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- [00:02]
Nava Kavilan
Lemonade.
- [00:06]
Gaten Matarazzo
I was, like, doing, like, this, like, weird, like, breathing thing that I heard on a YouTube video to help me get into it, and then I realized I almost missed my cue. And so I just run out really quickly because I hadn't been focused. And then I just.
- [00:19]
Penn Badgley
Doing a lot of nose breathing.
- [00:20]
Gaten Matarazzo
I didn't sing my lines. I didn't sing them. I just did all the choreo, which is just me singing outwardly to the audience, yelling at them, and so much exposition, by the way. This is, like, the worst time to do it because I hop out and basically just tell you about the current events of the time in 1830s France. And I wasn't selling them that.
- [00:42]
Nava Kavilan
And so were you just did your mind blank? Like, why didn't you.
- [00:46]
Gaten Matarazzo
I didn't even move my mouth.
- [00:47]
David Ansari
Oh, man.
- [00:49]
Gaten Matarazzo
So hold on.
- [00:49]
Penn Badgley
So you were doing the choreography?
- [00:51]
Gaten Matarazzo
The fact that you were still doing the choreography is amazing.
- [00:55]
Penn Badgley
Welcome to PodCrushed. We're your hosts. I'm Pen.
- [00:58]
Nava Kavilan
I'm Nava.
- [00:59]
Sophie Ansari
And I'm Sophie. And I think we would have been your middle school besties, forgetting our.
- [01:03]
Penn Badgley
Our lines for a big choreography number in our hit Broadway musical.
- [01:07]
Gaten Matarazzo
Boo.
- [01:08]
Nava Kavilan
You've never been on Broadway.
- [01:09]
Penn Badgley
Stone cold. Welcome. Welcome to podcrust.
- [01:12]
Nava Kavilan
Welcome.
- [01:13]
Penn Badgley
It's the most wonderful. Actually, I was gonna sing a holiday song that might not be free for me to sing, so I'm not gonna do it.
- [01:24]
Sophie Ansari
You'll do anything to get out of singing.
- [01:28]
Penn Badgley
Our guest today was, like, such a special joy to speak with Gaten Matarazzo. So you know him as Dustin Henderson on Stranger Things. That is undeniably the big old meteor that hit the world, which he's known for. Gaten and the rest of the core of the Stranger Things cast has basically grown up on our screens. But beyond Hawkins, he is also a distinguished Broadway performer. He was before he even made it to Stranger Things. He made his debut as a pro at nine years old. He was in Les Mis. He was in Dear Evan Hansen and Sweeney Tod years later. Today, we are chatting with him about the highs and lows of his early life in the spotlight. And it was a really rich vein. We spend a lot of time considering things that are strange. You don't want to miss this one. Don't go anywhere.
- [02:21]
Gaten Matarazzo
It's morning in new york. Hey, everybody.
- [02:29]
Penn Badgley
I'm Mandy Patinkin.
- [02:30]
Gaten Matarazzo
And I'm Kathryn Grody. And we have a new podcast. It's called don't listen to us.
- [02:35]
Penn Badgley
Many of you have asked for our advice. Tell me what is wrong with you.
- [02:40]
Gaten Matarazzo
People don't listen to us. Our take it or leave it advice show is out every Wednesday, premiering October 15th. A Lemonada Media original.
- [02:53]
Penn Badgley
Gaten, we've never met in person. We've not.
- [02:57]
Gaten Matarazzo
It's very nice to meet you too, Penn.
- [02:58]
Penn Badgley
So nice to meet you. Still not in person. One day I'm sure it will happen.
- [03:02]
Gaten Matarazzo
But this is, you know, as close as it can be.
- [03:05]
Penn Badgley
It's. Yeah, it's sometimes closer because we're going to actually start at 12 years old for you because you're adolescents more than any guest we've had now, we have had guests whose adolescence did unfold in the public eye. Like for instance, Drew Barrymore is an iconic one. I mean, and hers is more than you. But that was a little bit ago. You more than any guests we've had, have had it happen very, very, very recently.
- [03:30]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes, this is.
- [03:31]
Penn Badgley
And that's, you know, I mean, so you have a special place in our sort of like roster of guests.
- [03:41]
Gaten Matarazzo
That's very nice to hear. I hope that that provides for some intrigue on this topic.
- [03:47]
Penn Badgley
So, because we start at 12 and we know that you, you. That's when you booked Stranger Things. Can we just back up a little touch to like, you know, daily life, snapshot of Gaten's life like, you know, leading up to that audition and getting that. So it's like pre.
- [04:05]
Gaten Matarazzo
Right. It was actually, it was the tail end of 12 for me. So the year prior I had just finished doing a run in Les Mischievous here in on the Great White Way. And that was what that was. I did that between 11 and 12. I wrapped that up in March, a September birthday. So I wrapped that up in March and said I was going to focus on school and not worry about this for a long time. And then the audition came up. Wow. My grades were slipping like crazy.
- [04:40]
Nava Kavilan
So what was happening in your household? What were you like at home as you were sort of. Yeah, tell us about that.
- [04:46]
Gaten Matarazzo
At that time I was, we were living with my grandma at the time and going back and forth from the city quite a ton. So my day was. I was very hyper scheduled, so there wasn't really much free time. But the time that I did spend, the time that wasn't free was the most enjoyable for me, which was, I think, very great and kind of that's rare for that to be the case. So I would, yeah, I would go to school at my school in New Jersey where I grew up, and I would leave about half an hour early and miss most of the last period. Which was, I remember, was my science class. And thankfully my science teacher, Mr. Arduin was the coolest of the bunch. So he was, yeah, very lenient with it and knew I would get my work done on the bus, which is what I would go to the bus station, go up and do the show, finish that up whenever. That was usually like 11pm and then I would get on the bus and come home and then start all over again.
- [05:50]
Penn Badgley
That's a packed day. It was a packed day and you're taking the bus.
- [05:53]
Gaten Matarazzo
Lots of bus naps, for sure.
- [05:55]
Penn Badgley
My goodness.
- [05:56]
Gaten Matarazzo
The bus trip up was always dedicated to homework. The bus ride back was dedicated to sleeping. And I slept more because my mom drove from the bus station to home. And so I would basically just hop on the bus and because I'd done it for so long, my body fully adjusted to the schedule to where the minute the lights in the bus turned.
- [06:12]
Penn Badgley
Off, you just were out.
- [06:13]
Gaten Matarazzo
Lights out. Completely lights out. And then we get into the car, lights out until I got home and I basically just take my coat off and just slump over. So I got a good amount, I got the hours.
- [06:24]
Penn Badgley
Yeah. So we're no stranger here to like how kind of intense that can be for kids and how traumatic, blah, blah, blah. But also the sense I get from you and the sense it can be like, it sounds like you just loved it.
- [06:37]
Gaten Matarazzo
I loved it. It was stressful. The only. It was. I loved it so much that I think it became somewhat counterintuitive to me being a kid because it was a very accelerated process. It was. They're not childlike responsibilities that you have to worry about. And because of that, I really, I wanted to just prioritize what I love to do. So everything that I should have been prioritizing at the time, which was my education and just enjoying being a kid, started to slip like crazy. My grades were terrible by the end of that run for the show because the workload got crazy. I started when I was in elementary school and when you're in fourth and fifth grade doing it, that's the homework is doable. And then once you approach middle school, at least in the American education system, that's like when you start like bouncing around new. Yeah. New classrooms. Every time you manage your own schedule a little bit, you're bouncing, you know, the whole like high school movie, like lockers and bouncing around classes and all that. It was a lot harder to manage because these teachers have a lot more students than just you. And so they can't really hyper fixate like a Curriculum around dealing with it. And so there was a lot more personal responsibility. And eighth grade's harder than fifth.
- [07:54]
Penn Badgley
Yeah.
- [07:55]
Gaten Matarazzo
So it was. Yeah, it just became quite the issue. And rather than kind of hunkering down and worrying about focusing on that backstage, I was just enjoying my time. And, like, I didn't. Felt like I didn't really need to worry about it. And then my parents had that sit down talk of like, you gotta basically get it together or else you're out of the show. Which is the right thing for them to have done. That's the right thing for them to have said. And that was like, the first time I realized that I really don't think that I could have been doing anything else. That I loved it so much because I never stopped to think, actually, is this what I want to be doing? Is this too stressful? Is it too much? Should I just take this break? But then the idea of no longer doing it was the most terrifying thing in the world. I was like, no, that's not an option for me. And that was like the first time that I was like, okay, cool. This is like something that I know I need to do, which is cool to experience at 12, but also really scary and kind of at the same time. Luckily enough, we got a call like a week or so later that they weren't going to renew our contracts. Cause when you're a kid working in theater, rather than just like signing a contract for the length of the show, you sign it usually for around six months because you get taller and voices change.
- [09:12]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, right.
- [09:12]
Gaten Matarazzo
And you outgrow parts if a show runs for a long time. And we got that heads up that time. The time had come. It was well past due anyway. We were way too old for the part. Both me and the other boy playing the part, Josh, had been too old for a long time. We both toured with it when we were like 9 or 10 and continued doing it until we were almost 13. And that was 2 of the part.
- [09:34]
Nava Kavilan
That's a crazy evolution.
- [09:35]
Gaten Matarazzo
You were also.
- [09:37]
Penn Badgley
So even within this very unique kind of paradigm, you were even more so because you were like, oh, this show I could do with my eyes closed.
- [09:44]
Gaten Matarazzo
That was kind. Yeah. I had loved that part so much. And I'd been playing him for two years, like two years straight. And it was so much fun and had been like, my. That show had been my dream. That's the reason I started acting was to audition for that show in any.
- [09:58]
Penn Badgley
Les Mis.
- [09:59]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, Les Mis. Specifically because my mom started me or like, basically just sat Me down in front of the 10th anniversary concert. When I was young, growing up, I just, that became almost religious for me. And she was like, hey, there's a little boy part in this. You should sing that. Because I'd always been singing at home and I was like, I will, I will, I will. It took a while, but yeah, it worked out. And I just love that routine, I think, more than anything. And the idea of that change and what came after and growing up was really scary because it was the ending of a pretty significant chapter for me.
- [10:31]
Sophie Ansari
Yeah, I'd heard you reflect Gaten on the fact that like, for a lot of people, what gives them anxiety is actually putting themselves out there. But that for you it's actually maybe the opposite. Like you don't feel that anxiety from putting yourself out there. I'm curious if that's still true, but also if that's the case. Like, was that the case when you started on Broadway, when you started in theater? Like, what was opening night, your first opening night like for you? Were you nervous?
- [10:57]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was always nerve wracking. But I think there's, I think every. I don't think anybody doesn't have stage fright. There's nobody in the world, I don't believe that walks out and doesn't have a flutter or doesn't feel it in their, in their gut when it's going, when it's about to happen for the first time. But I think it's. There's a nuance there. It's almost like it's either a panic attack anxiety or it's like a rollercoaster anxiety. And that's what it was for me. It felt like skydiving. I think I've never been skydiving, but I'm assuming that that's kind of you've done it. It was more of an adrenaline rush, like palm sweating, heart pounding, but holy, holy crap, I can't wait.
- [11:37]
Penn Badgley
I think it's much scarier than skydiving. The potential for skydiving is like, well, I'm either gonna die or it's gonna be fine. Whereas there's so much more variety of humiliation. There's so many ways you can die a slow death.
- [11:50]
Gaten Matarazzo
This is true. I learned to be excited about the potential for humiliating moments on stage. I remember one time I hopped out on stage sometimes. I treated. I was so obnoxious during this thing. I took it so seriously. Which is, I think, a good thing. It's better than like just being like. But I was so like, I have to center around my choices. I was like, 12, and I was like. So, like, for lack of a better, like, douchey actor about it, and I was like, oh, I gotta really feel it. And then I was like, really? I was, like, doing like, this, like, weird, like, breathing thing that I heard on a YouTube video to help me get into it. And then I realized I almost missed my cue. And so I just run out really quickly because I hadn't been focused. And then I just.
- [12:43]
Penn Badgley
Doing a lot of nose breathing.
- [12:44]
Gaten Matarazzo
I didn't sing my lines. I didn't sing them. What did you do? I just did all the choreo, which is just me singing outwardly to the audience, yelling at them, and so much exposition, by the way, this is, like, the worst time to do it because I hop out and basically just tell you about the current events of the time in 1830s France. And I wasn't selling them that.
- [13:06]
Nava Kavilan
And so were you just did your mind blank? Like, why didn't you.
- [13:09]
Gaten Matarazzo
I didn't even move my mouth.
- [13:10]
Nava Kavilan
Oh, man.
- [13:12]
Gaten Matarazzo
So wait, so hold on.
- [13:13]
Penn Badgley
So you were doing the choreography?
- [13:15]
Nava Kavilan
The fact that you were still doing.
- [13:16]
Gaten Matarazzo
The choreography is amazing.
- [13:17]
Penn Badgley
And I'm assuming that the choreography has a lot of, like, hand motions, which is, like, to say, pointing at the audience. And you, sir, is me.
- [13:24]
Gaten Matarazzo
And this is doing that, but silently, Completely too good. Oh, my God. I was. I was. This is the first time that, like, the dilemma rose in me to be like, am I going to admit this or am I going to lie? Am I going to spin this weird story to the cast and not embarrass myself? Because I. Because it opens up and nobody's on stage. And it was like, hey, man, your mic. Cut.
- [13:50]
Penn Badgley
Oh.
- [13:51]
Nava Kavilan
Oh.
- [13:51]
Gaten Matarazzo
And I was like. For a split second, I was about to be like, yes, it did. I wanted to so bad. I wanted to be like, yes, it did. I was perfect. It was their fault. They did this. And I remember the first time I was like, no, it didn't. Wow, that was all.
- [14:06]
Sophie Ansari
Good for you.
- [14:06]
Nava Kavilan
Good for you.
- [14:07]
Penn Badgley
Accountability, sir.
- [14:09]
Nava Kavilan
That's amazing. Yeah.
- [14:12]
Gaten Matarazzo
And I remember our conductor that night at intermission came down to the dressing room. Like, the kids dressing room was, like, in a corner in the basement by wardrobe.
- [14:20]
Penn Badgley
As it should be on Les Mis.
- [14:21]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes, of course. It was, like, deep in the gutters of the Imperial, Imperial Theater. Yeah. Like, dust and roaches was great. And he comes down, he knocks on the door, and he high fives me and gives me a hug, and it's like, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen in My life. And you killed it. And to make that a positive experience out the gate, I was like, oh, that's what this can do. I don't have to be embarrassed because I was horribly embarrassed. Yeah, but it's just what happens. And from there, of course, of course.
- [14:49]
Penn Badgley
I mean exciting, as you said, it literally happens to everybody. I was curious. I mean, you actually like you. So that story just is better than it not ever happening. It's so much better. It's like so, so, so much better. And I wasn't sure because, you know, with children it's like I'm also not familiar with Les Mis, so I don't know the level of the responsibility of the role. But it sounds like you had a lot on your shoulders.
- [15:10]
Gaten Matarazzo
A little. He was more, he was just, he had like 20 minutes maybe of like stage. It was that dance three hour show. But anytime he was on, I just screamed, just yelling a ton and I don't know. And like in the breakdown for the character was like, he's, he's tough and scrappy. And so I was like, I'm going to 11 for that. And so it just like. And I don't know if it was great, but hey, I had fun.
- [15:38]
Nava Kavilan
Gaten. We have a few classic questions we ask everyone and it, it feels like you answered one of them, which is to share an embarrassing story unless you have another. But another classic question we ask everyone is let's, let's go up from 9 because I would feel too creepy asking you about 9, but around middle school, high school, sort of. And I know for you this intermingles with stranger things, but kind of like first experiences around like your first big feelings, like first big crush, first big infatuation, first big heartbreak, anything you're willing.
- [16:06]
Gaten Matarazzo
To share with us, that's great. It's. I have like fun memories around that because my, I've been, I've been with my girlfriend since our, since we were 15 and we're both 23 now. So so many of those like fun like cool like first like real girlfriend things of like those first dates and like first kisses and all that. It's like cool that like you can still reflect on somebody you're still so close with and sure, those are so fun. And even though there's so much embarrassment and cringiness around the like having like your first romantic partners when you're like. Because everyone like you know, has their crushes and their girlfriends when like 14, 15 and then everybody usually thinks back and they're like, ugh, I was that was so. I was so cringy just constantly. It was so weird. And the fact that we can both look at each other now and be like, okay, this is. We kind of. It's so good to be comfortable and like, have those conversations and be like, wasn't that weird and gross?
- [17:09]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, that's actually amazing.
- [17:11]
Gaten Matarazzo
With somebody who's like, yes, it was. Yeah. There's still like a love around it. It's like. And we say that to each other now. We're like, if there's nobody in your life that you can have these experiences with, like, thank God we still have that with each other. And there's like a respect and a maturity that's grown around, like, oh, man. We were very, very young. And the fact that we are still together now and have grown so much, like, as people through that is a pretty cool experience. Pretty rare. And now I think I can look back on. Yeah. Just being 15 and be like, okay, cool. At least it worked out.
- [17:49]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, dude, that's amazing.
- [17:50]
Gaten Matarazzo
It's pretty cool.
- [17:51]
Penn Badgley
That is amazing because also I. I grew up alongside so many people at that age in. In Hollywood and didn't work out that way.
- [18:00]
Gaten Matarazzo
What are they like? I don't know them.
- [18:03]
Penn Badgley
Hollywood kids? Yeah. You're so not a Hollywood kid.
- [18:07]
Gaten Matarazzo
I was in Jersey my whole child, so I was like, I never got. And I know, like, I now know, like, newly adult Hollywood kids. I didn't know them when they were 15, but I know them now at 23. I'm like, you must have been insane as a 15 year old.
- [18:25]
Penn Badgley
You know what it is intuitively, because you have been inside of the, like, show business apparatus very much, which actually we really want to ask you about more.
- [18:35]
Gaten Matarazzo
Cool.
- [18:36]
Penn Badgley
So the only difference I think would be with Hollywood is like, probably what you haven't seen so much. You've seen it a bit, but what you haven't seen as much is like, when you move there, you are surrounded by so many like you. And just because the numbers are higher, what you see is the pattern of, you know, the prevalent one is frustration and failure, you know, And I think to see so many kids going through that, that is undeniably dispiriting. Just objectively, you know what I mean? It's like. And so I think what's really cool about you and what I've seen more from kids who do it on the east coast, typically, actually it is people from Long island in New Jersey, frankly. And then maybe living in Manhattan, like Timothee Chalamet. Oh, Timmy.
- [19:25]
Gaten Matarazzo
Oh, Timmy.
- [19:26]
Penn Badgley
And you know you. And you know you. Shout out to Timmy.
- [19:29]
Gaten Matarazzo
Shout out to Timmy. He loves a shout out too. Shout out to.
- [19:34]
Penn Badgley
Maybe Timmy would come on this show, perhaps. But like, what you just don't get on the east coast as much. And what I've loved in being able to live out here since I turned 20 and by the way, I'm almost 40, is just. There's like, there's just way more of a diversity of perspectives and experiences because people haven't moved to Hollywood, you know, that's just not what it is.
- [19:59]
Gaten Matarazzo
The LA move, like, that's a very interesting concept to me because it's a very common process that people who start to work professionally, especially at a young age, tend to do. And I think that's more out of the not expectation. I think it's more out of the assumed. I'm trying to think of the right word for it. It seems more like, oh, I guess it's just what you're supposed to do, right? And I don't know, I think there's so many paths to working professionally and dipping your toes in and enjoying it and developing a love even outside. Not even. I always suggest when kids want to start acting and kids come up to me and ask me questions when they meet me, like, I like theater. Kids here in the city, if they recognize me on the street, will be like, I want to do this too. How do I do it? And I'm like, start with community theater and see if you like it first. Because I know a lot of people who didn't eventually. And they're like, oh, I'm locked into this thing and I'm 17 and I didn't have another plan. And now they think that they're locked in consistently. And it feels like that's like so much of what the LA move looked like, of people being like, well, I'm here now. Yeah, I need to make it. I need to make it right now. I gotta do it. I have to or else. Yeah, there's that perceived, like, there's that failure aspect, but there's so many micro little failures and rejections throughout the process of making this consistent. And there will always be. And that's just a matter of getting used to that. You always think it's like, okay, if I get that one big thing, that will facilitate a lot more work afterwards. And a lot of times that is the case. But it's still hordes of like, that is not right. I'm like, dang, I didn't want to keep hearing that. I thought I'd stop hearing that at some point. And you never do. And it's just a part of it.
- [21:41]
Nava Kavilan
Yeah, it's true.
- [21:42]
Penn Badgley
You have a real healthy perspective.
- [21:44]
Gaten Matarazzo
Thank you.
- [21:46]
Sophie Ansari
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- [25:51]
Nava Kavilan
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- [27:44]
Penn Badgley
So tell us about your. The audition. No, seriously, I actually don't know it and I would love to hear it from you, especially knowing how seasoned you were going into it. And I do want to preface this with. And this isn't like, you know, it shouldn't be this, like, compare and contrast thing. All the different. All the young actors. Yeah, great. All the young actors on Stranger Things have been, like, praised in their own way. You're all so different. You all have such a different vibe. And I will say that, you know, the sort of the incredible charm and bravado of Dustin, I'm now realizing comes partly from the fact that you, you know, you'd already, like, forgotten your entire monologue and danced a silent choreography. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you really had been doing this. You were a seasoned pro. So tell me about the audition process for Stranger Things.
- [28:40]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was, weirdly enough, a pretty standard one out the gate. It was. It looked, didn't. I didn't. I never really went in for a whole bunch of TV I had. There were. There was the consistent like, like New York local hire. Like, like SVU auditions. And at 11, those are heavy to read.
- [29:01]
Penn Badgley
You're like, yeah, it was all like, abuse. Yeah. Cry. You just do nothing but cry and.
- [29:07]
Gaten Matarazzo
Be like, scream, cry. Say no. Where's my mom? Yeah. All that fun stuff. It's like, dang, I read so many of those. I'm like, why did you do this? It's like, this is horrifying. I never even booked. I was like, God, all right. So it was pretty cool. But I think what was interesting is that I think the idea around the audition process, because I think a really cool story is like finding a lot of like, like, like discoveries and new people that are fresh face and just getting into it and like not like tarnished by the industry. And let's just like get these like new people who are just trying to do this. And I think that was maybe like initially the plan, but as it narrowed down and we looked around, it really was just a group of people who have been doing it for quite some time. Up to that point, the whole room of people that had gone to the process of the callbacks, final callbacks, into the mix of it all. When it came down, like the final 10 kids that were there, they all had been consistently working for a long time. And I think that that was. I don't think that's always necessary, but I think for a show like Stranger Things where so much responsibility is put on the shoulders of the kids in it, because their goal was to have a show led by kids that isn't necessarily geared towards them and that's hard to do. It seemed hard to advertise. And I remember that was also a struggle for them when pitching the show where they're like, are you sure? Can they have like a bit of a, like a supporting boost here?
- [30:49]
Penn Badgley
So it's rated R, but it's starring 10 year old.
- [30:53]
Gaten Matarazzo
I'm not sure. That was a struggle, I think for a while. And it wasn't necessarily about. I don't think it was necessarily about finding the. It's like if you necessarily had the best read, you're guaranteed to get in there. I think a lot of it had to do with, all right, are we gonna be able to put these kids in a room for seven months without seeing anybody else and get something consistent and professional out of them along with, are we gonna enjoy what's on screen? Cause that's hard to figure out. And that's like a balance that comes to casting kids in projects. Even in auditions for theater and tv, there's something that happens in the room that never happens in auditions with adults at all. So much. There's like a round table or just like. Or like a big. They all come into the room together. If there's like 30 kids in a lot of the times, they'll be like, all of you come on in and we'll do like an icebreaker and we'll sit in a circle. Tell us your name. Tell us something about yourself. What's your Favorite food, What's your favorite color? Where are you from? And seeing how these kids interact with each other because a lot of times they're very talented kids who are like. And they don't want to have fun and they don't want to engage, and they aren't. They're there for. Through no fault of their own. This is. If you're that young, you don't have the ability to really understand the nuances of what's really going on. But a lot of times you're also casting their parents because they're going to be there, too. And you got to see how they are set, and you got to say how they are with each other and to their kid and see if they're in it for the right reasons. And I think that that played a big factor in why we all got as far as we did, because we had all been working consistently.
- [32:38]
Penn Badgley
And you had great parents.
- [32:40]
Gaten Matarazzo
We have good parents, which is fun to say because it's something that isn't guaranteed.
- [32:47]
Penn Badgley
Did you read this script? I would imagine it was probably like a Confidential. Did they share the script with you right away, or did you just read the sides? Do you have any ideas about.
- [32:56]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was a bit of dummy sides. It was pretty early on in the process. I don't think they had finished writing it while we were filming. I think they greenlit the project based on the pitch deck, which is kind of crazy. So we got dummy sides, which they told us very early on this isn't going to stick, but this is what we have right now. And then they sent a lookbook that was like 30 pages.
- [33:22]
Penn Badgley
They sent you the lookbook?
- [33:23]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, they sent, like. Once we got further along, once it was in the callback and we were on the phone on like, Zoom with or Skype at the time. We were on Skype with the directors, with Matt and Ross, the creators of the show, who were probably around, like, 28 at the time.
- [33:40]
Nava Kavilan
Wow.
- [33:41]
Gaten Matarazzo
You know, they're now in their early 40s and. Yeah, Matt's had. And it's like. It's. Yeah, it's like. Like seeing them grow so old.
- [33:51]
Nava Kavilan
God.
- [33:52]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah.
- [33:52]
Penn Badgley
They have children.
- [33:53]
Gaten Matarazzo
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [33:57]
Penn Badgley
Multiple children, even? No.
- [33:59]
Gaten Matarazzo
That's crazy.
- [34:00]
Penn Badgley
How attached did you feel? Because, you know, when auditioning for as often as you did, which I also know what it was like at that age. It's like, you know, some things are cool, some things are not. Some things are interesting. So, you know, there's just like. It can kind of land anywhere on the spectrum. How did you feel about It. Knowing that you've, of course, invested in it and. And gone through all the highs and the lows and, you know, just. You can be honest, of course, like, just how. What was your. What was your read on the vibe?
- [34:24]
Gaten Matarazzo
I was excited about it. It seemed really cool. But most of it was dominated by the voices around me of being like, this is significantly cooler than the things that you have done. I'm like, all right, take it easy.
- [34:37]
Penn Badgley
You haven't seen Les Mis.
- [34:38]
Gaten Matarazzo
Like, you. All right, guys, let's. For a second. And it was weird because I'd never done consistent tv. I did, like, one episode here and there, and this was the first time that it had been presented to do a full season of tv. And that was scary initially, but exciting. And I just remember thinking they were really cool and thinking the sides were fun. But it didn't stick out to me as anything particularly different from what I had been doing for the four or five years prior.
- [35:09]
Penn Badgley
Which was half your life at that point, almost.
- [35:10]
Gaten Matarazzo
Which was half my life at that point. So that was. There was an ease to it and there was something relaxing about it. And it didn't become really weird for me until we got the final call to go out to LA for the screen test, or their version of what a screen test looked like. I'd never been to LA before. It was like this mythical land that had only been. I'd only heard of a name. And I went out there and it was pouring rain.
- [35:39]
Sophie Ansari
Oh, man.
- [35:40]
Nava Kavilan
One of the three days of the year that it rained.
- [35:43]
Gaten Matarazzo
I just. Yeah, weirdly enough, the next four times I would go, it would be raining, and I thought I had a curse. But that's when it started to sink in as a particularly different experience from what I had known. And that was really exciting.
- [35:59]
Nava Kavilan
Gaten, I want to ask you. Obviously, Dustin and Steve, a lot of people feel like they're the heart of the show. I even watched a recent thing with the cast where you guys were voted, like, the best duo on the show. And there are a lot of dynamic duos on the show, so. So I'm curious, how quickly did that chemistry start to form between you? I have three questions about it. I'm just gonna ask them all. How quickly did that chemistry start to form between you? Why do you think Steve and Dustin? What is the magic there? And do you have a favorite scene that you'll sort of look back on and, like, that's your favorite Steven Dustin moment?
- [36:32]
Gaten Matarazzo
I love this question. I don't know why I think why they did it. Initially, I don't know. I remember them saying we had hit like a. They had hit like a weird roadblock of not really knowing they knew where they had to go. They didn't quite know how to get there yet. And there were a few characters that were entering a potential limbo phase of kind of just floating around plot wise and really having nothing to do. And that was, like, scary for them. And Dustin and Steve were two of those characters. In the second season, we were already filming the episode before they meet up, before they had written the next one. They were like, we didn't know what to do. And I think it came from them being like, Dustin needs a ride and Steve has a car. And all Steve is doing is trying to get Nancy back. And that's not quite as fun. And all Dustin is doing is trying to beat Lucas to a girl he has a crush on. That is obviously not going his way. And that is also not fun, but weirdly similar for both of them. And so they kind of like, I guess that's a way that they could converse on their journey to the junkyard. And it just kind of clicked there. And that's my favorite scene is the one of us on the train tracks when we're creating like a meat trail, like a bucket of beef trail. It's so gross. But it was. It was too. That was some meat. It stanks gate.
- [38:04]
Nava Kavilan
And Penn has talked about, like, in. In a moment in you that actually grossed him out dealing with some stuff. Have you ever had moments on Stranger Things that like, actually grossed you out?
- [38:12]
Gaten Matarazzo
Sure. I. There's a lot of goop. There's a lot of just. Oh, you know what's actually weird? All the, like, dirt and sweat and blood and like, like slime from all the upside down stuff. That's less gross than the sweat makeup because they started to use. There was like an era that they were in that was like, under super understandable. But it was very much like, this looks really good despite it feeling horrible. So we're gonna go with it.
- [38:41]
Penn Badgley
And you just described everything in the film and television industry.
- [38:44]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, this is gonna be great. And this sucks for you. But they'd be shiny clear lip gloss all over our bodies because they didn't have to keep on spritzing us for water and like. But the thing is, it got bad because anytime I turned my head and turned, like, my skin would, like, peel off of my neck.
- [39:01]
Penn Badgley
Wow.
- [39:01]
Gaten Matarazzo
And it looks weird. Why is that? Why are you doing that? Like, I. I can't help it.
- [39:06]
Penn Badgley
Cuz you've covered me in glossy, covered me in gloss.
- [39:09]
Gaten Matarazzo
And then I started breaking out. And they're like, why are you breaking out? Are you washing your face? I'm like, yeah, but you're putting lip gloss all over my face.
- [39:15]
Penn Badgley
Oh, my gosh.
- [39:16]
Sophie Ansari
Wow.
- [39:17]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was so icky. So that was what grossed me out for the most part. It was. Yeah, for me.
- [39:23]
Penn Badgley
For me, it was raw meat on a buzz saw. But, yeah, we. You know, it's like potato raw meat.
- [39:31]
Nava Kavilan
On a. Famously, the two grossest things.
- [39:35]
Sophie Ansari
I looked up your name on Spotify, and the first thing to come up was the Neverending Story, the song that you sing in season three, which is such an epic moment.
- [39:46]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes, of course.
- [39:47]
Sophie Ansari
And of course, you have been singing for many, many years. And I was curious how that came about. Did you advocate for that?
- [39:55]
Gaten Matarazzo
They just kept saying, we're gonna get you to sing in the show. I was like. Like, that would ruin the show. Don't do it. Please don't do that. And then I just like, yeah, I gotta even go for it. And then we read it, and I didn't really know it was happening until we read it at the table read, and it's like, no way. And I think it would have only worked in season three because that's the only season where they just, I think, were fully on board with the idea of going aesthetically fully off the rails, where they were like, three.
- [40:29]
Penn Badgley
The one with. Where Maya came on the first time.
- [40:32]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah.
- [40:32]
Penn Badgley
And then it was in Russia and all this. Yeah, that one had a.
- [40:37]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes. Very fun. The Scooby Doo arc. Like, there's, like, a secret death star underneath the mall. That was like.
- [40:46]
Penn Badgley
That was actually when the Scooby Doo vibe, like, contrasting the bodygore vibe was at its highest. And I was like, wow, Stranger things. Things.
- [40:53]
Gaten Matarazzo
Okay. Lots of body work, lots of Scooby Doo, lots of bright lights, which was very different from what we had done. And they were like, if we're gonna pull this off, it's gotta be now. Yeah, I think they knew. It's like, if it was ever gonna work, it had to be in the sweet spot of where they put it. And people seemed to latch.
- [41:15]
Sophie Ansari
It was so cute.
- [41:18]
Penn Badgley
Oh, it's so good.
- [41:19]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah. Well, thanks, guys. Yeah.
- [41:20]
Penn Badgley
No, I mean, Dustin and Steve really are one of the hearts. I mean, I. The show does have a few hearts. It's like. It's a big, gory beast, but they're one of the hearts. Absolutely.
- [41:30]
Gaten Matarazzo
Pretty fun. I like doing that show with him greatly. Joe's a really really talented guy and just an absolute pro. I've always loved that guy. And we've also. It was such a fun experience getting to grow up, because initially, it's like, he was like, cool older brother who's just like, oh, God, Joe's. Your guys, Joe's here. He's so funny. He's so cool. And.
- [41:51]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, because you guys were initially actually 12, and he was, what, maybe 20?
- [41:55]
Gaten Matarazzo
He was my age. 23.
- [41:56]
Sophie Ansari
Wow.
- [41:57]
Gaten Matarazzo
Wow.
- [41:57]
Penn Badgley
Yeah.
- [41:57]
Gaten Matarazzo
Okay, so he was 23 at the time, and, like, we were 12, and anytime Joe was on set, we were like, yes. Because he was so. He just was really so funny. That is so not. Leave him alone. Oh, that's so cute.
- [42:10]
Penn Badgley
That's, like, actually what it was.
- [42:12]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was because he was so. He was so good with us, like, as kids, he was so funny.
- [42:17]
Penn Badgley
That's amazing.
- [42:18]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was, like, the most exciting day when he was on set. And I just remember, like, he would make us laugh so hard that our parents were like, all right, all right, just leave him alone. Like, yeah, I know you're excited. And then getting to grow up and then be in my 20s as he entered his 30s, and now we now, like, he is a true friend of mine, which is.
- [42:41]
Penn Badgley
Yeah.
- [42:41]
Gaten Matarazzo
So it's really, really cool. And something I bring up to him, that he's like, it's weird. I don't. It's. He's like, I don't like it.
- [42:48]
Penn Badgley
Yeah. That's gotta be surreal, like, seeing you guys grow up from that. It is.
- [42:51]
David Ansari
Yeah.
- [42:51]
Gaten Matarazzo
Like, in the end of season five, like, I was already 22 at that point. And so, like, we would have drinks, and then you'd be like, this is not. This is so bizarre because, like, it just seems like you really. You guys were so tiny.
- [43:03]
Nava Kavilan
Yeah.
- [43:03]
Gaten Matarazzo
And just. Yeah, just straight.
- [43:05]
Penn Badgley
Just little kids just taking drinks out of your hand. Like, I'm sorry, this is weird.
- [43:10]
Gaten Matarazzo
I don't like looking at it.
- [43:12]
Nava Kavilan
I can't endorse it. We. We are going to ask you a few questions outside of Stranger Things, but we have a couple more. This is the final season.
- [43:21]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes, indeed.
- [43:21]
Nava Kavilan
So we want to know two things. We want to know how you're feeling about saying goodbye to Dustin, but we also want to know, while keeping it spoiler free, how you feel about the finale, how it all wraps up.
- [43:31]
Gaten Matarazzo
Oh, I love the. So I love the guy. I like the guy that I play. He's fun. This year's been more challenging because there's, like, a lot of. There's a bit of a shift in what he's seen and what he's experienced leading up to it, which is pretty fun to tackle. I know that Matt and Ross, the writers, wanted to dive in a little bit more to seeing a bit of a different part. Just seeing somebody unhealthily dealing with the grieving process, which I don't really know if there is a very healthy way to do that. But yeah, Season four spoilers. If anybody's watching cover years, but he loses a friend that he's with as it happens, and it's very different from anything he's experienced. He's been around it. They've lost like. Like it's always been very scary. But he loses one of his closest people, like, and having it happen in front of him is quite the shift. And it kind of, I think, is for the most part, pretty sobering. And it's a pretty different shift. It's not very, like, heroic, like, war movie type, you know what I mean? It doesn't feel. It's like. It's not like, ah, let's do this is not. There's nothing really badass about it initially. It's actually just weirdly, tremendously, very, quite sad. And so it's jumping into that is fun to see how that picks up because that's kind of where we start everything and that's cool to experience. And then when it comes to the season as a whole, it's just. We do just really hit the ground running. I'm stoked with how we wrap it up after reading it. It feels correct. Is the best way of saying it, like reading everything and seeing everything settle in. And finishing our last table read of the last episode, we had been, like, anticipating it for quite some time.
- [45:15]
Penn Badgley
It was on your birthday, wasn't it?
- [45:16]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was on my birthday. Yes, it was. That was pretty fun. Emilia and Noah made a cake either that morning or the night prior that started to deteriorate on the way over and it was very Harry Potter reminiscent and it was actually very, very sweet. A good memory for sure.
- [45:34]
Nava Kavilan
Stick around, we'll be.
- [45:40]
Sophie Ansari
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- [46:57]
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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- [48:27]
David Ansari
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- [49:20]
Sophie Ansari
Stranger Things has spanned over 10 years of your life at this point, and each season takes quite a while to film. I think the last two seasons took around a year to film. And so I'm curious as it wraps up, what are you excited to now have time for? Like, it could be work, but also outside of work.
- [49:40]
Gaten Matarazzo
That's a good question. I'm in like a weird phase of trying to figure that out because I've been lucky enough to make a living out of my favorite hobby. And that's when there's like an in between phase of letting that settle. And it's also things have come up that just schedule wise don't work out because we're about to start this press tour and things had fallen through because of just the weird little nuances throughout the year, even after we finished filming. And so I know that post Holidays is going to be the first time in which the coming year or years after looks actually free. And it's like. Or at least looks up to me. And that's exciting. That is particularly very scary.
- [50:24]
Penn Badgley
You've also never been there. If I can just say you've never. You know, as a person who I know what it's like to be on something like that. Not like that, but you know, and you'd never know until. And I'm an adult. I'm a full. I've done this twice as an adult. You have only just entered adulthood. Really as mature and as. As experienced as you are. So it's like you're gonna have a perspective even in six months that you just can't even have yet.
- [50:52]
Gaten Matarazzo
I'm excited to hear that.
- [50:53]
David Ansari
How did.
- [50:53]
Gaten Matarazzo
Does that feel differently the second time around because you, because you have done it twice. Was the first time particularly more anxiety riddled than the second?
- [51:01]
Penn Badgley
You mean like ending it?
- [51:02]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, ending like a long process.
- [51:05]
Penn Badgley
No, I was. I've famously said it and I'm saying it now, not with any judgment or cynicism, but the fact Is I really wanted off of that show for Gossip Girl, you know, or rather, I. I want it off. I actually didn't want off prematurely. I just simply was like, okay, I would really love for this to come to a close. And, you know, I signed off as, spoiler alert, Gossip Girl. And then that was that. I was thrilled to have the, you know, the perceived freedom and. But it was also, you know, I was in my late 20s, and late 20s are kind of famously, for a lot of people, like a time of reckoning. So it was kind of like it really coincided with that. I will say that ending my show youw was a bit different because it was. It really is the. It's the end of even a much longer cycle. Cause, you know, I've been working on, like, a Warner Brothers television show since I was 15 years old.
- [52:04]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes.
- [52:05]
Penn Badgley
And so I don't know. The point is I, at nearly 40, am having to admit where I'm like, yeah, I really. I've never been here either. I don't know. I don't even feel like I have enough perspective yet. But. But whatever similarity there may or may not be, I think.
- [52:18]
Gaten Matarazzo
I think there's a lot.
- [52:20]
Penn Badgley
Yeah. What you are about to enter because you were just starting press.
- [52:25]
Gaten Matarazzo
Right?
- [52:25]
Penn Badgley
Is that right?
- [52:26]
Gaten Matarazzo
Today's day two.
- [52:27]
Penn Badgley
Okay. And when does it come out, this show?
- [52:29]
Gaten Matarazzo
We released the first chunk on the 26th of November.
- [52:32]
Penn Badgley
Wow. Okay. So I would bet that the last press interview that you do and then the show comes out, and a few weeks after the show, everything has died down. People kind of stop talking about it as much. You're gonna be like.
- [52:47]
Gaten Matarazzo
Like, oh, it's.
- [52:49]
Penn Badgley
It's never coming back. Like, it's never coming. And although actually with the show like.
- [52:55]
Nava Kavilan
Yours, maybe there'll be movies.
- [52:56]
David Ansari
Maybe it'll.
- [52:58]
Gaten Matarazzo
They keep insisting, like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- [53:02]
Penn Badgley
Cut to the 2026 fourth financial quarter. Netflix is like, can we.
- [53:11]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah. I wouldn't be shocked.
- [53:15]
Penn Badgley
But anyway, anyway, you're about to enter a new phase.
- [53:17]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah. And that's a weird phase I have to really try to look at with optimism. It very much feels.
- [53:25]
Penn Badgley
You absolutely should look at it with.
- [53:26]
Gaten Matarazzo
Optimism, by the way.
- [53:27]
Sophie Ansari
Yeah. You have so young.
- [53:30]
Penn Badgley
You're literally so young.
- [53:33]
Gaten Matarazzo
It's hard to remember that sometimes, though.
- [53:34]
Nava Kavilan
I know.
- [53:35]
Gaten Matarazzo
Because it's. I think anybody at 23 doesn't realize just how young that really is. But also, there's been a number of. It's like, it started so early for me that it's. It almost feels like there's been a Jump start to all these weird life experiences up to this point that I think in some respects, like, based on what I've experienced, I'm at a phase that most like 33 year olds are rather than 23 year olds. And balancing that with also being 23 is like kind of bizarre. And definitely full of anxiety, for sure. It feels very similar to when I finished up my show in New York when I was 12, right before you did Stranger Things. At least for that tiny little month of me thinking I wasn't going to be working. I was very okay at the time with coming to terms with the fact that I may never do it again because I knew that my voice was changing, the growth spurt was coming. That didn't take as much of an effect as I liked, but I was like, this is fine, having been the thing I did as a kid. Yeah, and that'll be cool eventually. I did. I literally, when I was 12, I was like, okay, cool, now I can be a teenager.
- [54:47]
Penn Badgley
Now that I'm older, I'm gonna just hang it up.
- [54:50]
Gaten Matarazzo
I was fine with retiring at 12, at least like that chapter. I was fine with being. I knew that I wanted to do it, but I was fine revisiting in my adulthood. I was like, maybe I should just be a teenager, worry about school, worry about college, know that I love it, know that it will be there and just jump into it when it feels right to do so. And then it just spiraled into a thing that nobody could have expected. And so there's always that of me thinking, oh, great, I've got so much time ahead of me and I've got the. I've got every bit of decision making I could want when it comes to the next year starting. And then who knows if it just packs up really quickly with something that I wouldn't have expected. I have to be open to that as well. And maybe hoping for that, that makes.
- [55:37]
Penn Badgley
Me think that, you know, you did. You entered this at 12, you're exiting it nearly 12 years later. Not only is our show about coming of age, but a show that is almost as successful. Stranger Things is also about coming of age.
- [55:52]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yes, of course.
- [55:53]
Penn Badgley
And I mean, when people think of coming of age stories, they think, stand by me, Stranger Things, pod crushed. You know, that's why I think typically that is usually like, I mean, I don't know, we could maybe do a census on this, but anyway.
- [56:07]
Nava Kavilan
But we won't, we won't.
- [56:09]
Penn Badgley
We'll just take that because we know that it's accurate. I wonder, like I kind of have a two parter question. What do you think could have. Would have been your not. Not your path or your. Or the way life would have gone? Because that's impossible to know. But like, what else might you have done if like is there even. Cause it sounds like you were into this so, so early and really loved it and you've now done it for so, so, so long, most of your life. Like is there, is there this, any amount. Like can you even imagine having come of age not doing this gargantuan global phenomenon?
- [56:55]
Gaten Matarazzo
I think about that a lot, actually. I think about that more than I should because I don't know how you.
- [57:00]
Penn Badgley
Wouldn'T think about it a lot just to give yourself grace.
- [57:02]
Gaten Matarazzo
Because there's no way for me to know that. There's no way for me to really know what I would have done, how I would have approached the rest of my adolescence, the beginning of my adulthood. I wholeheartedly believe and like to think maybe for toxic reasons, maybe because I'm very well aware of the fact that I'm consistently perceived on a larger scale than most are just because of the engagement with the show and more people know of me than actually, it's hard to explain. I just, it's. I think because I understand that a lot of eyes could potentially be on me. I'm super sometimes like Barbie about my Persona when I'm walking around all the time and I'm like super concerned with being extra nice and being aware and I'm like, I really don't want people to think I'm not a nice person. And I think that that would remain the same. But maybe if I didn't do this, I, I wholeheartedly believe that I would probably be not as nice of a person if I didn't do this. And maybe the result of that is good, but also maybe the reasoning behind it is like, hey, ease up. That's fine. It's okay if some people don't necessarily like you. It's okay if people don't like what you do because that is absolutely normal and fine for them. That doesn't necessarily concern me because it's like if you don't like me, then I'm fine. I don't have to talk to you. It's not fun to be told pretty consistently. But. But yeah, I think that that changed how I interact with people on a day to day and I don't know if I would be as hyper aware of that otherwise. So that's, I think a good thing that's come out of it. I don't even know. I think if I did do this as a real world where I just didn't go back, I was like, that was fun back when I was 12 and I just approached something completely different. And I'm okay with not knowing whether or not I would have done that because I really like where I'm at right now.
- [59:03]
Nava Kavilan
Well, we should probably get to the final.
- [59:06]
Penn Badgley
Actually. There's one thing that I think is a nice segue. There's a. So is it true that you taught an acting and singing class at Butler, even if it was just like a one off thing?
- [59:13]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah. In Indiana?
- [59:14]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, I guess.
- [59:15]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah.
- [59:16]
Penn Badgley
I don't know where Butler is.
- [59:17]
Gaten Matarazzo
Wait, is that where that place was?
- [59:19]
Penn Badgley
I didn't go to school.
- [59:20]
Gaten Matarazzo
I don't know.
- [59:21]
Penn Badgley
Okay, so you taught one.
- [59:22]
Gaten Matarazzo
You taught one in Indianapolis. The only time I've ever taught anything was with a buddy of mine I did Tweeny Todd with at like a kids like acting like development school in Indiana.
- [59:35]
Penn Badgley
What was that like?
- [59:36]
Gaten Matarazzo
It was fun. It was cool. It was really low stakes and I just wanted to like the biggest message there was just like, let's go. And just. I was more just like sharing like experiences of what. Because a lot of them, and I didn't know this going in, a lot of them had also worked consistently. I was like, oh, cool, this is good. It wasn't like probably like around like hovering around like 11 to 14.
- [60:00]
Penn Badgley
Okay.
- [60:01]
Gaten Matarazzo
And they all had like a song prepped and to show us like the whole point of the thing was to do a big group warm up and do the Icebreakers and do all of that and then show the song that they had. And then in real time, me and my friend Nathan, who I did the class with, who invited me out there, basically just gave of real time tips about what could be a fun exercise that they could do by themselves to help them kind of reach a goal that I think we both could see them trying to reach and send a message articulating what it is that they wanted to do, what could be effective in an audition and how they could buy themselves prep for that to do so effectively or at least feel good. Because a lot of times, even if you don't book something or even if you don't get called back for something, which is actually the standard everything that you could do is a really fun feeling to have because I've done that before where something doesn't go through at all. And I'm like, I don't even care because I feel really good. About what I did, I don't think I could do it better. And so.
- [60:58]
Nava Kavilan
That's awesome. Yeah.
- [60:59]
Gaten Matarazzo
Kind of building that up. That was fun. That's cool that you mentioned that.
- [61:01]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, I was just thinking that like, you know, you. By the way, how long ago was that? Like a few years, like two years ago. So you were like 20 or so? Yeah, I just thought that that would might have been a little sweet experience for you to look back at kids who were, you know, the age you were when you, you. When you. Well, again, not started but when you were like really thrust into the.
- [61:20]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, it was cool. I liked it a lot. I always, I. I've been hesitant to teach in any way because I don't really feel necessarily. Anytime I enter like a new space of like, like something like that, whether it's teaching or whether it's even branching outside of acting, I want to feel like my place there is earned. I don't want to just like be like, oh, I did this thing, one thing. So let me just like stroll on it and see how it goes. Because a lot of people put so much time and energy into getting very good at doing that, way better than I could. And the reason I felt comfy jumping into that is because it was kids who had worked and I could very much relate to what they've experienced, what they're doing and what I found to be effective when auditioning at that age because it's very different from auditioning as an adult. And that was really fun. And we just like, yeah, a lot of story time talking about what the experience in Sweeney was like and doing some warmups. We had learned throughout the rehearsal process and yeah, that was a good time. That was cool.
- [62:16]
Penn Badgley
That's awesome. Well, sort of. That's a bit of a segue into our classic question, which is if you could go back to your 12 year old self, what would you say or do if anything?
- [62:29]
Gaten Matarazzo
That's a really good question. I think I will be better at answering it when I kind of go through that, that fun like breather process after this year.
- [62:43]
Penn Badgley
Wisest answer we've ever gotten.
- [62:48]
Gaten Matarazzo
I just don't want to be too high because I'm still feel like I'm still that same guy. I don't think I have much advice yet. I think I will have advice, but I think if I went back now, it would have nothing to do with the career path that I would have. That he would have been on, I would have been on. I don't know I would even refer to that. I would tell him to think about therapy sooner. Yeah, that's a good one. You're like, hey, do it now.
- [63:18]
Sophie Ansari
No harm.
- [63:19]
Gaten Matarazzo
You don't have to wait until you feel like you need it to start it.
- [63:21]
Nava Kavilan
Yeah, that's good advice. So nice to meet you and best of luck with your press tour. Good luck with everything.
- [63:26]
Penn Badgley
Yeah, man. You have a huge press store ahead of you. It's gonna be good, maybe. Is it? Do you know that it's geared up to be huge?
- [63:31]
Gaten Matarazzo
Yeah, it's rather large.
- [63:32]
Sophie Ansari
I think Wicked ruins it.
- [63:35]
Gaten Matarazzo
Who are already kind of not looking forward to the algorithm forcing us down their throats. But have fun, because they're gonna do it. Get ready to see our faces consistently to the point where you probably don't want to anymore. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that in advance. This is all victory.
- [63:52]
Sophie Ansari
No, we'll love that.
- [63:54]
Nava Kavilan
You can watch the first episode of Stranger Things Season 5 on Netflix today, and you can keep up with Gaten Matarazzo online at Gaten Matarazzo.
- [64:06]
Sophie Ansari
Podcrust is hosted by Penn Badgley, Nava Kavilan, and Sophie Ansari. Our senior producer is David Ansari and our editing is done by Clips Agency. If you haven't subscribed to La Manada Premium yet, now's the perfect time. Because guess what? You can listen completely ad free. Plus you'll unlock exclusive bonus content like the time we talked to Luca Bravo about the profound effect that the film into the Wild had on him. The conversation was so moving and you are not going to hear it anywhere else. Just tap the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts or head to lemonade premium.com to subscribe on any other app. That's lemonadapremium.com don't miss out. And as always, you can listen to podcrushed ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership. Okay, that's all.
- [64:50]
Nava Kavilan
Bye.
- [64:52]
SmashBoom Best Host
Are you Team Batman or Spider Man? Is the ultimate dish pizza or tacos? SmashBoom Best will help settle those debates and so many more. Every episode we take two cool things, smash them together, and we see which one is best. Debaters use facts, jokes, stories and more to argue for their side. And it's all judged by a teenager, because who is better at judging than a teen? It's fun. It's weirdly informative. It's smashboom Best. Get it Wherever you get your podcasts.