This chapter is really focused on our weirdo Eleven (or El, as Mike dubs her).
Everything mystifies her especially boys.
The Hawkins suburbs might as well be another planet.
Credit: Netflix
Speaking of other planets, there are many not-so-subtle nods toE.T.in this chapter.
Just asE.T.is about the connection betweenE.T.and Elliot, this chapter is about the connection between Eleven and Mike.
Over the course of the day, they begin to bond and empathize with one another in surprising ways.
Is there first love blooming?
Of course there is!
All of this is fun, but we also wanted to keep a sense of danger alive.
Eleven isnt a normal girl, and shes no gentle plant-collecting alien either.
She has unpredictable supernatural powers that will most definitely put our boys in jeopardy.
Eleven was the most difficult role to cast because she has to convey many emotions with very little dialogue.
Child actors, even the great ones, almost always have difficultylistening.
Theyre kids after all; focus is not their strong suit.
To find a girl who didnt just have this skill butexcelledat it made us concerned.
Then we met Millie Bobby Brown, and we werent so concerned anymore.
She inhabits every moment so intensely, with some alchemy of intelligence, preparation, and instinct.
Millie is still an 11-year-old girl about, well,otherthings.
Bring up boys, crushes, or kissing, and shefreaks out.
Boys are really gross and stupid, and kissing one of them is just downright unfathomable.
Of course, we cant talk about our weirdo without also talking about that buzzcut.
When Millie auditioned, she had long brown hair down past her shoulders.
But Eleven was written as having hair buzzed almost to the scalp.
Millie and her parents were understandably hesitant to chop it all off.
Would it look ugly?
Would it cost her other roles?
Charlize looks totally badass, right?
Millie agreed; Charlize lookedbadass.
And that was it: She agreed to buzz it all off.
It was a pretty dramatic scene.
But also very quick.
Within 10 minutes we had shaved it all off and slapped a fake 11 tattoo on Millies wrist.
Millie looked at herself in the mirror, gave her best Furiosa scream and Eleven was born.
In extreme close-up, we think Millie even looks like the young Lukas Haas.
The Duffer Brothers onChapter Three here.
