Noah Schnapp has revealed that the Stranger Things production team asked him to fake one thing in his performance in order to maintain his character’s “innocence”.
Schnapp has portrayed the hit Netflix show’s loveable character Will Byers alongside Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven and Sadie Sink’s Max since he was ten years old. In the most recent fourth series, Will was revealed to be gay and began to show increasing affection towards Mike Wheeler (portrayed by Finn Wolfhard).
During a recent interview with Flaunt, the 17-year-old actor said the directors were “just not loving” their child actors going through puberty.
“It was the peak time of change, and puberty and growing up, and everything was changing with all of us, and the directors were just not loving it,” he said.
Since the show’s first airing back in July 2016, the youthful cast have aged past their characters. While the core group is supposed to be around 14 years old in the latest series, the actors mostly range between 17 and 20 in reality.
Schnapp recalled a producer of an earlier season asking him to raise the pitch of his voice and “slouch a little bit” in order to maintain the “season one innocence” of his character.
“That was like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you. My voice is dropping. I don’t sound young anymore,’” said the actor.
Elsewhere, Schnapp revealed that his summer job as a lifeguard has helped keep him grounded over the past few years as he comes to terms with the stressors of fame and fortune.
“It’s kind of a ‘just for fun thing,’” 17-year-old Schnapp told Flaunt. “I’ve kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and stuff outside of Stranger Things, so it’s kind of kept me grounded.”
Watch the official trailer for season four of Stranger Things, which is now available to stream on Netflix, below.
