The Part Of Filming Stranger Things 4 That Made Millie Bobby Brown Cry
With the final episodes of "Stranger Things 4" streaming on Netflix, fans finally got to witness the showdown between the children of Hawkins and this season's demonic villain, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
This new season is the most ambitious the new show has ever attempted, with the full season costing more than most blockbuster movies at a reported $300 million budget. While a significant number of fans and critics have complained about the lengthy runtimes — the season finale beleaguers the senses at nearly two-and-a-half hours—the show's increased budget clearly works in its favor when it comes to the intricately designed sets, creatures, and action pieces.
One major way the Duffer Brothers put that Netflix money to good use was in creating Vecna. A hideous demon who lives in the Upside Down, Vecna is a terrifying creation with deformed, red skin covered in tentacles and claw-like fingers. Even more terrifying is that he's not a CGI creation. The Duffer Brothers were adamant about using practical effects to create Vecna, so Bower sat for over seven hours to get the prosthetics plastered onto his body each day of filming. On top of that, the prosthetics were created by master designer Barrie Gower, whose previous work included "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "Game of Thrones," meaning the Vecna suit looked incredibly realistic.
As it turns out, bringing such a hideous creature to life created a slightly traumatic situation for Bower's co-star, Millie Bobbie Brown.
While tied up and face-to-face with Vecna, Millie Bobby Brown 'burst into tears'
In an interview with Variety, "Stranger Things" star Jamie Campbell Bower said that his presence in one scene made Millie Bobby Brown cry. Bower explained what happened during the scene that upset Brown, a moment where the actress' character, Eleven, is tied up and comes face-to-face with Vecna. "They brought her up into a position where she's bound. I walked up to her, and she burst into tears. She wouldn't look at me and she was visibly just disgusted by the whole thing."
However, Brown quickly calmed down when she realized her scene partner wasn't a real monster. What clued her in, as Bower tells it, was the lingering scent of tobacco. "After she cried and I made it obvious that she knew it was me, one of the things she said was that, 'I knew it was you when I could smell cigarettes,' because I'm a smoker."
Vecna, as one of a handful of new characters for Season 4, is a notable addition to the "Stranger Things" universe in that he's the first major villain from the Upside Down to be a person with human motivations rather than a mindless beast running on pure instinct. That makes him all the more dangerous, and the vestiges of humanity in his demonic form render him grotesque. It's hard to imagine anyone being in the same room as him without crying.