-Our next guest is an Emmy-nominated actor
you know from his work in "Full Metal Jacket"
and as the mysterious Dr. Brenner
on "Stranger Things."
The highly anticipated volume 2 of season 4
is available to stream on Netflix starting July 1st.
Let's take a look.
-All I've ever wanted to do is to help you.
And right now, I think you very much need my help.
Your gifts have been stolen.
I believe I know why.
And I believe I know how to get them back.
Let us work together again, you and I.
Daughter...and Papa.
-Please welcome to the show Matthew Modine, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome! I'm so happy you're here!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm so happy to be here.
-So we're neighbors in New York, I have heard.
I've never seen you around the neighborhood,
but you have seen me. -I have seen you, yeah.
I've often wanted to come up and say hello,
but you're busy talking. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -And I found out today
that you have three children. -Yeah.
-And so I realize it might be the only time
you get an opportunity to talk is to yourself,
out on the streets of New York. -Yeah.
I mostly wanted you to say that on TV
'cause it'll make my wife so happy, because she always says,
"You have to stop talking to yourself.
People are gonna think you're an insane person."
So you were -- I remember this episode,
but you were here in this building in 1988 hosting "SNL."
You have -- I want to say, you have great hair now.
Makes sense, 'cause you had great hair then.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Look at that.
And a suit jacket for a much larger man.
[ Laughter ] -I know.
What was that? The big shoulder pads.
-I know. It's really --
Yeah, I feel very lucky to have not been famous in 1988.
[ Laughter ]
Did you enjoy that experience of doing "SNL"?
-It was amazing. Actually, just as I was
coming out here, it reminded me of being in that little --
when you walk out onto "Saturday Night Live,"
you kind of stand in a little coffin.
-It's tiny. -And then the door opens,
and there's the incredible band.
And, you know, as a child, you watch those things,
and then, suddenly, you find yourself
a working actor and being invited to host
"Saturday Night Live."
And now, all of a sudden, you're walking into something
that you've seen hundreds of times,
and it's you walking out into that environment.
And it's -- it's -- it's bizarre.
But just before they opened the door and I went out,
Lorne Michaels stuck his head in, and he said,
"Hey, kid, have a good time," and he shut the door.
And I thought, "Yeah, that's what you do.
Go out and have a good time." [ Laughter ]
-I want to ask about "Stranger Things."
You know, the first season, when you were in it,
I feel like not many TV shows
have had premiere seasons like this.
And it must have introduced you to a much younger generation
doing a show like "Stranger Things."
Did people approach you more once you were in it?
-When the show broke, I was doing a television --
I don't know what -- like, a miniseries in Italy.
And all the little Italian children were coming up
and saying, "Papa, Papa, Papa!" [ Laughter ]
And I thought, "That's really weird.
Why are they calling me Papa?"
And my children call me Papa. So...
And then, two plus two equaled four,
and I realized that it was because of the show.
And then -- you know, let's say "Full Metal Jacket"
is the most successful film of my career,
which just had its 30th anniversary.
-An incredible film that endures.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah.
And at that time, there's 164 territories in the world.
Netflix is in 162 territories.
They're not, I think, in North Korea and China.
And so to have a success today in that kind of regard
is beyond anything that you could ever imagine.
It's really weird and bizarre.
And kudos to all the young kids on the show
for keeping their feet on the ground.
-Yeah. -I mean, we've grown up
seeing what this industry can do to children,
how it chews them up and digests them.
And Millie Bobby Brown, who I have most of my work with
on the show -- all of my work with --
is just the loveliest, you know, kindest,
grounded person that you ever met, and I love her.
-It's one of the nice, like, sort of side stories about
the "Stranger Things" phenomenon is watching all those kids
grow up and realize that they're all good people.
-Yeah, she was 11 years old when we met.
-It's crazy. Do you -- you --
Now, obviously, this was a big twist
that your character came back.
I think a lot of people assumed Dr. Brenner was dead.
-Was dead. -Did you know from the beginning
that you would come back for this season?
-Well, the Duffers always promised
that I was gonna come back.
They didn't know how, and they kept structuring
the show like, "He's gonna come back in a big way in season 2."
And then I came just as a memory or a phenomenon of a chimera.
And then season 3, they just said,
"We're gonna save you for season 4." And so...
-Did you believe them, or did you start doubting it?
-I started doubting it. [ Laughter ]
-Once you knew -- I mean, obviously,
this is one of those shows where, you know, spoilers,
obviously, are forbidden.
The audience doesn't want them, either.
Did you have to keep the secret?
Was it a tough secret for you to keep?
-It was. You know, the other thing
that didn't have -- exist a few years ago was social media.
By the way, there's an emo -- emo-ji? Emoji?
-Yeah, emo-ji. -Emo-ji.
An emo-ji. -"Papa, Papa, emo-ji!"
[ Laughter and applause ]
-When I'm texting to people, I often use one.
And when I text, I'm gonna use the Seth Meyers emoji.
-Emoji, yeah. What's the Seth Meyers emoji?
[ Laughter ]
Wait. You think the shrug emoji?
-Yeah. [ Laughter and applause ]
-I don't think that's right.
I don't think that's very fair at all.
[ Laughter ] -I think -- there it is.
-All right, there it is. I don't know.
Does that -- -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
We just need to change the color of his hair.
-Yeah, exactly. So, hey, you know,
we've mentioned your work with Kubrick on "Full Metal Jacket."
And, you know, obviously, you're in your 20s.
Stanley Kubrick is already Stanley Kubrick
when he's making that film.
What was it like to meet him for the first time?
And I would imagine just auditioning for him,
in general, must have been terrifying.
-Well, I didn't audition. He sent me --
I was at a diner in Los Angeles,
a very famous restaurant called The Source,
and it was made famous because Woody Allen,
when he went out to find Annie Hall,
Diane Keaton, in "Annie Hall," he didn't know how --
He was a New Yorker and didn't know how
to drive that big Cadillac.
And he thinks he's put the car in reverse
and drives into the restaurant.
So I was sitting with somebody I know you know,
David Alan Grier... -Yeah.
-...wonderful comedic actor and dramatic actor.
And we had just won this prize at the Venice Film Festival
for Best Actor, and we were hoping
that Woody Allen was in New York and not in Los Angeles
driving around looking for Annie Hall,
because in movies, it's funny when somebody
drives a car into a restaurant.
In real life, people get crushed and killed.
-Yeah. -So we were eating our pancakes,
and there was a guy sitting over there.
And I didn't know who it was. It was Val Kilmer.
And he was looking at me, saying obscene things to me.
And I said, "David, unless that's an actor
learning his lines or somebody with Tourette's,
he's clearly telling me to go 'F' myself."
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-And he looked over his shoulder.
He says, "Oh, it's Val Kilmer.
He's a really nice guy," and he invited me over.
I said, "Hi. My name's Matthew."
"I know who you are. I'm sick of you, man."
And I said, like, "What's up?"
And I had been on a run.
You know, actors, every once in a while,
we get on a really good run, and I'd done a bunch of movies.
And he said, "Now you're doing
Kubrick's movie, 'Full Metal Jacket.'"
I said, "You don't have to worry about that.
I'm not doing 'Full Metal Jacket.'
If you have a problem with the rest of my career,
why don't we go outside and settle it?"
'Cause I'm the youngest of seven kids.
I've been fighting my whole life.
[ Laughter ] And David stopped it.
And I ran out, and I called my agent.
And I said, "This actor, Val Kilmer,
just said I'm doing Kubrick's movie,"
and he said, "I don't know anything about it."
I said, "I don't, either."
But I know he makes his movies with Warner Bros.,
and I'd just done "Vision Quest."
And Alan Parker was editing "Birdy" in London.
I said, "Let's just send him some clips."
And we did, and then a month later,
I got the script in the mail -- "Hi. My name is Stanley Kubrick.
I'm a film director." [ Laughter ]
"And I wonder if you'd be interested in being in my film."
-Unbelievable! -Yeah.
-Val Kilmer called it! -Val Kilmer called it.
So I have to say, "Tank you, Val Kilmer"!
-Thank you, Val Kilmer. -Thank you, Val Kilmer.
-For everything! -For everything.
-That's a great story.
Hey, thank you so much for being here.
Next time, whether I'm talking to myself or not, say hello.
Matthew Modine, everybody!
Volume 2 of season 4 of Netflix's "Stranger Things"
begins streaming July 1st.
We'll be right back with music from Billy Strings!