Credit: Stranger Things
Stranger things is a huge pop culture sensation right now.
When the Duffer Brothers introduced the Netflix exclusive back in 2016, which followed the mystery of a young boy’s disappearance, the intriguing and cool blend of sci-fi, horror, and drama instantly captured the attention of audiences as the first season garnered a strong 14.07 million amongst adults within the first 35 days. According to Variety, Stranger things viewership ranks ahead of Making a Murderer, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Ranch, and F is for Family. In addition, the show was nominated for 18 Primetime Emmy awards such as Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor (David Harbour), and Actress (Millie Bobby Brown). The show would leave with five of those awards.
Given the fact that this show wasn’t based on any intellectual property, this is an impressive feat. The crazy thing is that both Matt and Ross almost gave up on the project because nearly 20 studios rejected the project at first. The brothers spoke in depth about their struggle over getting Stranger Things off the ground with Rolling Stone in 2016, with the issues stemming from some studios not being happy with children being the lead of science fiction and horror series to not trusting that the unknown pair was directing the project:
Credit: Stranger Things
“You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town,” one executive told the brothers. Matt responded by stating that changing the focus to the sheriff would “lose everything interesting about the show.” Fast forward to over six years later, and these executives probably wished they had taken a risk on the Netflix hit. Nevertheless, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalie Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Noah Schnapp became stars off the back of the Netflix hit and their careers have taken off since. Naturally, it would seem as if they’re living their best lives as one of the most famous faces on the planet, but David Harbour is grateful that he didn’t achieve such fame until middle age because he’s able to deal with the stress and pressure that comes with it. With his co-stars becoming so famous at a young age, they may not have the mental fortitude to handle the pressures of being a celebrity:
“I see what these kids have to deal with and, look, whatever. I mean, a lot of people go through, I guess, a lot worse stuff. But mentally and psychologically, I think getting extremely famous and being so doted on at 11 years old is hard for the psyche to reconcile with,” Harbour shared with Ace ShowBiz.
“I’m lucky because it didn’t happen to me ’til I was 40. So I know what it’s like to go to the mall. I know what it’s like to be bullied and humiliated… I know what it’s like to find friends, not to have people come to me. I don’t know they’ll ever have that feeling,” he added.
Credit: Stranger Things
It’s understandable why Harbour would feel this way about the young actors not growing up normally. Tinseltown has a documented history of child actors succumbing to the pressures of fame and fortune. Former iCarly actress Jennette McCurdy just came out with her book, “I’m Glad My Mom Died”; in the novel, McCurdy recalls her miserable experience working for the popular Nickelodeon sitcom and how it damaged her childhood. Other names such as Lindsay Lohan (Parent Trap, Freaky Friday), Edward Furlong (American History X, Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, Forrest Gump), Amanda Bynes (She’s The Man, What A Girls Want), Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone, Party Monster) have also struggled with fame due to battling drug problems, alcoholism, and various issues with the law once they gained big success in the world of Hollywood. Thus far, the cast of Stranger Things seems to be doing well, but the difficulties of transitioning from childhood to adulthood in Tinseltown are never easy because these kids lose out on the opportunity to have a normal childhood.
More importantly, these young actors aren’t particularly ready for the pressures of dealing with the harsh world known as Hollywood. Not every child actor fails to transition into adulthood as names such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci, and Natalie Portman turned out to be huge stars without succumbing to the harsh difficulties that some child actors do. Let’s hope that the cast of Stranger Things turns out the same way as the latter.
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