Filtered By: Showbiz
Showbiz
BEYOND HAWKINS

‘Stranger Things’ cast shares life between takes and after


"Stranger Things" alumni Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) and Joe Keery (Steve Harrington) were received by fans of the Netflix series with raucous delight when they arrived in Manila last August for AsiaPOP Comicon (APCC) Manila 2017.

Dacre Montgomery (Billy) and Sadie Sink (Max), newcomers to the scifi-horror-mystery series, were welcomed with equal warmth, albeit with curiosity for what their roles will mean for season two.

The four shared what went on before and during the shoot for the second season, and what their plans are after the premiere on October 27.

 

"Stranger Things" cast in Manila (L-R): Joe Keery, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, and Dacre Montgomery. Rie Takumi

 

Getting settled

Sink and Montgomery's casting experience could not be any more different: While Montgomery sent in a short film before doing a Skype session that got him the role three days later, Sink did several readings, a Skype test, and screen tests with Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) and Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) before sealing the role.

However, this, and the fact that they didn't see each other face-to-face until shooting began in Atlanta, did not affect their chemistry at all as the pair proved to be a hit on- and off-camera.

“Our chemistry in the show is a rivalry, we’re butting heads, so it was interesting ‘cause we were friends, then action, and then not friends. That’s the easiest way to describe it,” Montgomery said.

The pair settled in the '80s inspired world of "Stranger Things" equally as easy as its specific slice of 1984 engrossed Montgomery and Sink, moreso her parents.

“It was mostly just, they would go to set and they would see an extra or one of the characters wearing a shirt or a dress and she would like, 'I had that exact shirt, I had that dress,'” Sink recounted.

“It’s not even just the '80s as a whole, it’s that particular year that it’s set in. What came out in that year, what was relevant. Rather than being specific to a decade, it’s specific to a 24-month bracket in that time,” Montgomery said. “I’m not just in the '80s, I’m in this month in ‘84.”

Schnapp and Keery had their own ways of welcoming the pair, with the former keeping in touch through messages and the latter going along with activities that may have overwhelmed him at first.

"Dacre took me to a boxing class one time. Beat me up," Keery mused.

Winona love and the ST family

While it was "definitely a little bit scary at first", knowing how established the cast's bonds are, Sink said they "fit right in, it was perfect, there was nothing wrong about anything and everyone was really welcoming."

"With the boys and Millie (Bobbie Brown, who played Eleven), it was great. There's so many of us— all of us find different little things to bond over, whether it's TV shows or different things like that," Sink recounted.

She continued, "Millie and I really clicked, being the only girls. She was saying it was nice for her to have another girl in the cast 'cause she's used to being with all the boys."

Montgomery was bolstered by the collaborative nature of the crew and cast, especially of the venerable Winona Ryder's (Joyce Byers) treatment of him and his Perth heritage, which he shares with Ryder's late great friend Heath Ledger.

“I remember the first thing she said to me was, ‘Oh, I knew Heath.’ That’s her association to Perth. It was really nice, and the rest of the cast were very, very lovely and the Duffers were extremely collaborative. They’re lots of fun to work with,” he said.

Schnapp developed a good relationship with Ryder in the first season and had nothing but good things to say about his onscreen mother, who helped calm down his parents when he had to undergo CPR for a scene and came in on an off-day to walk him through a scene.

"(And) there was a time where I had a scene that I was worried about, I was like, 'what should I do, I don't know, oh I should text Winona, maybe she can help me'," he said.

"She was like, 'oh advise, I'll come in tomorrow', and she came in an hour early and talked to me, and helped me through it, and it turned to be a great scene."

Life and Hollywood

Much like what Brown said when she came to last year's APCC, Sink and Schnapp are big believers in the best acting advice they received on set: to be real kids outside movies and series.

"I think it's so important — even though I love acting, it's what I wanna do for the rest of my life — it's so important to take a break, be a real kid and experience what normal kids experience in school," Sink said. "Let's see what happens with acting."

Schnapp later shared, "I have breaks in between. In the summer, I go to sleepaway camp, which I've been going to since I was seven. I get to see friends, my friends who I see in the summer, which is nice and it's like a break from acting life. And I go to real school so I get to be around other kids and I don't really think about acting and that stuff when I'm there."

Variation and change

For Keery, balancing his garage and psych-rock band Post Animal and his acting career is the main challenge, and keeping a varied portfolio is Montgomery's rock to bear.

"Acting, I started having a little bit more opportunity and that kinda helps the music stuff as well and it's something— I kinda hope to be able to do both," Keery said.

"It kinda comes to a little bit of a head when you're touring with the band just because that's such a time commitment and you're away from home for so long," he continued, saying that while it was bittersweet to miss this year's tour, "to be able to do both" was good for his brain as he can alternate between each pursuit.

Montgomery answered, "I really wanna be strategic about it. I love film and television, I grew up learning it and pursuing it, pursuing a career in this industry and there's so much being made, there's so much content in the last couple of years which has changed the game. But I love feature films so much."

He added that he has "some exciting news coming out soon" and that'll be the next step for him as 'Stranger Things' is his second major job and he's "still got a lot to learn, and a long way to go." —KG/AT, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT