‘Stranger Things’’ Matthew Modine had a “desire to protect” Millie Bobby Brown
Stranger Things’ Matthew Modine has admitted he had a “desire to protect” co-star Millie Bobby Brown from the “rollercoaster” of fame.
Modine, who played the complex but villainous Dr Martin Brenner AKA Papa in Stranger Things, first started working with Brown when she was just 11.
Speaking to the Guardian about their close relationship, Modine said: “My desire was to protect her. When I was a young actor, if you had a show that was successful in 20 or 30 territories around the world, that would be unbelievable. Netflix is in more than 190 territories.”
He continued: “What Millie and her generation have been exposed to through streaming is a kind of celebrity and power and reach that’s bigger than anything in the entertainment industry before. It’s a rollercoaster: there’s ups and downs. The adoration and the love are not real, it’s for something that you’ve created and it can be devastating.”
Elsewhere, Modine revealed that Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers were persistent in trying to get him to take on the role of Brenner. “I didn’t want to do it. The Duffer Brothers kept saying: ‘Oh he’s going to be really important.’ They never told me he was kidnapping children. I passed, but they kept ringing me up and made it really difficult for me to say no. I responded to their passion and he became a really interesting, complex character.”
“When they described my character, he was unshaven, with work boots and a flannel shirt. And he had a lot of expositional dialogue, which an actor never wants,” Modine continued. “When I finally said yes, I said, I want to dye my hair white because evil characters in Japanese anime always have white hair and I want to wear a suit like Cary Grant in North by Northwest, where if I fall down, when I stand up, it’s clean. And give all that dialogue to the people around me. They said yes to all of it. It made his stillness and his quietness that much more compelling.”
Brenner was one of three main characters killed during Stranger Things’ fourth season alongside Hellfire Club president Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) and bully Jason Carver (Mason Dye).
However the Duffer Brothers revealed that an early script saw another character bite the dust in season four, Russian security guard Enzo (Tom Wlaschiha).
Meanwhile, the title of the first episode from season five of Stranger Things has been revealed, leaving fans convinced that Eddie Munson is alive.
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Ali Shutler
NME
