One in a Millie-on
Teen star Millie Bobby Brown turns things up to Eleven in Season Three of Stranger Things
AS most fans of the show Stranger Things
probably know, the character Eleven is famous for not speaking much. She was, after all, kept in a laboratory for most of her young life, away from society.
So it takes a while to get used to the fact the actress who plays Eleven, Millie Bobby Brown, is chatty and animated in real life.
“What do the people of Hawkins face this season?” she repeats the question, when asked about the latest season of the show.
“Well, they face a lot of challenges. A lot of things that are really powerful. And in Stranger Things style, it’s scary. And freaky!” she said at an exclusive interview with StarLifestyle in Tokyo, Japan.
Millie may only be 15 – not old enough to drive a car in most places – but she’s already an experienced actress, and one of Hollywood’s rising stars. In person, she comes off as eloquent and good-humoured.
Born in Malaga, Spain, to English parents, the feisty young star made her acting debut at the age of 12, playing Young Alice in the fantasy TV series Once Upon A Time In Wonderland. That role proved to be her rabbit hole into the world of acting, with Brown later cast in shows like NCIS, Modern Family
and Grey’s Anatomy.
Her breakthrough role, however, came in 2016’s Stranger Things, a science fiction/horror show by the Duffer Brothers, centring around the bizarre happenings in Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s. Millie was cast as Eleven, a mysterious girl with mysterious powers.
Getting the role however, wasn’t so easy. Brown’s parents were initially hesitant about their daughter taking it up, especially since the script called for most of Eleven’s hair to be shaved off. This was something they feared might affect their daughter’s future acting roles.
To persuade them, the Duffer brothers showed Millie a photo of another shaven-headed heroine: Furiosa, as played by Charlize Theron, on Mad Max: Fury Road.
Millie agreed the photo looked ‘bada**’, and signed on the show. Stranger Things became quite a hit, and Millie was catapulted into fame.
Third time’s the charm
Looking back, the teen star said she never expected the show to hit the heights it did.
“I mean, we were hoping for it to make it big, of course. But you never know. I’d previously been on shows which I thought were going to really take off, only to have them flop later. But fortunately, it worked out,” she said.
Since then, Millie has received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series for her role as Eleven, making her one of the youngest nominees in Emmy history. She’s also won many other awards, including the 43rd Saturn Award for Best Performance By A Younger Actor In A Television Series.
She’s also been the youngest person to feature on the Time 100 List of the world’s most influential people, and the youngest person to be appointed as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.
Millie also made her film debut in 2019, in Godzilla: King Of The Monsters; she is expected to be reprising her role in the film’s follow-up, Godzilla Vs Kong.
Other upcoming films include Enola Holmes Mysteries and The Thing About Jellyfish.
For now, however, the actress has her hands full with the third season of Stranger Things, which is released on Netflix today.
In Season Three, it’s now 1985 in Hawkins. Summer is here, school is out, and there’s a brand new mall, Starcourt Mall, in town that everyone’s talking about.
Things, however, start to heat up, as Eleven and her friends are threatened by enemies both old and new, and have to band together to survive.
Many of the old cast members from previous seasons return. These include the kids Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Galen Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Will (Noah Schnapp). And not forgetting Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery).
New characters include Robin (Maya Hawke), a spirited girl who discovers Hawkins’ secrets, Larry Kline (Cary Elwes), the Mayor of Hawkins, and Bruce (Jake Busey), a local reporter.
According to Millie, one difference about Season Three is that there was, “more colour, more life, more happiness.”
“Season One, it just hit off in Episode One. Boom, Will goes missing. It’s all depressing from there,” she explained. “In Season Two, I immediately want to break the rules and it goes down from there.
“But this season, it’s happy and mostly normal, which is cool and very different. I think we’re giving the fans what they want,” she said.
Her character, Eleven, she said, would be a bit more vocal this season.
“She’s really sassy this season. You’ll see, but she really finds her voice and uses it,” Millie added.
Indeed, part of what Eleven goes through this season is adapting to “normal society”; this involves having a romantic relationship with her friend Mike!
“I kept asking the Duffer Brothers, ‘How should Eleven make out? Does she know fully how to? Is it difficult – is it different for her?’
“You know, it’s like kissing an alien. He has to kiss me, but do I know how to kiss? It’s definitely a different kind of a dynamic.
It’s not like a regular teenager just making out. It was definitely difficult, and especially during rehearsal, which was also kind of awkward too,” Millie said.
“But it’s a good job that me and Finn are very close and we can do that stuff without question. But to just try and be a normal teenager at the beginning of this season was fun. And just for me to be able to be with the kids and laugh and joke. But then the more the season goes on, the darker it gets.”
Growth and change
One major theme this season is growth and change. As the kids of Hawkins enter their teenage years, their personalities change, and some find themselves growing apart from each other.
“It’s real. I get freaked out that I’m growing up. Every teenager, they go, ‘Oh what am
I going to do when I get taller? Or when my eyebrows grow longer. I don’t know, whatever!’
“It’s like, what do you do when it happens? It can be overwhelming. And I like how Stranger Things really goes into that,” Millie noted.
Her favourite scenes to film in this season were the scenes shot in Starcourt, as she got to spend time with 17-year-old actress Sadie Sink (who plays Max), who Millie said is her best friend in real life.
“That was an actual mall in the south of Georgia. Took so long to get there every day! Half of the mall was open to the public, and the other was for Stranger Things. And there was this amazing Korean restaurant there that we went to, all the time. It was so good,” she remembered. Despite her fun times there, however, you probably won’t find Millie in a mall often in real life.
“I hate shopping! Everything about it. I don’t like shopping, I don’t like trying things on, I’m just not into that kind of life. But my mother and sister are,” she said.
Who’s the biggest shopaholic in the cast? According to Millie it is ... Noah Schnapp!
When it came to the most challenging scene for her to film, however, the actress was a bit more tight-lipped.
“You’re trying to get me with a trick question!” she laughed. “I can’t tell you. But you’ll be surprised. The worst, or hardest scene was the last scene of the season.”
As our interview with the actress drew to a close, there was just enough time for one more question.
Since Stranger Things is set in the 1980s, if there was any bit of pop culture from that era that were to be remade, which would she want to star in?
Surprisingly, it is not a movie Millie is interested in but a music video instead.
“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!” she remarks, referring to the hit Cyndi Lauper hit song. “With the choreography, and the leg warmers!”
With everything on the up and up, this girl is definitely having fun.
Season Three of Stranger Things premieres today on Netflix.