Stranger Things 5 Star Gaten Matarazzo Talks Move to Lego Star Wars

Because the star of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, Gaten Matarazzo has joined his all-time favourite franchise that he usually references in his career-launching franchise of Stranger Issues. 

On the season 4 premiere of the latter, Matarazzo’s Dustin Henderson quoted Han Solo’s well-known line, “By no means inform me the chances,” which was a retort to C-3PO’s mathematical skepticism amid Han’s daring asteroid discipline navigation in The Empire Strikes Again. Nicely, Matarazzo — as his Drive-powered Lego Star Wars character Sig Greebling — can now say that he’s additionally been on the receiving finish of C-3PO’s odds. Anthony Daniels reprised his legacy character on Rebuild the Galaxy, solely it was an ominous bounty hunter model of his protocol droid, since Sig reconfigured the very nature of the Star Wars galaxy by eradicating “the Cornerstone” (a glowing Lego) from a misplaced Jedi temple. Thus, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit’s four-part miniseries explores many enjoyable function reversals and dynamic modifications, corresponding to Jedi Jabba the Hutt and Darth Jar Jar.

The New Jersey native’s admission into Star Wars is harking back to the franchise bounce that his pricey pal, Atlanta housemate, brother-in-cinephilia and fellow Stranger Issues castmate Finn Wolfhard has additionally made. His enlistment as a Ghostbuster in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Frozen Empire (2024), following their Ghostbusters Halloween costumes on season two of Stranger Issues, is one other instance of turning into the very factor they as soon as referenced. Matarazzo additionally will get to say that he toplined a voice solid that options one Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.

“To play one character for practically half a century and be extensively identified for that one character, I can think about it’s fulfilling, however very, very exhausting. To have [Mark Hamill] come again and do that is actually, actually form,” Matarazzo tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He elevates the present a lot, and he additionally accentuates how good the present is since individuals from the unique trilogy needed to be part of it. We’re eternally grateful.”

Matarazzo has been a Star Wars fan for so long as he can keep in mind, and his introduction got here at age six by the use of George Lucas and Dave Filoni’s The Clone Wars animated collection that aired on the Cartoon Community from 2008 to 2013. When Matarazzo’s household caught on to what he was watching, they rapidly intervened in order that he may as an alternative expertise the franchise’s impactful lore by means of the unique trilogy first. 

“I’m a Star Wars fiend, and so after I was approached, I used to be like, ‘I don’t care if the script is canine shit; I’m doing it.’ And, in fact, the script wasn’t that,” Matarazzo says. “So every thing simply fell into place to be a full-blown dream mission that was mainly a fan movie. Lucasfilm let [showrunners] Dan [Hernandez] and Benji [Samit] get away with just about no matter they needed, which was a miracle in and of itself.”

Matarazzo’s producer and director on Stranger Issues, Shawn Levy, can also be presently in growth on a Star Wars film. Naturally, the younger solid has ribbed Levy about it, however nobody has carried out an impromptu audition by mimicking a lightsaber struggle à la Dustin and Steve (Joe Keery) in season three. Matarazzo thinks Levy is precisely what Star Wars wants, and he’d, in fact, like to be part of his mission in any capability.

“We’ve all been making little bits about it, for certain … He would convey such a levity and a pleasure to Star Wars, and that’s what the franchise positively wants proper now. So I’m right here,” Matarazzo says with amusing.

As for the long-delayed ultimate season of Stranger Issues, Matarazzo is getting nearer and nearer to the year-long shoot’s residence stretch, and a part of him needs that he may flip again time now that the top is close to. In between seasons, the identical adjectives of “greatest, darkest, scariest” have usually been used to explain no matter season is developing, however Matarazzo confirms that Stranger Issues 5 is really all of these issues.

“That’s the objective. That’s definitely the intention behind writing it. The one consistency of this present is that it simply grows yearly in scale and measurement and within the message that they need to convey,” Matarazzo shares. “So this season is just not totally different within the slightest, and I knew that that they had prepped that, initially. They mentioned, ‘Hey, this one goes to be actually, actually huge. We’re not going to candy-coat it: it’s a full yr shoot.’ And that led to a giant response of, like, ‘Oh, so we’re actually going for it.’ So we’ve got been [going for it] and we nonetheless are.”

Beneath, throughout a latest dialog with THR, Matarazzo additionally discusses the similarities between him and his Star Wars character, earlier than defending Gen Z’s film consumption habits. 

Nicely, for the remainder of your life, you get to say that you just led a Star Wars solid with Mark Hamill. Did they have you ever proper then and there? 

I really didn’t know Mark was going to be on board once they despatched the mission over, but it surely was nonetheless a no brainer, initially. I’m a Star Wars fiend, and so after I was approached, I used to be like, “I don’t care if the script is canine shit; I’m doing it.” And, in fact, the script wasn’t that. I used to be completely taken by the ingenuity, creativity and originality of Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, our two writers who I’ve admired for a very long time. So every thing simply fell into place to be a full-blown dream mission that was mainly a fan movie. I used to be like, “That is going to be insane,” and Lucasfilm let Dan and Benji get away with just about no matter they needed, which was a miracle in and of itself. 

Did you get a name at some point out of your showrunners, saying, “Hey, we’ve added a brand new solid member. His title is Mark Hamill”? 

(Laughs.) I keep in mind studying scenes with Luke within the sales space, and I used to be like, “Is there a world the place we get Mark for this?” I meant it extra as a bit, however they had been like, “We’re speaking with him now.” And I used to be like, “No means. You’re shitting me.” After which, two days later, they had been like, “Dude, we acquired him.” In order that they had been as shocked as I used to be, however I feel Mark appreciated the brand new enjoyable spin that Luke took. 

He’s been enjoying Luke since 1977. To play one character for practically half a century and be extensively identified for that one character, I can think about it’s fulfilling, however very, very exhausting. So to have him come again and do that is actually, actually form. He elevates the present a lot, and he additionally accentuates how good the present is since individuals from the unique trilogy needed to be part of it. We’re eternally grateful. 

Totally different generations all skilled the MCU on the identical time, however Star Wars is a lot older that every era has its personal entry level. For some, it was the unique trilogy in theaters or on LaserDisc. 

Empire on LaserDisc nonetheless seems to be so, so good. 

For others, it was the prequels or sequels in theaters. What was your introduction?

I used to be born in 2002, in order that was following the discharge of The Phantom Menace and Assault of the Clones. And as I grew up, The Clone Wars was on TV, in order that was my preliminary introduction. However my mother nipped that within the bud immediately. She was like, “Nope, I’m not going to let any of this get spoiled.” I used to be only a senseless 6-year-old watching TV, and she or he was like, “No, we’re going to dive in deep.” My uncle was additionally on the town from out of state, and he’s a fully large Star Wars nerd, so we sat down and watched the unique trilogy altogether. My first-and-only obsession was then born, and there was no going again.

When did your recording periods go down in relation to your different work?

I used to be doing theater in New York on the time, and that made it lots simpler as a result of most of your afternoons are fairly free. You solely go in for a present within the night until it’s a two-show day. In order that made it very easy initially, after which I began recording some pickups for the season after they began the modifying course of. We needed to get again in for ADR and stuff, and that was across the time that I began engaged on Stranger Issues 5, which made it a little bit bit arduous due to the constant schedule. However they had been actually keen to work on weekends, and it was an actual blessing that they had been capable of work with me on that. I like voiceovers as a result of even when you’re engaged on different issues, you may wiggle it into your schedule.

You play a younger nerf herder named Sig Greebling, whose Drive powers qualify him to be what’s generally known as a Drive Builder. Did you find yourself overlapping or referring to your character in any respect?

I immediately felt associated to the character. [Rebuild the Galaxy] is the primary time in Star Wars {that a} Star Wars fan character has spearheaded a mission. It’s additionally the primary story to happen in spite of everything three trilogies, so we had the enjoyable alternative to incorporate all the tales. As a substitute of being a Star Wars nerd in his world, he’s actually only a historical past nerd, and so I’d additionally name myself a historical past nerd. He has the identical enthusiasm for these tales that I did rising up. Anytime I learn one thing on a script web page that shocked me or excited me, I’d learn it in that context, and more often than not, that’s in all probability the take that they used.

In his daily, Sig is a small city child, and I grew up in a small city in Jersey, which I actually liked. I didn’t actually need to be anyplace else for a very long time, and neither did Sig. He by no means actually needed to depart his residence planet of Fenessa, however he will get whisked away on a fairly intense journey elsewhere. That felt much like how I began working on this business. I simply began doing it for enjoyable, after which, out of nowhere, I used to be heading to New York Metropolis, which felt like a special planet from the place I lived.

Yeah, he shares tales from the Star Wars galaxy along with his fellow younger villagers, and I believed the present made a moderately profound level that Sig, the storyteller, needed to grapple with turning into the story.

Weirdly sufficient, they didn’t child the present. In fact, it’s a household present that youngsters are supposed to watch, however they by no means dumbed it down. That’s what’s so nice about Dan and Benji. They’ve made family-oriented tasks earlier than, they usually acknowledge that youngsters are good and that they don’t actually need to be talked right down to. They will choose up on the nuances of a fancy story and actually take pleasure in it. So it’s actually admirable, and it makes for a greater present.

Unaware of the results, he removes “the Cornerstone” from a secret Jedi temple, throwing his galaxy into disarray. What do you take into account to be your Cornerstone? Excluding your iPhone, what would throw your world out whack if it was eliminated out of your life?

My household. They’re simply such a grounding drive in my life. With out them, I’d in all probability be a horrible individual, and I would love to not be one. (Laughs.) In order that they persistently be sure that I don’t find yourself turning into one, and I feel it’s simply residence generally. I journey rather a lot for what I do, and that makes me worth the place I’m from a lot extra. So my supervisor will admit that it’s actually arduous to get me out of New York the place I reside now. I grew up in Jersey, however I’ve discovered a very constant residence in New York Metropolis that I like very a lot. So the locations that preserve me grounded, the minute these are eliminated, my life goes to a heightened stage of chaos, which I’ve skilled a number of instances.

As a result of Sig’s actions remix the weather of Star Wars, was there one reversal that you just had been most delighted by corresponding to Darth Jar Jar?

So it was Darth Jar Jar, and I used to be an enormous contributor to the now not fable that Darth Jar Jar is a canon character. However now, although it was performed simply as a bit, I like that they spent a lot time creating this five-minute sequence to say that Greedo shot first when Greedo and Leia are those that find yourself collectively. I feel it’s so dumb and so humorous, and it’s simply so Dan and Benji. I used to be studying the 2 pages main as much as it, and I used to be like, “You didn’t simply do that.” However they did, and I find it irresistible a lot.

I believed it was ingenious casting to have you ever and Tony Revolori play brothers, not simply since you each have related tones of voice. Has that comparability nonetheless been made lots to date? 

It has, and I didn’t anticipate that. I don’t know in the event that they knew that stepping into, however weirdly sufficient, we do have the same cadence to the way in which we go about our voiceover work. And in the end, after I watched it, I believed we complemented one another fairly properly in that division. We didn’t work collectively within the sales space in any respect, so it was only a matter of Chris [Buckley], our director, and Dan and Benji, our writers, piecing collectively what they thought match. In order that they did a beautiful job, and I solely actually acquired to know Tony not too long ago throughout the press tour. He’s now a superb bud, and I’m grateful for him.

Stranger Issues producer-director Shawn Levy is growing a Star Wars film. 

He’s! 

As soon as he returned to the Stranger Issues set, post-Deadpool & Wolverine commitments, did anybody stage a lightsaber struggle for him to see? Are individuals attempting to plant seeds for him to recollect down the highway throughout casting? 

(Laughs.) I haven’t seen that occur, however it is a good concept. We’ve all been making little bits about it, for certain, however he’s acquired a lot on his plate proper now. He’s been going and going and going, and I’m actually excited for him. In fact, he’s a really established director who’s performed a few of my favourite works even earlier than he labored on Stranger Issues, however all of those new tasks are properly deserved. He would convey such a levity and a pleasure to Star Wars, and that’s what the franchise positively wants proper now. So I’m right here. (Laughs.)

Is Stranger Issues 5 the “greatest, darkest, scariest” season but?

(Laughs.) I feel that’s the objective. That’s definitely the intention behind writing it. The one consistency of this present is that it simply grows yearly in scale and measurement and within the message that they need to convey. So this season is just not totally different within the slightest, and I knew that that they had prepped that, initially. They mentioned, “Hey, this one goes to be actually, actually huge. We’re not going to candy-coat it: it’s a full yr shoot.” And that led to a giant response of, like, “Oh, so we’re actually going for it.” So we’ve got been [going for it] and we nonetheless are. I’m excited for individuals to see it.

Saying goodbye to a life-changing alternative is at all times arduous, so is a part of you glad that the ultimate two seasons have been delayed this lengthy?

If you happen to had been to ask me that final yr, I in all probability would’ve been like, “No, let’s do it. Let’s get to it.” I’ve at all times been anxious to do it and I like to do it, so any delay within the course of is definitely irritating. However now that we’re getting in direction of the top of our filming course of for the fifth season, yeah, I’m asking for a Time-Turner. It’s been a fairly jarring factor to understand how rapidly all of it flew by. I keep in mind so many issues from that first season so vividly as if it was yesterday. We had been so younger, and it was such a bizarre, wild expertise that it sort of blended collectively. So it’s not that I keep in mind the method of filming season one extremely sharply, however there are a number of distinct issues that really feel like they simply occurred. And at this level, I’ve virtually been doing Stranger Issues longer than I haven’t. It’s taken a couple of decade of my life and it’s essentially the most formative decade of my life. So I’ll at all times be actually grateful, and coming to phrases with letting that go is more and more tough, for certain, in a piece sense and in a life sense. You’ll be able to at all times anticipate that subsequent season, work-wise and emotionally. So it’s going to be a special adjustment and I can’t wait to see what occurs subsequent.

Pairing Dustin with whomever, corresponding to Steve, Erika or Eddie, is at all times one of many present’s secret weapons. I’m not asking you to establish anybody, however does Dustin have one other enjoyable new pairing in season 5?

What’s actually enjoyable about this one is that they need to spotlight the characters that we’ve identified and liked a lot from day one. So I feel they’re doing that actually, rather well, and I feel everyone within the present may be anticipated to be paired in a different way from what we’ve come to anticipate. It elevates the character work rather a lot and provides everyone plenty of enjoyable alternatives. So throughout the board, which may be occurring, and possibly much less so with Dustin, however that’s been enjoyable to discover too.

Let me attempt that one other means.

(Laughs.) Give it a go! 

Are you working with anybody that you just’ve by no means actually labored with earlier than? 

To say sure could be deceptive, curiously sufficient. There’s a superb steadiness of familiarity and retaining that household shut, but in addition seeing how a lot we will elevate these characters with one another by mixing and matching. So I’m going to say sure and no. I do know that’s irritating and looks like a cop out, however I feel that’s a superb and sincere articulation of that.

You made a degree on Michael Rosenbaum’s present that knocked him sideways; you mentioned that you just had been fully content material when you’re without end most identified for Stranger Issues. However I need to remind you of your former co-star Sean Astin. There was a time when he was without end going to be generally known as Mikey from The Goonies. Then there was a time when he was without end going to be generally known as Rudy from Rudy. After which there was a time when he was without end going to be generally known as Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. And now, to youthful viewers, he’s Bob from Stranger Issues, at the beginning. So that you by no means actually know the way these items will go.

Yeah, in no way. I’ve at all times admired the way in which Sean has navigated the business. There’s plenty of putting similarities between how he went concerning the starting of his profession. He was such a sort individual when he was on set with us for one season. We had been very younger, and I didn’t actually get any scene work with him in any respect. So it was very uncommon that I acquired to overlap with him on set straight, and I want I may have gotten to work on display with him extra persistently. However anytime we had been there on set, he would at all times verify in to ensure we had been good, and he was actually open about giving recommendation. It’s in all probability one thing that resonated with him as a child within the business, and it was a really totally different business when he was rising up in it. There’s much more emphasis now on protections for youths and ensuring that they’re protected, educated and okay emotionally. So he was at all times a giant contributor to creating certain that we felt protected in that context, and he’s only a very, excellent man with a profession I’d like to emulate. 

And also you’re proper. It’s such an attention-grabbing factor that you just articulated: “Oh, you’re solely going to be identified for this and then you definitely’re solely going to be identified for this.” At a sure level, you simply have a full repertoire. There’s no pigeonholing whenever you preserve doing a lot iconic work. So he’s had a really profitable and dynamic profession that one may solely hope to emulate.

Winona Ryder made some waves not too long ago when she remarked that she’s perplexed by her youthful castmates’ indifference to cinema, and I do know that she wasn’t speaking about you or Finn Wolfhard. What have you ever watched currently that you just’ve loved? 

My style in motion pictures has expanded rather a lot from dwelling with Finn in Atlanta once we’re filming collectively. I’ve by no means met a much bigger movie buff than him, and he has proven me plenty of classics that I hadn’t seen earlier than. His favourite film of all time is Boogie Nights, and he was attempting to get me to observe it for some time till I lastly did. After which we watched one other [Paul Thomas Anderson] basic in Magnolia across the identical time. One in all my favourite latest ones that I weirdly didn’t know something about was [Terry Gilliam’s] Brazil, which is among the coolest conceptual movies to succeed. It’s a type of motion pictures that I don’t assume would get made immediately. A variety of executives don’t essentially wish to take dangers, and that film is stuffed with them. In order that was a very, actually huge one. I used to be within the room when he watched [Doug Liman’s] Go not too long ago, and that was actually, actually enjoyable. So he’s acquired actually eclectic style in movie, and mine has grown rather a lot from simply spending plenty of time with him.

So Finn is retaining you on the trail to cinephilia.

It’s sort of inevitable for anyone who finally ends up hanging out with Finn. Your music style grows and your style in movie grows.

Winona is true in a bigger sense, although.

Completely!

Gen Z simply doesn’t appear to prioritize moviegoing like generations previous. Is it a byproduct of social media-shaped consideration spans? 

It could possibly be, however I’ve acquired to provide my era a bit extra credit score. Simply because there isn’t the ritual of going to the theater, it doesn’t essentially imply that there aren’t people who find themselves invested [in film]. A variety of instances, individuals would collectively go to theaters as a result of there wasn’t a lot else to do, and that’s why individuals ended up seeing plenty of what was popping out. However many of the stuff that was in theaters then had been the large blockbusters, and now much more movies have a possibility to be made and launched. So I feel that my era is extra eager on diving a little bit bit deeper into stuff. I feel that they’re much more essential of the data and the leisure that they receive and take in. It’s made for a extra nuanced strategy to how individuals watch motion pictures, and I feel it’s going to proceed on an upward scale. Folks in my era are going to be actually enthusiastic about leaping in, and whereas it will not be as common, I feel the individuals which can be invested are extremely invested. They’ve a lot analysis at their disposal, they usually can watch each film that’s ever been made in the event that they need to. 

However I do discover that the enjoyable ritual expertise of seeing stuff within the theater is fading. There’s a number of pockets right here and there which can be attempting to maintain it alive, and I’d like to see individuals going to theaters extra. I’ve been attempting to take action myself, however Gen Z is a fairly creatively ahead bunch. The business goes to be simply advantageous of their arms.

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LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is now streaming on Disney+.