Billy Hargrove is the villain we love to hate on Stranger Things…but how much do you know
about the Aussie actor underneath the greasy mullet?
"Afternoon, ladies."
"Afternoon, Billy."
From his love life and fitness routine to the real-life bullies that shaped his childhood,
this is the untold truth of Dacre Montgomery.
Needful things
When Dacre Montgomery participated in a GQ video segment titled "10 Things I Can't Live
Without," it raised the question: Is he anything like his Stranger Things character?
Like, is he a total jerk…and does he own an endless supply of white shirts and worn
denim jackets?
As it turns out, the actor is nothing at all like Billy Hargrove.
Billy is, of course, totally vulgar, and he enjoys hitting on moms and torturing children.
Meanwhile, Montgomery is more laidback, a testament to his Aussie roots.
For starters, he loves his "sunnies."
"They're so dirty, I can hardly see.
It's just a haze."
He's also really into Tom Ford's Black Orchid cologne.
"It smells so, like, woody and sweet.
It's kind of masculine and feminine at the same time."
And here's another item he just can't do without:
"A good comb.
I use the fine end on the sides.
Because my hair's thicker on the sides.
So it gets it a bit more streamlined, you know what I mean?"
Side note: We strongly suspect a comb comes in handy when he's rocking Billy's '80s-style
mullet.
Finally, Montgomery mentions his trusty passport holder, which looks rather beat-up and plump.
Why so big, you ask?
It turns out, the actor has three passports.
"My mum is Canadian, my dad's a Kiwi, and I was born in Australia."
Asked which passport he uses the most, Montgomery responded:
"I feel like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, you can pretty much go anywhere on the planet
and be welcomed with a smiling face."
Dacre, not "daiquiri"
In a segment for the GQ video series "Actually Me," Montgomery goes undercover to respond
to questions online.
During his session, he answers the one question we've all been dying to ask: How the heck
do you pronounce his first name?
One user hilariously tweeted:
"Is Dacre Montgomery's name pronounced like daiquiri?"
The actor set the record straight:
"So Dacre is just acre, like five acres to the next farm, right.
Let's say, a unit of measurement: acre."
Meanwhile, he has some rather regal roots, which might have something to do with that
fancy name of his.
According to his IMDb page:
"[Montgomery] is descended from Charles II of England (1630-1685), who was King of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, from 1660 to 1685, and King of Scotland, from 1649 to 1651.
This descent is through Charles' daughter, Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex."
While we usually take such trivia with a grain of salt, the Stranger Things star confirmed
the tidbit is true.
"That's all correct.
My mum's family are the Barrett-Lennards."
He added,
"I think my name is originally Celtic and then French, and there's sort of different
derivatives, I guess, of that."
Brooding artist
In July 2019, Dacre Montgomery launched a bold side project, one that Billy Hargrove
would surely scoff at.
Montgomery is a poet, and he's released a podcast to share his work.
Titled DKMH, it's a collection of the actor's poetry set to music.
On the homepage, he writes:
"There are five core human drives that influence human behavior.
To ACQUIRE.
To BOND.
To LEARN.
To DEFEND.
To FEEL...This podcast is a depiction of what DRIVES ME and how much my experiences have
shaped who I am."
Montgomery also discussed his pet project in that "Actually Me" video segment for GQ.
"I'm very nervous, it's very personal, it's very close to me.
I'm kind of excited for everyone to just hear what this is and hear what it's about."
As for the advertising he used for the launch?
It's certainly original.
Tweeting about the podcast the day it debuted, Montgomery added the track titles over moody
images of fragrances.
It's…a poetic choice, no doubt about it.
His audition tape
Dacre Montgomery's audition tape for the role of Billy Hargrove is quite the experience.
"Hi, I'm Dacre and I'm going for the role of Billy."
As you can see, he really pulls off that whole "sociopathic bully" thing.
"You are dead, kid."
He also puts on sunglasses and dances to '80s classics like "Come on Eileen" and "Hungry
Like the Wolf."
Hey, whatever it takes.
When the internet caught wind of the audition tape, fans went wild.
Even GQ interviewed the rising star about the video.
He explained:
"I sent off the tape at 11 o'clock that night, Australian time.
And then in the morning we had a response saying, the Duffers want to Skype you on Sunday.
They were kind of like, 'Hey man.
So we saw your tape, and, you know, it caused a bit of a stir at Netflix.'
Apparently it was played in the big board meeting."
Oh, and spoiler alert: He got the part.
Domestic bliss
Dacre Montgomery and his model girlfriend Liv Pollock seem like a match made in heaven.
Both Aussies, they've been dating since 2018 and even briefly lived together in Atlanta
when the actor was filming season three of Stranger Things.
Speaking to GQ Australia, the lovebirds talk about how they love creating "their own space,"…something
Montgomery says is essential to his well-being:
"Especially when you're away from home, building a world for yourself, and building that comfortability..."
Long story short, he's all about it.
Meanwhile, the power couple shares many of the same interests.
Pollock told The Daily Telegraph:
"We are both also really passionate about design, I'm studying architecture and Dacre
has studied interior design so we were drawn to each other through our mutual love of design."
But how has Montgomery's newfound fame affected the relationship?
She revealed to The Daily Telegraph:
"It doesn't change anything, our relationship has been built on our similar values and an
adventurous nature.
Just because his career places him within the public eye, doesn't and would never be
a factor that we would let influence our relationship, nor should it."
Pollock revealed that the actor even cooks rigatoni pasta for her on some nights.
Sounds like a good deal to us.
He wanted to humanize Billy
Billy Hargrove is certainly the guy to hate in Stranger Things.
"I heard you used to run this school.
That true?
King Steve, they used to call you, huh?"
As Montgomery told The AV Club:
"We all have a Billy in our lives."
Montgomery wanted to make sure the character wasn't a one-dimensional villain.
He explained to Vulture:
"I really tried to humanize him as much as I could...I tried to empathize with him as
much as possible.
It's hard, but he's a human being...To successfully portray such a conflicting personality was
a rewarding acting challenge that doesn't come around too often."
As he told CBS in 2019,
"I just think humanizing the villain is the most organic way to represent someone, like,
we can't be good and bad, we all have qualities of both."
Considering how season three ended, it's hard to say whether Billy will be back for Season
4.
But, like the title says…
He does his own stunts
Dacre Montgomery is in fantastic shape: All the lifeguard scenes in season three of Stranger
Things certainly confirm that.
And since he's so fit, the Australian-born celeb insists on doing all his own stunts
in the hit series.
He told Vulture:
"I love all that stuff…I’m at an age where I’m in good shape and not too much of a
health risk for Netflix’s insurance people...I grew up admiring stunt choreography, so I
wanted to learn how it would be possible to do that, since [season three] has so much
more action than in the past."
Of course, Montgomery is active even when he's not on set.
According to The Sun, his girlfriend got him into surfing and yoga, and he's added other
activities to his fitness formula.
He told the newspaper:
"[I] started doing night-time boxing classes at the gym and that gets you really cut.
I loved that.
I think the best type of muscle for me is creating, not big muscle but dense muscle."
Not that he was always a fitness buff.
In an Instagram post, he once shared:
"I had a really tough time in school.
I was a big kid who loved drama."
Well, just look at him now.
He didn't grow a mullet
There's no denying Billy Hargrove is working some serious '80s style.
Even Swedish mass retailer H&M caught wind of his totally rad poolside vibes.
But we imagine you have some questions about that mullet.
For instance: Did Dacre Montgomery have to grow his own hair out?
Was he living the look?
He was not.
As he revealed to Vulture:
"That wasn't my hair at all.
I guess that's the sign of a good wig!
In season two it's my hair on top and a wig on the side, but [in season three] it's all
wig."
Another question: Could Billy Hargrove be inspiring a revival of this lamentable look?
Montgomery gold Triple J:
"Do you know how many mullets I've seen wandering around Australia?
And I'm wondering if it's that thing you notice when you've been working with it or is it
something that has been around...[and] I just never noticed it?
There's a hell of a lot of tradies with mullets around."
Oh, Billy, what have you done?
He suffers from anxiety
Although he comes off as a rather carefree soul, Dacre Montgomery has battled his fair
share of challenges over the years.
In a video for the Child Mind Institute, the actor revealed:
"And I've struggled with anxiety since I was twelve years old.
Anxiety is a very real issue."
Elsewhere in the video, he says:
"I think it's so important for everybody to know that you can get through it."
Being bullied as a youth probably didn't help Dacre's anxiety.
Speaking to LadBible, the star shared a childhood story that has stuck with him over the years:
"I just remember a kid in school getting really upset with me about something I said in passing
and [he] just found a reason to get really angry with me about it.
They found me at lunch, and I was by myself.
With all their mates, [they] took me to the back of the school."
But there's a silver lining to the story: This experience helped him get into the role
of Billy.
As he explained:
"I was bullied a lot so it was really good for me to go to that lense of the bully and
go, 'Jesus, they were really insecure about themselves.'"
Montgomery also shared a high school photo and a moving message on Instagram to give
other teens the strength to know they're not alone.
The caption reads:
"You can do anything you set your mind to.
So, go out there and get it!"
Escape with him
"Heather!
This is my sister Maxine.
And I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name."
Dacre Montgomery has some serious acting chops, and there's a reason for that.
According to Men's Fashion Post,
"[His parents] worked behind the scenes in the Australian film industry."
That gave Montgomery a chance to fully immerse himself in films from a young age, and he
clearly loves cinema with all his heart.
As he told Men's Fashion Post:
"It's a combination of all visual art.
It's the set decoration, the cinematographer, the costumes, it's so much art combined.
I want to give people an opportunity to escape in characters they could get lost in."
Having that kind of background must have prepared him for a Hollywood career, right?
In an Instagram post, Montgomery summarized his journey like this:
"Every moment, every trial, every tribulation had happened for a reason and made me who
I was.
So that I could step in the shoes and the role and have the work ethic and maturity
required, to make the most out of it."
He's a "human sponge"
Though it seems like Dacre Montgomery became an overnight success, he's been preparing
for this moment for years.
He's only been on the Hollywood scene since 2017, when he landed a role in Power Rangers.
"The counter's boiling."
But even with the overwhelming success of Stranger Things, the actor remains humble.
He told Complex,
"It’s been an amazing journey.
I’ve been pursuing a career in this industry for a long time, so when I was finally given
an opportunity, I didn’t take it for granted.
For the last 24 months I’ve been a human sponge, soaking up and learning as much as
I can, both on and off set."
Of course, Montgomery believes there's always room for improvement, and there's always more
to learn.
As he told Men's Fashion Post,
"Every single crew member on the set has a different job.
I try to learn about it.
I look at the continuity of the scene, each nuance of a plate moving, a curtain shifting,
and all these different things...You must have curiosity for everyone, everything.
Every experience is so important to an evolving human.
Not just to artists or people in the arts, to all human beings."
That's some heady stuff...and so is this:
"Let me out!"
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