncomfortable by films about disfigurement,” he said to Salon. But the film, which hit theaters this Friday, is an attempt to upend many of the narrative tropes that have defined stories about disfigured and disabled people since time immemorial.

“A Different Man” is a different type of movie, pun intended. It follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), a lonely man with a severe facial disfigurement who spends his time living in isolation. He’s presented with a scientific cure for his face and immediately jumps on the opportunity. Now, looking like an average person, Edward awaits the new changes in his life. But things grind to a halt when he meets Oswald (Adam Pearson), a gregarious extrovert with Edward’s former facial issues.

For disabled viewers, “A Different Man” is open about topics like ableism and society’s inability to learn about people with disabilities. “I was on the Staten Island Ferry on Monday and people just kept coming [up to me],” said star Adam Pearson. Pearson was the muse for director and writer Schimberg, the two previously working together on the 2018 feature “Chained for Life.” “I’m really writing an homage to Adam,” said Schimberg. “By the end of this film, Sebastian Stan is going to be looking at........

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