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[typewriter keys clacking]
You love it. We love it. But how much do you really know
about this fabulous throwback to 1980s sci fi, fantasy, and horror?
Welcome to watchmojo.com
and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10
Stranger Things facts.
[in video] Who is this?
What have you done to my boy?
Give me back my son!
[screams]
For this list, we'll be ranking the most interesting
and notable facts about Stranger Things,
its creators, the Duffer brothers, and the cast and characters
that have captured the imaginations of kids and adults alike.
Holy shit!
[whimpering]
Number 10: Netflix bought the show within 24 hours.
[in video] How was I supposed to know it was going to take 10 hours?
Sometimes, you just know you got a good thing when you see it.
This was exactly the case when Netflix
first saw Stranger Things.
as the streaming media giant snapped up the show
for an 8 episode debut season within 24 hours
of hearing the pitch.
We started talking about, if we were going to do a television show,
what that would look like.
and what would be cool and what hasn't been done on television before.
Producer and co-director, Sean Levy, assisted the Duffer bros in pitching their idea to Netflix
as a dyed in the wool genre show.
indebted to such directors as Steven Spielberg
yet posessing a darkness all its own.
The rest, as they say, is history,
as Stranger Things became a runaway success
almost immediately.
[monster growling]
[screaming]
Number 9: the boys auditioned by reenacting Stand By Me.
[in video] Suck my fat one, you cheep dime store hood.
The Duffer bros auditioned a staggering amount of
child actors before narrowing things down to
their main cast for Stranger Things.
Over 900 boys and 300 girls, to be specific.
But none were actually made privy to the real plot of the show.
For example, Millie Bobby Brown knew very little about her character, Eleven,
and performed her audition with dummy sides:
scenes that are used to test an actor's ability
without giving too much away about the plot.
The bath? (off-screen male voice: Yes.)
Yes, the bath.
Meanwhile, the boys were called upon to reenact scenes
from the classic Stephen King adaptation, Stand By Me.
which itself parallels Stranger Things with its young
protagonists and heavy coming of age narrative.
[in video] And while you guys are dragging your candy asses halfway across the state and back,
I'll be waiting for you on the other side,
relaxing with my thoughts.
Number 8: Millie Bobby Brown shaved her head because of Imperator Furiosa.
[in video] You wanna get through this?
[panting]
Do as I say.
A lot of actors are dedicated to their craft.
So dedicated, they may make some drastic changes
to their personal style. But 12-year-old actress,
Millie Bobby Brown hadn't expected to.
Apparently, there was no mention of a haircut during
her initial Skype call with the Duffer bros.
It was only when they first met in person that the
Stranger Things creators informed Brown that she'd have to shave her head for the role of Eleven.
Although Brown's mother initially objected,
the Duffer bros managed to get Millie to agree to that buzzcut
by showing her a photo of Charlize Theron's character
Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road.
[in video] Now that I drive a war rig, this is the best shot I'll ever have.
With that, Millie was transformed into the telekinetic kid
we know and love.
[can crunching]
Number 7: Steve Harringtons' character arc was tweaked.
[in video] Here you go, man.
[clattering]
Anyone who likes 1980s cinema knows that the teen villains
generally stay jerks right until the end
without much redemption.
Not so with Steve Harrington.
You need to leave.
No, no, listen. I, I, I messed up, okay? I messed up.
And the Duffer bros have actor, Joe Keery, to thank
for this trend-bucking decision.
As the duo was so impressed with the young man's likable personality,
that they actually tweaked his character's story arc
to make him more developed as a love interest for Nancy.
Sure, it doesn't often happen that the local bully
sees the error of his ways and starts running with the right crowd,
but this is just another great example of the depth
Stranger Things adds to its characters.
[monster growling]
Steve!
[Steve grunting]
[monster growling]
Number 6: the Demogorgon wasn't completely CGI.
[intense music]
[monster growling]
The Demogorgon was one of the central antagonists
of Stranger Things, and posessed a fearsome presence
on set, thanks to the fact that the special effects department
combined modern CGI with some very convincing practical effects.
The Demogorgon itself was portrayed by a man named Mark Steger
a body-based performance artist who wore a partially
animatronic suit for many of the scenes.
The end result was so effective, in fact,
that the young twins who played Holly on the show
were terrified of the Demogorgon.
The production team had to calm them down by
comparing the monster to something out of Pixar's Monster's Inc.
[in video] What happened?
The kid almost touched me. She got this close to me!
She wasn't scared of you?
She was only six!
I could have been dead!
Number 5: 80's influences galore.
[Halloween music]
Younger audiences may not be able to point out
all the references to 1980s culture and cinema,
but older Stranger Things fans will likely welcome
the opportunity to revisit some of their favorite
styles and tropes.
The Duffer bros pulled stylistic and conceptual
references from such diverse artists as Stephen King,
John Carpenter, and the aforementioned, Steven Spielberg,
and also asked the cast to watch films like Stand By Me,
Poltergeist, and The Goonies,
for inspiration when it came time to shoot.
[in video] Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!
There was also a technical homage.
Though it was shot digitally, Stranger Things utilized
a layer of scanned grain in post-production to lent at the feeling of vintage filmstock.
[in video] What do you want?
I want to know how you did it.
How I did what?
Number 4: A fake trailer was cut to test the soundtrack.
[synth-based music]
You already know the Duffer bros were highly influenced
by directors like John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg,
but this inspiration wasn't only limited to how Stranger Things looked,
but also how it sounded.
[eerie music]
[in video] He's a tall caucasian male. Doesn't appear armed.
Wearing sunglasses.
The show's creators wanted to use a synthesizer-based
soundtrack to highlight the show's 1980s setting and style.
but also to differentiate it from Spielberg and the traditional orchestral accompaniment
found in such films as E.T.
[orchestral music]
[in video] Not so high! Not so high!
So the Duffer bros put together a fake trailer
with scenes from over 25 of their favorite movies
to test their musical idea.
[synth-based music]
Please, someone! My son is trapped!
The result? Dark John Carpenter-esque drones
won out over sweeping strings and horns to create
the final product of Stranger Things' musical universe.
[synth-based music]
Number 3: Gaten Matarazzo's voice changed during filming.
[in video] Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger?
He sounded a lot like that.
Working on a film or television show takes time,
and while it's all fine and dandy not to get a haircut
for a few months, when kid actors are involved,
some other factors come into play that can't be controlled.
[in video, in Austrialian accent] Hello, this is Dustin, and this is secretary and treasurer
of Hawkins Middle AV club.
Do you eat kangaroos for breakfast?
Actor Gaten Matarazzo was going through puberty
during shooting, and had to record additional dialogue
for his role as Dustin.
Well, thankfully they're skipping a year ahead,
for next season. [Jimmy Kimmel: Okay, oh that makes sense.]
Yeah, 'cause you're going to have a mustache by then. [Audience laughing]
This process, also known as 'dubbing', is often done
during the post-production work to clean up scenes.
But, in Matarazzo's case, his voice had changed so much
that it no longer matched up with what had already been
shot for his character.
Yeah, that's right! You better run! She's our friend and she's crazy!
You come back here, she'll kill you!
You hear me?
Number two: Conspiracy theorists surmise real life Elevens might exist.
[in video] Incredible.
Stranger Things was no stranger to rewrites,
but it was actually almost called something else: Montauk.
Seem random? It's actually a reference.
Supposedly, Camp Hero in Montauk, New York,
plays host to a series of secret government projects.
Conspiracy theorists have claimed that these projects
involved anything from time travel to what is deemed
"psychological warfare".
Or, "the attempt to intimidate another person using
whatever means necessary".
[in video] The experiment worked. It was a tremendous success.
It also literally destroyed the minds of the men on the ship.
Preston Nichols, author of the Montauk Project series of novels,
claims to have repressed memories of his own involvement
with the project. Some of what Nichols describes
seems pretty close to what ended up in the show.
Like a creature coming into the real world from the mind of a patient.
[wall crumbling]
Before we reveal our strangest pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
Natalia: How well do you know your significant other? We're going to find out.
Gaten: I think we know the most about each other. More than anybody.
[music]
Number 1: There's a 30 page explanation of the Upside Down.
[eerie music]
Fans loved watching the twisted, bleak, and unique visual flare the Duffer bros brought
to their Stranger Things netherworld: the Upside Down.
This otherworldly dimension was still very much a mystery
by the time Season 1 ran its course, however,
leaving plenty of room for questions
and interpretation from the audience.
[in video] You create a doorway.
Like a gate?
Sure.
But, the Duffer brothers have more up their sleeves.
They actually wrote a 30 page document
that explained both the Demagorgon and the Upside Down,
but purposefully kept much of it under wraps
during the debut season.
Future seasons promise to reveal more info
about this realm of darkness and monsters
and we can't wait to find out.
[coughing]
[eerie music]
So, do you agree with our list?
Which Stranger Things facts do you find the most fascinating?
[in video] Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic
field and that can change the directions of a compass needle.
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