How Jamie Campbell Bower Transformed Into His Manipulative ‘Stranger Things’ Role — and Became ‘Terrified’ of Vecna
30.05.2022 - 18:29
/ variety.com
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” now streaming on Netflix.Jamie Campbell Bower is a bit of a method actor — whether he refers to himself that way or not.In Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” he plays a vital role of Henry, aka One, aka Vecna. But when he first auditioned for the part, he was told nothing. In fact, he wasn’t even sent scripts.
“I first got two sets of sides, one from ‘Primal Fear,’ and one from ‘Hellraiser,'” Bower tells Variety. “I had no idea what this character was; I wasn’t sent any material from the show.”As a huge fan of “Stranger Things” and creators Matt and Ross Duffer, he immediately recorded his audition on tape. Then he waited for a call — a wait that, since it was the holidays, was longer than usual.
When he finally did hear, he was sent “dummy sides” to show him a tiny bit more of the character. “I went crazy for, like, two days. In my apartment, I put a picture of Will Byers in the middle, and then all the other characters around it, and then sort of made this Claire Danes-esque from ‘Homeland’ mind-map of who I thought this person was.
I stepped back from it after two days, and was like, that feels kind of good,” he says. “So I took a picture, and then I printed out all the pictures and put them in this little folder — and then I got a phone call saying Matt and Ross wanted to meet.”The meeting went well, and before it ended, he asked if he could show them what was in his folder. They said yes.“I think they might have just been kind of humoring me.