One Stranger Things Star Had the Best Reaction to Millie Bobby Brown's Rise to Fame
When Millie Bobby Brown succeeded in winning the role of Eleven in Stranger Things, she was only 11 years old. Before this, she'd had a few roles but none that had pushed her to stardom like Eleven would.
When the first season of the series was released in 2016, Brown received praise for her performance. She was even nominated for and won awards.
Matthew Modine as 'papa'
Matthew Modine has starred alongside the young actor since the start, taking on the onscreen role of "Papa." During the first season of Stranger Things , Modine was keen on helping Brown to be a success, as he told Vulture back in July 2022.
As a veteran performer, though, he had a lot of experience. His previous roles included Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket in 1987.
Modine on The Jonathan Ross Show
When Modine appeared on the Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday 19th November 2022, he spoke of the instinct he felt to protect the young cast, including Millie Bobby Brown.
A large part of the cast were young children in the first series, including Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin and he wanted to make sure that none of them discovered the destructive side of fame.
On the topic of Millie, he said he was "wanting to be protective of her. How the business changed, when you saw me in Birdy [the 1984 drama movie based on the 1978 William Wharton novel] to today… if a movie was successful in 20 or 30 countries around the world, that would be an enormous success."
He went on to add, "Netflix is in over 190 territories around the world. So what Millie was subject to was global. What she was exposed to – and what all of the children on this show were exposed to – was a kind of fame and money and everything. It can be very destructive and disorienting."
Essentially what Modine wanted for Millie was safety and knowledge that a career in the entertainment industry is a "rollercoaster [with] ups and downs to it."
As well as Modine, other experienced actors on the show were also keen on protecting Millie and the other youngsters from the potential perils and pitfalls of young fame – and it seems they did a good job. All of the young actors are now young adults, and all seem to be coping well with the fame that Stranger Things has brought them.