Stranger Things Cast Reveal Uncomfortable Truths in the Hot Seat | Vanity Fair

The moon landing was fake. I could be convinced. Millie, would you like to share one? No. Oh, they're really coming for you. They're like, is the... You idiot! Rank the five Stranger Things seasons from favorite to least favorite. Uh-oh. Okay. Oh, here we go. Season one's my favorite. Okay. Then season five. Then season three. Then season four. Then season two. Wowie zowie. Season one, nostalgia-wise, for me, it's my favorite season because personally it was the most exciting time of my life. But season five, the way it looks, the way it feels, the plot, all of it is my favorite. Least favorite season two just because I don't really remember it. I think season two gets way too much flamboyance. I just don't really remember it. It feels like a bit of a blur. Why does everyone hate so much on season two? Everyone hates episode seven. I don't know why. I don't know why people hate so much on season two. Could be just from that one episode. You have not been called on, sir. So he's a hater. You just said it out loud. Yeah, but you don't have to agree. I don't agree. I think season two is better. I don't agree. Who makes the best wing person from the cast? Why is it me? Caleb and Gaten, I feel like, are solid wing people. You need two wings, don't you? I need two wings. You need two wings to fly. I do think you haven't given me a chance. I haven't given you a chance. I haven't. I actually haven't. But it also, you know, I haven't really, it's not like I've given these guys much of a chance either. We haven't been in a situation to be a wing. I think we test it this evening. I think we go out first, probably. We go out on Hollywood Boulevard and see what we can find. That's crazy. Why do you think you said Gaten first? Because we were roommates, Gaten and I were roommates, and I feel like he's also just like a naturally confident person that I think injects confidence into other people. That's nice of you to say. Thank you, sir. That was lovely. I appreciate that very much. Who will live most comfortably in the Upside Down? Comfortably. Green is apartment. Oh. So I guess, yeah, the Upside Down is like, who's like the messiest, right? I don't think that's what they're implying. So let's start from cleanest to dirtiest, right? I say I'm the cleanest. Yes, I know. Then it's Millie. Then it's, ooh. If I'm not expecting company, who is it for? Sadie, then you. Really? Yeah. That's right. I think that's totally right. Yeah. Oh, they're still going. I do remember this. They're still going. Gaten would be comfortable in the Upside Down. I remember this one time. The Upside Down would be uncomfortable with him. Actually. I remember this one time. The Upside Down is Upside Down in Gaten's room. We were walking to me and Finn's place, and it was just me, Finn, and Sadie, and I ran down the block so I can make sure that the door to my room was closed so that nobody looked inside. Something that Gaten does that I think is funny is that I've been into his room multiple times, and I will always find plates in his bed. Plates? A little late-night snack. Yeah, like you get a little snack. I watch a little YouTube. I have a little late-night snacky-wacky, and then if I finish the food and I fall asleep, sometimes Finn's got lights on. Yes. Wait, no. That was it also. I think that was a story you were in. One time he walked in, he walks in in the morning because I think I overslept or something, and he's like, hey, Gaten, and I was shoes on, jeans on the night before, lights on in my room, and I just forgot to have my routine for the night. I saw Gaten once. I slept over at Gaten and Finn's house one time, and I went into Gaten's room. It was just boots on, full of clothes, under the covers. Under the freaking covers. I love this story. What the frick? So, Caleb, you think you're the cleanest. Okay. I feel like I am the cleanest, but I feel like because I've been to Millie's house, I feel like she'll probably get her house cleaner faster than I would. I mean, can I say? She has people that clean her house every morning. So I don't have that. I do it once a week type of thing. I just wanted to say because you just never know. Can I say that? I mean, I have 10 dogs. Like, mess at night, and then in the morning, you was spotless. I'm like, can't do that. Can't beat that. Who is your favorite cast member to impersonate? Here, in this group. Uh-oh. Caleb. Hands down. What? Just the little Caleb-isms you have, just little things that you do and say that just baffle me, and it fills me with delight and glee and joy. Caleb-ism is sometimes if you find something really funny, but doesn't quite have, like, it in him in that moment to really laugh, he'll just go, ah-ha-ha! He does, too. Or season one and two. What was it? Before Caleb even, because now you've gone into laugh, and then... Oh, very good is sometimes he won't even laugh. He'll just go, hm, hilarious. Yes. It's so delightful. It's so great. It's so good. What was something you improvised that made it to the final cut? Uh-oh. It's me? It is you. Okay. I've never improved dialogue, because she doesn't ever speak. Right. But, like, maybe, like, when I did my powers for the first time, that was, like, improvised. Like, I kind of, they were just, like, try to make something move, and I just kind of, I did that. I didn't improvise it on screen. I improvised it, like, in the makeup and hair trailer, but other than that, like... It's iconic. I mean, maybe just, like... In our scenes. Maybe our stuff. Like, I've kind of tried new things, but usually Eleven has, like, a goal. You know, at the end of any scene, she has to, like, kill something or move something or play the victim. I'm the monster. But I actually think that I've been there for very... No, no, Papa, no. You're not a monster. She's a little pick-me, but I will say I've been there for really funny improvised moments with the boys, and I've really enjoyed seeing, like, because I can tell when they're improvising, because, you know, you read your sides and you're like, okay, and then Caleb comes out with something, and you're like, that was entirely improvised or just, like, a moment or a look, and you're like that, and then it makes the cut, and you're like, that's what makes the scene so nuanced and special. So sometimes it's just a look between us, and I think that those are the moments that make it really interesting and fun. Who has the most embarrassing cast-given nickname? Like, Sudi. Probably. No one has a stupid nickname. Finlard? Finlard's a classic. Finlard McGill. These aren't embarrassing. Okay, I feel like mine might be. Kahloub? Yeah, Kahloub. That's embarrassing. That one really sucks. That sucks. It's stuck, but, like, I don't think anyone can stand that the word Kahloub is in there. I thought you gave it to yourself. No, I didn't. Then why'd you give me Sudi? Because Noah said it. Oh, you did? You definitely said it. Whoa! I definitely did not say Sudi. Whoa! Sorry! All right, cool, awesome. Because in season one, we used to make, like, those songs, and we'd be like, Kahloub. Yeah, but what was it in season one? It was like... It was a Noah and I thing. Like, we were just always like, Kahloub! Noah Schnapper! Kahloub! Hank... No, this is the Duffers directing. Hank Kahloub. Love you guys. Who do you think knows the least about the Stranger Things universe? Hmm... It might be me. It might. I was like, we were terrified. I think it's me. I really... Oh, man. Yeah, I think it's me. Not that I don't know, but I just know the least, probably. Or I get the most confused. That's not something you can prove unless, like, asked upon. Like, if the room was asked about lore questions, we wouldn't really be able to prove. I'm just going to pin it down to I wasn't in season one, so I've had less time in this universe. I can always recall, but I feel like my memory's often jogged. Like, I completely forgot about Russia. As a country part. Within the plot, I was like, Russia? No, yeah, I forgot about that plot line. That's so weird. I just thought that was funny. If you all were on a road trip, who would you never trust with the aux? The aux cord. It is true. Oh, wow. I think this is just subjective, right? Some of these boys are really nice. Leave me alone. Oh, who wouldn't I trust with the aux? And this doesn't come from... Hear me out. This doesn't come from a place of me necessarily not liking the music taste. I think it comes from a place of me just not knowing your music taste. And I think it's got to be Noah for me. Oh. I just don't know your taste. Oh. I just know that there's a world of bops that I could find with everybody, and I don't know that if our tastes really mesh. There are worlds of music where I think Sadie and I would listen to show tunes all day for sure. I've never been in the situation where Noah's the pilot of the aux. Of the aux. I just haven't seen it. No, no, I just haven't. You have a beautiful taste, and actually it's very similar to mine. Okay. And so it would be the both of it. And I agree. We have... Our taste sucks. We just... Yeah. Taylor and Sabrina. It's just basic. It's okay to be basic. And Charlie. But that's fun for road trips. He didn't say it was bad, he just said it wouldn't like... Mesh. I just don't know if my tastes have a lot of... I like Broadway music. It's great. We'll play some show tunes. Yeah, we'll play some Defying Gravity. Absolutely. Are you tired of playing a teenager? Me? Is it my turn? Am I tired of playing a teenager? Uh... No. I don't think so. I mean, I think that when I'm like 50, I'm gonna want to play a teenager, so I'm gonna just live in the moment now, and while I can seize it, my skin is skinning. I also just think whatever I say is gonna be a meme or something. So just slide on away. But I did find out though, recently, that I'm playing a lot younger than I thought I was. Like, I couldn't believe that, like, Eleven is so much younger than I thought she was. Like, I thought that she was my age, but she's like 15, 16. Like, in this season, she must be 15, 16. I thought it was... I thought we were like 17. No. I thought we were like 17. Okay, on season four, she was 14. What? Yeah. Wait, we were all the same age, huh? And we're all playing the same age, yeah? Yeah, and also, like, we're just like making out, like that. I don't know. It just feels very crazy. Like, so if that, if she was 14 in season four, then in season three, she must have been what? 12 or 13? No, she must have been like 15. Were you guys freshmen in high school in season four? I didn't go to school, Gaten. Wasn't season three just the summer before high school? Freshmen in high school is minimum 15. Hey guys, how many actors does it take to do just anything? ------- literally anything. What's an item someone's borrowed from you that you still want back? Oh, I've got one. I hope it lands on me. I don't think it will because I already went. Ooh. I don't think anyone has actually taken anything from me that I want back. Gaten has one. This is reverse. I keep trying to give Finn a t-shirt back and he keeps giving it back to me because he doesn't have anywhere to put it so it's just been in my backpack for seven months. I have it now. Yeah, finally. It took so long. So he came to visit me in New Jersey, left a t-shirt there when he packed. I brought it back and he's like, I don't have any more. Put it back in your bag. I give it back to him later in the day, I don't have any more. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And for some reason I'm carrying around this t-shirt of his for four months and finally he has it back so I just wouldn't, he doesn't want it back. I'm sorry, do I travel with a chest or drawer? Like what Millie said? Just carry like a bag or like a backpack or a coat or something. I have ---- in there. When is the last time you cried? This is insane. I could go on for hours. Caleb? Noah? No. Like yesterday. But cried tears of joy because I was laughing so hard in our interview because we were, we recreated like some meme and I, Ratatouille. Yeah. Which one? It was a Noah meme. There's like some meme online of like, I just bought Ratatouille for nothing or something and then we were just, we were doing it. It was because we were doing a really serious interview. But it was for a serious like letterbox top four. It was letterbox and it was like, pick your top four and he was like, well Ratatouille and then I was like, wait, isn't there a meme? And then he started doing it. The woman was so kind of confused in front of us and then we just, we broke and there was no coming back and we were both crying. I had a Pixar in my list too. I'd find a new one. I had Up. Oh, very good. Do you wish you could do more of your own stunts? I do my own stunts. What? This is crazy. I do my own stunts. Thank you very much. I had the most stunts this season I feel I've ever had. There's only been one time I couldn't do it but that was because I was ill but yeah, I love to jump. I've been jumping in the air all season and I've never felt more like Elphaba than ever before so I've been having a very good time. Cece, my stunt double is amazing and she does the stuff that Netflix just won't let me do which is mostly just like, you know, hitting yourself really hard with a wall or something like that but all the jumping and all the training sequences I've done myself which was exciting. I felt very much like Tom Cruise. What's a conspiracy theory you could be convinced is real? Oh. If anything? I don't think she knows any of the show. No, it's not. It's just in general. That was a callback. That was a good callback. It was, it was, I was just, yeah, it was a callback. The moon landing was fake. I could be convinced. Why? I don't actively subscribe to that conspiracy theory but like I could, I could be convinced. I could see a world. Millie, would you like to share one? They're like, is the earth flat, you idiot! No, I can, again, I just need to shut up. They pointed the camera. Yeah, they're like, Millie, anything else? Sing Imagine. You may say.