How The Duffer Brothers Pestered Matthew Modine Into Accepting Stranger Things
As part of its 1980s throwback setting, "Stranger Things" casts actors who were famous in that decade. Sean Astin (most famous for "The Goonies" before "The Lord of the Rings") has a supporting part in season 2, Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund appears in season 4, and of course, late '80s/90s icon Winona Ryder is part of the main cast as Joyce Byers. One of the best things to come out of the series is Ryder's career resurgence.
While Matthew Modine wasn't a teen idol like Ryder was, his breakout film — "Full Metal Jacket" — premiered in 1987. In "Stranger Things," Modine plays Dr. Brenner, the sinister scientist who opened the door to the "Upside Down" and created telekinetic children like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Brenner is one of the main antagonists of season 1, leading the pursuit of Eleven after she escapes into Hawkins, Indiana; flashbacks show his abusive lesson plans for unlocking her telekinesis.
Despite Brenner's importance to the story, Modine initially didn't want to take the part. It took multiple calls for series creators Matt and Ross Duffer to wear Modine down. Speaking to The Guardian, Modine recounted: "I passed, but they kept ringing me up and made it really difficult for me to say no. I responded to their passion and [Brenner] became a really interesting, complex character." Modine even played a part in shaping Brenner's character beyond acting it out. That's not to say it was an easy role for him — in fact, Modine has voiced disgust with his character's actions.
Recreating Brenner
Dr. Brenner is a well-dressed man with neat hair that's as white as a ghost. In the aforementioned Guardian interview, Modine revealed that Brenner was initially conceived as a much different-looking character: "He was unshaven, with work boots and a flannel shirt. And he had a lot of expositional dialogue, which an actor never wants."
Modine decided to dye his hair because, according to him, villains in anime "always have white hair" (is Modine a "Cowboy Bebop" and/or "Berserk" fan?) Next, he wanted Brenner to always be wearing a suit ("like Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest'"), one that would remain clean even if Brenner tripped onto the ground. Not many actors would ask for fewer lines, but that's what Modine did: "Give all that [expositional] dialogue to the people around me. They said yes to all of it. It made his stillness and his quietness that much more compelling."
While Brenner is merely possessive of Eleven, Modine strove to be truly protective of Millie Bobby Brown — after all, she was only eleven (ha) years old when she started shooting "Stranger Things":
"My desire was to protect [Brown]. When I was a young actor, if you had a show that was successful in 20 or 30 territories around the world, that would be unbelievable. Netflix is in more than 190 territories. What Millie and her generation have been exposed to through streaming is a kind of celebrity and power and reach that's bigger than anything in the entertainment industry before. It's a rollercoaster: there's ups and downs. The adoration and the love are not real, it's for something that you've created and it can be devastating."
According to Modine, the Duffer Brothers hadn't told him that Brenner would be "kidnapping kids" when he accepted the part, which added to his struggles.
Brenner is 'no longer with us'
In the season 1 finale, Brenner comes face to face with the extradimensional monster that the kids call the Demogorgon. However, there was no death scene, and after a two-season absence, Brenner returned in season 4. He was less of an antagonist than in season 1 — Eleven needs her powers back and Brenner helps her get them. However, his character didn't change so much as circumstances did; flashbacks throughout the season also shine more light on his depraved experiments.
Modine didn't enjoy having to portray such evil, telling Men's Health that some of Brenner's actions made him "sick to his stomach." He elaborated:
"Your body doesn't know it's acting. Even though I'm memorizing lines and I understand the physical aspects of acting, you put your body through whatever that character is going through. It can be very destructive to your body. I don't ever want to get in the skin of someone like Dr. Brenner again."
Season 4 ends with Brenner dead for real; Eleven pointedly rejects her "Papa's" dying pleas for love and forgiveness. Once the shoot was over, Modine took extra steps to disassociate from his character: "I cut my hair off when I'm finished. I went into a lot of saunas to sweat this guy out."
His one regret about departing the series is that he won't be seeing Brown as much.
"I know from four decades of doing this job that some people you work with on a production are people you never see again after the production finishes. [...] There's the possibility that after Millie and I completed the final scene, that our friendship grows apart. And that's really sad, but it's one of the realities of the job."
To think that if Modine had turned down "Stranger Things," he wouldn't have made that friendship at all.