Child star catapults into pop culture
Millie Bobby Brown’s already an acting phenomenon at 13
created the show] and I knew she was the one.”
In the Stranger Things universe, Eleven – so-called because of the tattoo she wears – is a product of psychological experiments by Dr Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) that infused her with telekinetic abilities, among other supernatural powers. Because of her years of isolation under Brenner’s watch, her vocabulary is rather limited. (One fan counted: her dialogue amounts to just under 250 words in the first season.)
Millie wasn’t intimidated by the role of Eleven being mostly non-verbal. “You can talk with your face,” she says matter-offactly. “It’s very easy for someone to say, ‘I’m mad. I’m sad. I’m angry’. I have to just do it with my face.”
Nor did she mind shaving her head. Millie’s parents were more against it than she was, but it helped that Mad Max: Fury Road was out at the time. Matt Duffer recalls persuading her with the argument “Doesn’t Charlize look badass? You’re going to look badass too.”
What did cause a bit of on-set drama was The Kiss – the moment when Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven smooch in the season-one finale. For all of her remarkable self-possession, the little girl that’s still in Millie reveals itself when she recounts the moment – her first kiss ever. “It was a strange experience. Having 250 people looking at you kissing someone is like, ‘Whoa!’” she says.
Further complicating matters, it seems there’s some debate over whether she was Wolfhard’s first smooch as well. “He says I wasn’t, but I definitely think I was,” she says. “I think he was just trying to be cool.”
As for how those awkward teenage moments play out in the second season, “No comment,” say the Duffer Brothers.
The Duffers, who write, direct and executive produce the series, have had a front-row seat to Millie’s talents. The role of Eleven was always central to the show’s plot – it’s with her help that the boys rescue their friend who’s vanished into the Upside Down – but with Millie on board, the storytelling options have blossomed.
“We have yet to give her something that she’s unable to do,” says Matt Duffer. “I can throw this girl an incredible fast-ball, she’s going to hit it. It’s like a singer who can hit any note. Her range is just absolutely incredible. I have yet to see any limits to it.”
Ross Duffer recalls the scene in season one where Eleven is being dragged down the corridor shouting “Papa!” at Brenner. Even the crew stopped to marvel. “That was when we realised, as good as she is, she’s even better than we thought,” he says. “We can push her to all these intense and emotional places.”
They take her even further in the second season (there’s an epic finale showdown), and report she “knocks it out of the park” every time.
And the critics agree: “Brown’s ability to summon emotion is as impressive as her character’s ability to walk between worlds,” writes Variety’s Maureen Ryan.
As Millie heads into her teenage years, the question is whether she can avoid that curse of child stardom that has plagued so many before her.
“Everyone from Tennessee Williams to Sarah Paulson has warned of the perils of early success,” says Harbour. “There’s a piece of me that’s very protective of her and feels that we should all let her be brave and brilliant, and turn our eyes away and not give her so much attention.”
Levy says her close family ties give her a “fighting chance”. She’s surrounded by her parents, as well as her 23-year-old sister, who’s usually on set with her and travels with her. And if all else fails, there’s Harbour: “I tell you what, she’s got me. And I’m the biggest curmudgeon around.”
Millie has purposely made her US home in Atlanta, far from the crush of Hollywood, where she jokingly complains every waiter is an actor. “I feel like Hollywood is just a place where everything’s going so fast,” she says.
Georgia, she says, is “calm, peaceful, beautiful”. There she can keep herself “grounded for my family and my home and my friends”. – Variety