- Hi, my name's Gaten Matarazzo
and I'm In Studio with the Hollywood Reporter.
(upbeat music)
- So, Gaten, season three is out.
- It is, finally.
- You've ruined many barbecues.
- Yes.
- There are kids who are hiding right now--
- I'm proud.
I didn't hear any fireworks, I didn't hear any fireworks.
- Right, fireworks have been canceled.
Maybe you can make it out if you start real early.
- Yeah.
- But, yes, tell me about what it's like
when a season of Stranger Things drops.
Do you have to go off social media?
Do you have to wear a disguise?
Like how do you prepare for a drop?
- I think social media's a thing
you gotta kinda be on top of, in a way.
Honestly, 'cause there's always a lot of questions,
there's always a lot of buzz about the show comin' out
so it's a good time.
But I have noticed that any time the season comes out
the amount of times I get noticed or anytime I go out
it does increase and then after awhile it'll die down
for a little bit, then it will increase again.
- Yeah, I had some problems in the lobby
of this hotel, actually.
- Oh really?
Oh no.
- People just asking me who are you going to see?
Yeah, you had some fans down there.
- Fun times.
- Do you like to interact with your fans on social media
after the season's out?
- I like to read a lot of the comments,
I like to hear what they're talkin' about.
You know, it's always hard to interact
with them personally 'cause there's just so many
that it's hard to choose which ones.
- What's the craziest thing that anybody's ever done
to try to get a spoiler out of you?
- Somebody asked me in detail what couple of movies
did season three take the most inspiration from.
I was so ready to talk about it
and I was like, better not, 'cause there's some
that like when you get into specifics
it would actually reveal a lot.
- Absolutely, I think I know what you're talking--
yeah, people can start to connect the dots.
- Absolutely, for sure.
- Once you start mentioning the movies, yeah.
What was it like filming a summer themed season?
- [Gaten] It was really cool.
Thank goodness we actually did film it
in the summer in Atlanta
because we had to wear short shorts in January.
I would have hated everything.
It was really cool, a lot of fun.
We didn't get to film at all in the school
which is a little disappointing
'cause that was always a really cool set to film in.
- [Marya] Oh, yeah?
- [Gaten] Yeah, really, really awesome.
Everything, all the Hawkins stuff that's painted on there
is actually there it's super cool.
- Oh, that's excellent.
Is Star Court Mall, is that an actual set
or is that a mall?
- It's an actual mall in Duluth, Georgia.
And they took a whole piece from it.
And they bought an entire piece of the mall
and they completely renovated it
to look like an '80s mall.
It was amazing, it was really, really cool
and I'm so surprised that they were able to pull that off.
'Cause they spent so much time
making sure that it was perfect.
It was awesome.
'Cause all the little details, everything
like the Radio Shacks and the movie theater
and the arcade and the ice cream shop
and the food court, everything was so perfectly period.
It was awesome.
- Yeah, yeah.
And, you know, I interviewed Noah Schnapp
and he said doing scenes with Winona Ryder
was great 'cause she used to school him
on the '80s and what it was like growing up in the '80s.
Do you have somebody who you go to
to get schooled on 1985?
- When I'm filming it's usually the directors.
I just want to make sure that everything is accurate.
'Cause they know what they're doing.
I mean, they've researched it probably more than anybody.
Probably more than the people who were actually in the '80s.
Yeah, they researched so much.
Like, they're experts on it and so I just make sure
I go to them if I have any questions about it.
- So season three is the return of Dustin and Steve.
- Yeah, it is.
- [Marya] When are you guys gonna
have your own spin off show?
- [Gaten] That's confirmed.
Season five is only Dustin--
(laughing)
- Tell me a little bit about kind of discovering
that chemistry with Joe.
- That was always, it came out of the blue actually.
It was always a weird thought to think about.
Like, no one ever expected it.
Neither did me and Joe at all.
And in the middle of season two
as they were writing they realized
that me and Steve had nowhere to go.
It was pretty much our characters were at a dead end
in the plot and there was really only one path
for each of them to go on to continue their story.
And then they realized that if we brought them together
it would create another storyline
and it would give purpose
to get them to a new place and time.
And they were actually dealing with similar things
at that point in the story
so it was actually really cool.
So those characters had something in common
that they could bond over.
They had us come together 'cause I think they assumed
that because of their similar situations
that they would bond over that.
And the dialogue that they wrote
was just really fun to work with.
And, actually, just getting to shoot with Joe was awesome.
That came out of nowhere.
I just started reading, was like all right,
we'll just roll with it.
And it wasn't anything like it was a new duo,
like they were like, okay, so this is gonna be a new thing
and this is gonna be the big thing.
It really just, it just happened
'cause it needed to happen.
And then people just seemed to really like it.
- I wanted to talk about a controversial character
on the show and that's Billy.
We're actually interviewing Dacre
and we want to ask him some good questions.
I was just wondering if you had a question for him.
- This is a question that I'm actually just curious about,
I was always wondering if the hair piece
that he had was itchy.
Like on the back of his neck,
that weird mullet thing that he has goin' on.
I always wondered 'cause like,
it's annoying how they had me grow out my hair
like super long, and they're like,
yeah, we'll just wait there.
It's like, you couldn't give me a hair piece?
No?
All right.
Whatever, I'll deal with it.
Whatever.
I'm callin' favoritism on that one, actually.
I'm sayin' it.
- So this is a question that people ask all the time
but I think it's--
- Uh oh.
- I think it's relevant because of your new show,
Prank Encounters.
- Oh, okay.
- Do you ever get pranked on the set of Stranger Things?
- Not much, actually.
I mean, it's usually just like people hiding behind
a corner as I'm walking in the door
and then jump scares.
Like, stuff like that.
- [Marya] Jump scares, nice.
- Millie likes to prank call me a lot for some reason.
She doesn't do it much anymore
but she used to just like, call me
on an unknown number and pretend to be a fan
but it would always freak me out
'cause I always wonder how they would've gotten my number.
She would go on for a couple minutes
before even letting me know it was her.
She only has a certain amount
of different voices she can do.
- [Marya] But how many times did she trick you?
- She called me, I think she's called me
about like twice tryin' to pretend to be a fan.
But she's always the one scaring me.
She likes to prank a lot of people, actually.
Yeah, there's the one that happened
a couple years ago, like two years ago
where her and Noah made one of the crew members believe
that their wedding venue was canceled.
- [Marya] Oh no.
- Yeah, like it was like overboard.
Made her think that her wedding venue was canceled
by calling her as the venue place.
Like Noah was just like Brian or something.
He just made his voice deeper and said
he was, like, Brian or something.
And then they made her think that her wedding venue
was canceled and it took awhile
for them to reveal it.
That that wasn't true.
She was freaking out.
- Oh no.
- That's awful.
Like, how do you make someone think that?
But they did.
- Well, these kids have a future in voiceover work.
- I guess so, apparently so.
Yeah, she didn't catch on until they told her.
- [Marya] So let's talk about the scariest things
about season three.
- Okay.
- Because we have like a new manifestation
of the Mind Flare character.
- Yeah.
- When you found out, I mean, obviously
you guys don't get to see the finished product
until it's done.
- Sure.
- When you found out what we're dealing with
and, I'm not gonna spoil it for anybody,
but the Mind Flare is made out of some material
that is pretty gross.
- Yeah, pretty disgusting actually.
Well, reading it, it was so
well written in the script.
Like, everything was so well detailed
that everything we read translated perfectly to the screen.
'Cause the way they described it on paper,
it looks exactly like the way
they would describe it.
It's really, really spectacular
how they're able to do that.
Pretty freakin' disgusting though.
Pretty awesome.
- You know, as we're heading into
whatever the next season is going to be,
do you think that as the kids get older
the show's gonna get scarier?
It it gonna be more into the horror genre
than the Steven Spielberg genre?
- Perhaps.
I don't necessarily think that it has to do
with the kids getting older necessarily.
I think that wouldn't have held them back
if they wanted to take a scarier route in the beginning.
I think they would've just gone
the way they thought the show could go,
even if we were younger.
But I think just as the seasons progress
they're gonna intensify everything.
So everything that's intensified
along with the horror.
- And what do you think the future is for Dustin?
Where does he go from here?
- He's probably gonna go to college
and get his masters in some type of science
and then become a Nobel Prize winner.
He seems like a smarty pants.
I feel like Dustin's gonna be researching something
and then he's gonna like leave his food out
and then something will happen
and then he'll discover something else accidentally.
That seems like something Dustin would do.
- Yeah, absolutely.
An accidental genius.
- An accidental genius.
He doesn't even know he is.
- All right, so, in order to sign off here
let's do a prank for the audience.
Are you ready for this?
So, what was it like having Pheobe Cates
as your girlfriend on the show?
I can't believe they cast her.
- I know.
No, it was really, really great.
I mean, she's a pleasure to work with always.
She's very nice, it's really cool.
It's funny how they referenced that earlier in the show
and to see it come to life at the end, that's really cool.
I think fans are gonna like that a lot.
- Best surprise of the season.
- Yeah, she's lovely.
Great lady, great lady.
- Gaten, thank you so much.
- Thank you, I appreciate it.
- Stranger Things on Netflix.