- 9 minutes ago
'Stranger Things' star Jamie Campbell Bower talks with Audacy hosts Megan Holiday, Julia Leipidi, and Johnny Mingione about Season 5 on Netflix.
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00:00I'm Megan Holliday from K-Rock in Los Angeles and live 105 in San Francisco.
00:06So when you started to prepare for the role of Vecna, were you listening to a
00:14certain kind of band to get into the mindset? Was there a villain that was
00:18inspiring you at all? How sort of did you end up developing who this character is?
00:25Megan, straight in with the music questions. I love it. So I mean I've always
00:30been into like rock and metal anyway. It's kind of been my thing. I used to play in
00:34a band and we used to go on tour all the time and play festivals with we played a
00:39festival with Turnstile once which was pretty sick. So that kind of music has always been in my
00:49world but with regards to where I started with it I kind of just went back like to
00:54movie references for the for the show things that I knew that Matt and Ross
00:59would like. So I watched you know Stephen King films, Prince of Darkness and then
01:03it wasn't really until I kind of rediscovered Hellraiser that I was like
01:07that's it that's where voice is gonna be coming from for me and so I've spoken
01:13about this a lot but yeah Doug Bradley as Pinhead was a huge thing for me within
01:16that. And then musically you know I mean Norma Jean was was very important for me
01:22within that. Sun Oh I mean Sun Oh was really interesting for me because it kind
01:27of came about through I was doing like a lot of meditative work anyway and then
01:32when I kind of fell upon and discovered Sun Oh I was like oh this brings like the
01:37meditation side of what I really like and soundscape of what I really really like
01:41and also the kind of sort of like darker metal kind of versions of things that I
01:45like too. So yeah Sun was a huge thing and then I also used like a lot of like
01:50folk black metal artists called Darker who's from Yorkshire in England who's
01:56just incredible. Chelsea Wolfe who's obviously amazing and then you know
02:02friends of mine as well bands like Architects as well were really really
02:05important for me to just kind of making sure that that power and that energy was
02:08there. Yeah. So cool we all love Turnstyle here so so cool that you played with them.
02:12Yeah. Lots of records amazing. Jamie I'm Johnny from Manhattan 102.7 so you have a bit of a
02:18villainous track record when it comes to some roles. I mean Twilight I mean Harry
02:22Potter. Yeah. Do these villainous and of course Vecna and Stranger Things do these
02:27villainous roles find you or are you seeking out why are you a villain? Oh no I don't
02:32know I don't know they they they do just find me I haven't I haven't gone out and
02:37sort them out I mean I think one of the things that I've always been like really
02:42interested by doing the job that I do is is the reasons for why people are the
02:47way that they are and I I've always taken great pleasure and relish in
02:54discovering that and Henry and Vecna is no different in that if anything Henry and
03:01Vecna is sort of a really beautiful thing to sink my teeth into because so much of
03:06him for me comes from like the relationship that he has with his
03:10primary caregivers and his childhood as well so if anybody you know has seen the
03:15play that's on Broadway and and also in London at the moment you get to discover
03:19more of that but that was definitely questions that I was asking myself as I
03:25was preparing for the role and when I was going into season four I was just like
03:28why like where is this hurt and this pain coming from for him and and you know
03:34ultimately it just kind of comes back to this thing of kind of lack of love at
03:37the end of the day you know so no they find me and I just try try my best and all
03:45of our problems come from our childhood exactly exactly exactly hi I'm Julia from
03:52Alt 98 7 in Detroit um is it an ordeal when you have to go to the bathroom in
03:58that costume it's a fucking night it's the worst thing in the whole world my
04:06friend Katie who does a show on Sirius we had a chat about this when season four
04:12was coming out I have these you know only do I have this like ginormous hand on
04:16one end I've also got fucking stick on nails on the other forgive me for
04:22swearing you'll have to fix that for yourself but like so and then I have like
04:26a flap that has to be undone and I have to get someone else to undo the flap so
04:33yeah yeah an ordeal is putting it mildly yeah I'm either gonna pierce myself or
04:39lose a nail in the process so yeah it's pretty rough it's pretty great do you
04:45ask them to go to the bathroom in that voice too so if you can at all talk about
05:03maybe what a change has been within Vecna for this new season absolutely of
05:11course I can I mean I think you know anyone who's watched the show will you
05:15know this the last season season four will know that Vecna suffered a terrible fall
05:20and and and and it's quite a large amount of fire as well at the hands of those pesky kids so so of
05:29course this season you know there there is a change and we've seen the trailer
05:34now so you know there's obviously a lot that we can talk about that too there so
05:38yes there is a there is definitely a visual change to him which leads to you
05:44know this season is more of a blend of of CG and practical you know so it's all
05:50still me I'm still the one doing you know doing all the movement but um yeah Vecna's
05:56uh Vecna's been working out you know he's he's he's he's ready to uh ready to
06:01decimate ready to kill I'm excited for people to see that hell yeah me too yeah
06:05thank you the cast you guys just work so beautifully together and it's just been
06:11such a ride we're so sad to see the show end um we've been talking to the rest of
06:16the cast the rest of the day their bond is so beautiful they're all friends
06:20they're giggling they're laughing since you play Vecna I just picture if
06:24everybody is you know on break Vecna is eating alone in the cafeteria
06:27what was your bond like with the rest of the day Vecna has no friends they all hate me
06:32no um what about James I know I I mean I was so fortunate in season four because so much of my
06:38work was with Sadie and Millie and um I formed such a bond with with Millie particularly um even from
06:46like the first read through we were sat in tears um and she was in front of me and I remember
06:53speaking as Henry for the first time and she just turned around and looked at me directly in the
06:57eye and it was at that point I was like oh there's so much trust here like she's she's present and and
07:03it's going to be a beautiful beautiful working relationship and then you know just as human
07:07beings I feel like she's my little sister I love her to bits she's amazing um and I have to say you
07:14know credit where credit's due again so much of that comes down to yes casting in terms of what
07:19Carmen Cuba has done but also Matt and Ross Duffer as well you know they are at the top of this of
07:25this triangle they are our fearless leaders and and and they allow us to um to really just like
07:30flourish and be and and that's a beautiful beautiful thing and it just creates such a warm lovely friendly
07:37atmosphere so yeah no Sadie 100% I mean I love I love everyone but so much of my work is with Sadie
07:44and Mills and I just think they're the most amazing performers and um I just value them as human
07:50beings yeah and when you say looking Millie in the eye she's looking through your contact lenses
07:53with red blood and all that yeah yeah no I think I think one of the first questions she asked me as
07:58well she's like are you from Australia and I was like no I'm English yeah but I was one of the first
08:04people that Millie called when when she got engaged and oh wow I think so yeah yeah to uh Jon Bon Jovi's
08:10son by the way talk about New York New Jersey yeah there you go exactly to Jake big up Jake
08:14thank you Fab you've done a lot of work in the fantasy space how did it feel walking into the
08:19Duffer's mind yeah well walking into their mind is an interesting question um yes so much of how I
08:31approach work is um or particularly with this one is about trying to understand our writers and our
08:39showrunners and our directors and Matt and Ross just have like the most incredible intelligence
08:47and also emotional intelligence as well so you know to to walk into their references was an absolute
08:54blessing because it's all there to be mined like everything is there if you choose to look for it
08:59and and sometimes even if you're not looking for it it will come um so you know even for something
09:05like this this season they turned me on to a film called Dark City um which uh was made I think just
09:13before the Matrix it was a reference for them for this season um and it was actually some of the sets
09:20from Dark City were used on the Matrix and if you watch Dark City and the Matrix back to back
09:24you'll notice that visually there's a lot of similarities even with something like grading as
09:28well and lighting um so it all looks very very similar so I just felt like a kid in a candy store I was
09:34like there's so much that I can just have at here as well um so yeah it was it was a blessing but
09:40um yeah those guys are you know there's a reason this show is so good and it's because of them so
09:46yeah it was a joy um how do you feel walking away from this role is it better sweet or what's going on
09:53it it it yeah it's funny I feel so lucky to have been a part of this show you know um it's obviously
10:04massive um it has changed my life there there really is nothing else to say about that and and for that
10:11I'm so grateful um and it will be that way forever um you know I joined in season four you know so
10:23for me it has been five years four years of my life and those have been incredible years
10:30but I'm also thankful and ready to put Beckner down you know and and and to remove the foam latex as
10:39it were um for the time being um so you know yes it's it is bittersweet but I'm it could have been
10:51anyone it could have been anyone and it was me and I will never ever be able to say thank you enough
10:59for that so that's how I feel well you absolutely crushed it I mean you know we all just love this
11:05show so much and can't wait to watch you know and see how it all all ends and I mean you're just you
11:11did an incredible job toggling you know Henry and Beckner I mean it's crazy so thank you thank you so
11:18much thank you yeah I think we'll wrap this up with just what's the last thing you did after you took
11:22off the Beckner costume I covered myself in um in in moisturizer
11:27thank you so much
11:32thank you
11:33you
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