An artist, the old saying goes, is “someone who pounds the same nail, over and over again.”

So it’s not a shock that “Chained for Life” writer-director Aaron Schimberg returns to the subject of beauty, disfigurement and the ways society views both in “A Different Man,” a street fable about deforming disease, a “cure” and what we figure out about the man who goes through this even as the man himself never quite seems to “get it.”

It gives Schimberg the chance to make another film with British actor and activist Adam Pearson, whose genetic neurofibromatosis has led to a career playing versions of “Elephant Man” like characters who show us humanity, charm and wit beneath their challenging appearance.

But Sebastian Stan — “Bucky” in the “Captain America” universe, Trump in “The Apprentice” movie — is the star and title character here, a New York actor with deformities that pretty much limit him to similar roles, or would if there was a lot of demand in that corner of entertainment.

As it is, Edward is lucky to land a part in an HR training video about how to compassionately handle working with people with disabilities who “look different.”

His face a masque of deformity caused by tumors and surgery to remove them, Edward lives in a shell, avoiding eye contact on the subway and people in general.

You can preach “All unhappiness in life comes from not accepting ‘what is.'” But in Edward’s case, no one could blame him for slapping you for saying it.

He is meek, shy, withdrawn, as some actors and people with disabilities are. He timidly accepts the new leak in his ceiling, jumps at every sudden noise and avoids the random remarks and engagement of strangers — even the ones that aren’t unkind.

But his new neighbor (Renate Reinsve) isn’t having that. She’s got the confidence of the young and the beautiful as she tells him she’s a playwright from Ålesund, Norway and doesn’t hesitate in volunteering a little first aid when he cuts himself by accident.

Ingrid seems to accept him as he is, just as a matter of course. He’s not exactly “in” her life — she has a beau. He’s just a neighbor and she has no trouble being polite and kind.

But Edward’s doctor interrupts this dynamic with a referral to a researcher/specialist (Malachi Weir) who has come up with an injected “cure.” In a matter of days Edward starts to heal. But when his solitary transition is complete, he lies and claims “Edward died. Killed himself.”

The painfully shy Edward takes on a new life as Guy, a handsome and soon successful and outgoing real estate agent. He spies Ingrid and stalks her, just long enough to see the off-Broadway shoebox theater where she’s holding auditions for this show she’s written.

“Edward” is the title. And the people she’s auditioning are odd looking even before the makeup is applied. Guy dons an old mask that was made of his pre-treatment face and gets the part, playing Ingrid’s version of himself with her none the wiser.

A romance blossoms. And then a confident, deformed Brit actor (Pearson) shows up, befriends them both and starts showing the REAL Edward how “accepting ‘what is'” works for him.

Pearson’s “Oscar” is comfortable around people, outgoing enough to make friends, even with the guy whose role he seems destined to take. Oscar holds forth at the pub, sings karaoke with confidence and has a past that includes a wife and child.

Stan’s Edward wears a sort of perpetual “WTF?” expression in scenes where all that unfolds. As in “Why couldn’t I do that, before or after?”

Schimberg’s film goes for predictable emotions and rests on a fairly predictable formula. But what transpires in the middle to late acts is surprising, even as it feels as contrived as the shy-deformed-man who quickly becomes a master salesman transition.

The situations set up here are melodramatic, but Schimberg misdirects us not so much in the payoff, but in where the story goes AFTER that expected payoff.

I appreciated the novelty of that, and the performances are sharp, with Stan stumbling through this mystery of life like a guy who can’t quite figure out why what worked works and why what didn’t didn’t.

Reinsve walks a subtle pretty-and-I-know-it-but-I-won’t-show-it line as Ingrid, a curious woman who tactlessly dismisses lovers and tactlessly makes creepy requests — “Wear the mask!” — in bed.

But I’m not sure Schimberg had anything really new to say on this subject. And that makes “A Different Man” teeter towards gimmicky, a stunt that barely transcends that gimmick. It’s not as “daft” as “Chained for Life,” but it’s not as engaging or as interesting either.

Rating: R, violence, sex, nudity, profanity

Cast: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Michael Shannon and Adam Pearson.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Aaron Schimberg. An A24 release.

Running time: 1:52