Spooky becomes him
TORONTO — Vancouver actor Finn Wolfhard is only 13 but he’s all about the ’80s these days.
A lead cast member of Netflix’s buzzy retro horror series Stranger Things, he plays one of many townsfolk caught up in supernatural events in Hawkins, Ind., in 1983.
He’s also shooting an adaptation of Stephen King ’s 1986 horror novel, It. “I’m noticing a pattern here: ’80s to ’80s,” Wolfhard says with a laugh.
Another pattern in his career? All things creepy.
“I’ m always interested in horror and the supernatural,” says the young actor, whose other credits include the TV series Supernatural and The 100.
“It’s intriguing to me, when I see a horror script — or something like that — that’s actually original.
“I think that’s why I love Stranger Things, because it’s not just horror, it’s everything, and when they use horror, it’s right.”
Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder as a single mother desperately following otherworldly clues in hopes that she’ll find her missing son.
Wolfhard’s character is a friend of the missing boy and believes a strange young girl with a buzz cut and telekinetic powers, played by Millie Bobby Brown, may have some answers.
Matt and Ross Duffer created, directed and wrote the show, which is getting much attention for its scary story and nostalgic elements that borrow from cheesy ’80s flicks. Among the executive producers is Montreal native Shawn Levy, who also directed two episodes.
Wolfhard and his castmates — who also include Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin as the missing boy’s other close friends — “knew nothing” about where the story was heading during shooting. “As we were shooting, they would write the scripts,” he says. “They’d have the overall idea but they didn’t have the full scripts written out, so it would always be like, ‘What happens in Episode 7? Come on, just show us Episode 7!’
Writing on the fly allowed writers to incorporate Matarazzo’s cleidocranial dysplasia condition into his character.
Wolfhard says Matarazzo was born without a collarbone, which affected the growth of his front teeth. In the series, his lack of front teeth is acknowledged by other characters. But he’s since had surgery to pull the teeth down. “Now Gaten has perfect pearly whites on the top,” says Wolfhard.