Actors on Strange things are now household names — but it all started with the first audition.
When the Netflix sci-fi series began in 2016, no one had ever heard of Hawkins, Indiana, and the Upside Down like a pineapple dessert. For casting director Cuban Carmen, the process of finding the right actor to inhibit the roles is a monumental task. Cuba and series creator Matt and Ross Duffer knew that the show needed some heavyweight child actors, so she knew that the approaching unknowns wouldn’t cut it off.
“This is not going to happen. It will be such hard work. It will take many months of continuous and very concrete dialogue,” Cuba revealed to Vanity Fair. “That’s very helpful because from the very beginning we said, ‘Okay, no street casting for this. We’re going to start with theater schools, acting coaches, kids. kids have been on Broadway.'”
As the process begins, not only do they begin to put the pieces together, but the actors themselves are responsible for creating the identities of the characters — especially the characters. Gaten Matarazzowho will eventually be cast as Dustin.
“You can’t predict or find someone like Gaten,” Cuba said. “He was an outstanding surprise. What he brought to the character was nothing like what we imagined. It also made us realize that we didn’t even know what it could be like for us. until we meet him.”
