Actors Stranger Things are household names now—but it all started with a first audition.
In 2016, the Netflix sci-fi series began. No one had heard of Indiana Hawkins. The Upside Down was a sound like a pineapple dessert. For casting director Carmen CubaIt was difficult to find the actors who would play the role of the antagonist. Cuba and the series creators Matt and Ross Duffer knew that the show needed some heavyweight child actors, so she knew approaching unknowns wasn’t going to cut it.
This was not the way it would turn out. This was going to take so much work. “It was going to take months and very precise dialogue,” Cuba said. Vanity Fair. “That was helpful because from the beginning, we said, ‘Okay, no street casting for this. “We’re starting with theatre schools, acting coaches and kids who’ve been to Broadway.
When the process began, not only did they begin to put the pieces together, the actors themselves were responsible for molding the characters’ identities—especially Gaten MatarazzoDustin would be played by a cast that included.
Cuba stated, “You could not have foreseen or sought to find someone like Gaten.” His surprise was amazing. He brought something to the character that was different from what we had imagined. We also realized that we had no idea of what the character could look like until we met him.”