Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Stranger Things GATEN MATARAZZO: Overcoming Fear & Judgment

Episode Date: February 22, 2022

Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things) joins us this week with a ton of energy and a handful of different stories of what it was like to overcome Hollywood’s opinion of him as a child actor because of his condition, cleidocranial dysplasia, and how great it felt landing the hit sensation Stranger Things on Netflix. Gaten discusses his evolution from being a nine year old theater junkie to getting his shot with shows like the Blacklist. We also talk about his preset fandom for the 80’s, his deep relationships with costars in Stranger Things, and some maybe not-so-cool pranks that happened on set. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Boy, do I love that you're tuned in and you're listening. And if you're here for Gaten, Montarazzo, I thank you. But if you like the interview, I ask you to stick around. I ask you to maybe subscribe to the podcast. Stick with us. I think you'll learn something. I hope you like it.

Write a review. It really will mean a lot to me, even if you don't know me for shit and you know Gaten. Right, Ryan? Right. Yeah. That's what it's about. It's about support. And if you like something, maybe listen to him.

That's all I'm saying. Oh, yeah, that's a big deal. Did you have a good week? I had a good week. Right now, I think we're a little bit on, not on edge, but we're still excited because we just did an interview with Judd Apatow and it was just fantastic, which will air down the road. And it was just, we were both kind of like just so excited.

He was such an influence on both of our lives and the movies that he created. And it was just special, wasn't it? Yeah, I'm still processing it. Yeah, I know you are. Because it's one of those people who's just sort of out there, like, making stuff. stuff, and then you'd never think, you know, I'm never going to sit in the same room as that, dude. No. Well, maybe you will.

Well, you just did. We just did. You just did. I'd love for you to follow us on our handles, on our social media handles at Inside of You pod on Twitter at Inside of You podcast on Instagram and Facebook. Write a review and message us. We also have the Inside of You online store. You can get small those signed lunch boxes for me or me in Welling.

You can get to autograph pictures of Lex or Inside of You mugs, inside of you mugs, inside of you. Tumblr's, so many cool things. Also, the band. My band Sunspin is playing March 5th. That's the Saturday. Is that what March 5th is on your phone? March 5th, we are playing two shows, right? Two shows Saturday, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. We play covers. We play originals. It's a lot of fun. There's prizes. There's zooms. Please show up. Just go to sunspin.com. Look for the length that takes you to stage it or go to stage it. and type in Sunspin. You could also get a Zoom with us on

sunspin.com. And I really, it means a lot. And also, lastly, if you want to join Patreon, patrons save the show. They really give back to the show. So if you enjoy it, you want to give something back. Go to patreon.com slash inside of you. That's patreon.com slash inside of you.

And there's different, what do you call them? Tears. Tears. And anyway, that's really all I have to say. I'm very excited. I think the show, we're getting some great guest, Ryan, and some fun interviews, and I hope that you guys are liking it. Doing my damnedest, I hope, I thank you for listening to the show and spending your hour with us. Yeah.

You know. And Gaten was great, too. This is a good one. He was great. Talk about an open person. He just really, I thought he'd be a little guarded. I thought he'd be in, he was mature beyond his ears. Oh, my God.

I mean, way more mature than I am. I mean, this guy, he's not only talented, but he's, it was a very fun interview. and I thank Gaten Monorazzo from Stranger Things. And why don't we just do it? Let's get inside of Gaten, Matarazzo. It's my point of view. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience.

What is this background, man? I love it. This is the tapestry in my room. It's a grateful dead tapestry. Hold on a second. Are you a grateful dead fan? I'm a poser. I'm not.

That's the thing. I want to be very much so. I got to get into him a little bit more, but I just saw this at this shop in Ocean City, and it was trippy and cool. And so I, yeah, so I got it. And I didn't even realize until I got it home that I had the bears. It is trippy and cool.

The bears are. around the circle. I see them, right? Yeah. Is it too much? I can so... No, no. I feel like I might be on a trip myself. Okay, where it? That sounds fun. Do you know any Grateful Dead songs? Not much, dude. It's like the one band. I know I'm a huge rock and roll fan, especially oldies, especially going back a long time, but Grateful Dead is one of those where I just

have not read up on. Who are the old bands that you like, you think back? I love Led Zeppelin. I, uh, I mean, I'm not too big on the sounds. I'm getting into the stones a little bit, but huge Zepo fan, huge Beatles fan. Jimmy Hendricks I'm obsessed with. I'm also like, my brother gets me into a lot of great, great stuff. Have you listened to any moody blues? Not much, no.

Nights in white satin. Never reaching the end. I got, yeah, I know that. I think you like the moody blues. There's some good stuff, but I like that you're listening to some Zeppelin. You got some influence. but you probably you probably listen

to a lot of musicals too, huh? You know what? I wouldn't say I've grown out of a faith. I've just grown to understand that I'm not going to get by culturally. Stully listening to show tunes.

So I had to branch out a tad. What's the go? What's the go-to show tune that's always in your mind that you always just belt up? The one that never stops? so it would have been anything from Le Miz but then I did it for three years

that's right and so it was just and then I was like I gotta move on right I gotta move on I gotta get a there was this whole big

this stage in my life right after the show so I toured with them for about a year and after that I joined the Broadway cast when they revived it in 2014 and was with that for another year and it was my entire life for a huge big very formative part of

my life my preteens and uh it was for another year maybe two after that in which it was still every day in my life i needed to i couldn't it was just like because it had been so routine that i'd sang from the show every morning in the shower i reenacted scenes in my bedroom that i did on the stage for several years because I just wasn't ready to move on from it to a point of which it was unhealthy that my brother sat me down and was like, hey,

listen. Really? Really? It got to the point where you, it got to the point where you had to move on. Yeah, no, literally, I had to grow up from it. And I think I've been able to like, it's almost like it was like a tick. I've been able to like quell the need to like sing it out loud

but I still find myself just like in my head like in my dream sometimes what's what's the big song lame is what's the one song that everybody knows oh the big one everyone knows is one day more

one day more oh yeah how does that go you're making me sing no I'm gonna say another destiny I want you to know you just opened up the floodgates

and so now I'm gonna need like therapy because it's just and invade my brain for the next three years hey we met at a con yeah and I'd seen you at other cons and, you know, you just were a highlight. You just have such a great energy about you

and you just seem like such a good guy with a good head on your shoulders. I don't know that I would have a good head on my shoulders at that age at 19 years old and you starting as young as you did and having so much success as you did. I think I'd implode. I think my brain would just implode. I don't think I was mature enough. I still don't think I'm mature enough. So I want to go back a little bit to like growing up and and you know getting involved in all this stuff and first of all where were you weren't you driving like a shit ton today where are you driving from well not today today i was good today i well i was in rhode island because i was at the rhode island comic how was that it's great it's such a good show it always is a really really good show were any of the

guys there the other guys i was only one of the only guys uh i was the only person from stranger things there. You know what it was? It was a really big con for the the Cobra Chi group. Really? Yeah. A lot of them were there. Most of the principal cast happened to be at that con there, which is really great. They're a great group of guys. That shit blew up, didn't it? Do you watch it? Crazy. I've seen the first two seasons. I've been not for lack of like wanting to see the third. I've just for some reason, like, it's hard for me to like keep up with shows like when there's a big break between seasons and stuff, which is the same

that's going on with mine. But there's a big break between seasons, and anytime it comes out, I just forget to watch. And so, but the minute I would start, the minute I start season three, I'm just going to, I'm going to, I'm going to tear it apart. Yeah. So why did you drive to Rhode Island Comic Con? Why don't you fly?

Well, I'm in Jersey, and so it was only, it was about a five and a half hour drive. That's a stretch. It was only probably about like five hours. Going up there was rough. But I like driving better, when I can. Yeah.

It's easier just to put your luggage in the car. It's true. You don't have to deal with people. Genuinely, it's easier to just go. And honestly, my dad starts driving for this one before I did. So when he got in the car, I could just sleep. So you guys drive together? He drives you?

Well, yeah, he's with us. We'll alternate it up there. It's always best when he ends up being there. Sometimes my mom comes. My dad's always better at those shows. She'll admit it herself. she's it's not her scene but uh i had a whole big group coming with me this time to rhoda really all your friends yeah my girlfriend came with me both my siblings her my sister's

roommate her sister um um my my best friend and my two of my best friends uh go to school up in boston and so they uh they took the trip down to providence to uh hang out at the con too for the day what do they do what do they do while you're at the con do they like to experience it with you or do they kind of F off and do their own thing? I think initially they were really excited to see what it was going to be like with me. But the thing is, it's not too exciting for people just hanging out with me to be by the table. Because for the majority of the day, I'm sitting at the table signing and taking pictures for those waiting in the line.

So I don't really have time to go and enjoy the con. And at Rhode Island, they had this big room down on like an, like, it was in a big hockey stadium at the Duncan Donuts Center in Providence. And we were on the ice. They had like set up everything over top of the ice in the center of the arena and set up all the lines and stuff out there. So it was frigid, first off, but also it was nowhere near the rest of the con. So they did. They just said, they said, fuck this. I'm going and doing fun stuff.

They didn't even stay for the con. They went out to Providence. And, like, my sister went to, like, bars out in Providence and just enjoyed the city. But it was great. It was a good time because that night I was able to go spend time with them. So you don't get offended if they leave? No. I completely understand it.

I wouldn't want them to stay. They'd just be standing there. Yeah. Doing absolutely nothing. Do you notice how that always happens when you're filming? People are like, I'm so excited. I want to come on the stranger thing set. And then they come on.

And then they're like, you're still filming the same fucking scene for five hours straight. Literally. But we never get that. I'm never allowed to bring people on set. You're not? At least I don't think. I've been told that it's super underwaps. No one's allowed on set.

No one's there. And then sometimes somebody will have someone on set. And it's confusing because I'm like, I told me I couldn't. But yeah, no, it's always boring. It's just, it's monotonous. Right. For those who aren't doing it.

It's great for me. I love doing what I do. I love working on that set. But nobody would want to go and just, it's a long day. It's like a 13-hour day doing the same scene over and over again. Now that you're over 18, they can keep you as long as they want, can't they? Long as they want. And they do it.

They do it. Yeah, that's their favorite thing in the world. Now tell me about, you grew up in where? You weren't, not Connecticut. I was born in Mystic, Connecticut. Mystic Connecticut. it's a great little town a lot of people from the new england area probably know where it's at go down there a lot the drawbridge and the and mystic village all that jazz my mom's from there

my mom's originally from there but i've lived my i've lived in new jersey my whole life really yeah my dad is from there originally my dad's from here i say there i'm in jersey now my dad grew up here and uh met my mom working in connecticut they started their family there and then and then packed up and and moved it all down here when i was only about two months old always a pretty you seem like you had come from a pretty happy family is that is that fair to say yeah absolutely i think i mean absolutely as happy as family can probably be especially i mean my parents are divorced and so like uh i mean that's not i love how you went from how happy they are and then you're like they're divorced you're divorced for stuff so like that's like yeah that's not

special though no like at this point who isn't yeah exactly yeah so they're divorced but like so of course there's rough patches that's with every family but right now it's incredible they're both married to wonderful people and uh yeah so very very happy family big family my dad's whole family is down here so my grandparents all three of my aunts all three of his sisters and uh they all have kids so all my cousins and we're all within like a five mile radius are you serious so you see your family constantly constantly and that's a good thing oh it's a great thing uh yeah it's an it's an incredible thing. Especially growing up when I was younger, it's an incredible thing.

Especially because I mean, I have all my cousins there, and they're siblings of mine. Yeah. I mean, I spend just as much time with them as I do with my siblings. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money. Period. It's Rocket Money.

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so did you know at an early age that you wanted to be a performer i mean obviously you started very young sure i don't know if i wanted to be a performer i certainly was a performer from a very young age why's that i was just a riot there was always that's what my grandfather always used to say to him because you're a riot you're a riot mike exactly exactly no but i just throughout like the entirety of uh my young years my sister was always in the music my mom was a was in a musical theater was a performer when she was in high school and and and traveled was actually like a church group and went like overseas like went to like ukraine i didn't even know about this until like three weeks ago like she went to ukraine in croatia and sang like christian music for kids out over there for like a church group i'm like when's the last one was the church you went to like a missionary group and group to go perform. I didn't even know any of this until really recently. So it was in the, it was in the blood early on to be. When did they know you could sing or, you know, or dance?

When was that? Were you always singing songs throughout, you know, throughout the day? Yeah, it's a, that's actually a funny story. I was going to say, I guess I just always had, but they, I remember them telling me that, um, this is going to like make me, this is going to make me seem so young, which, well, you are. You're young. You're a young guy. It's probably going to make you feel like super old. I'm super old. So I'm already, I'm already there. I'm already there. My first song that I ever learned, I was so, I was like one or two years old in the car, was she will be loved by Maroon Five. When she was out of me. I am old. I'm fucking old. We're old if you're listening out there. It's an old album. It's an old album at this point. It's almost

20 years old. 20 years old. So you were, you were listening to Maroon 5. In the Room 5, songs about Jane, which is still an incredible, I love that album. But she will be loved. And just because of the chorus, you know how he goes up on, she will, she will be, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, that was my favorite thing for some reason, anytime he went up during the chorus. And so I'd do it. And apparently, I just was able to stay on pitch with them.

And they said, wow, look at that. Yeah, because my sister sang too. My sister sang her whole life when she was younger growing up. But yeah, that was the song. And then from there, I started going to voice lessons really young with the same future. It was all with my sister, because I just did everything my sister also did. She really wanted to perform. She always wanted to sing.

She had a drive and a passion for it and always wanted to try. I just wanted to be like my big sister, pretty much. Really? That's where all the, yeah, that's where all the motivation behind it went. I don't mind being, what is it? I don't mind spend it every day. On the corner In the pouring in rain

She's a little girl With a brown and smile Oh, it's so good But that was the first song I ever sang Wow So did something happen Did your parents Did their ears perk up

Did they think Oh wait a minute We got a performer here I guess it was just They just thought it was pretty cute That's kind of adorable That their two year old Was singing Maroon 5

I mean, I was always singing yourself. All the shows I used to watch, too, when I was younger. My mom always made sure music was involved. I mean, most kid shows have it, but I was always watching Barney, and I was always watching The Wiggles. And those were all very music-heavy shows. I'd sing along with them, Sesame Street, too, so I'd sing along with them always.

And so that's where I guess it started. My first concert was The Wiggles. Really? Because that used to be a big thing, right? the concerts used to be a big thing. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. Wow.

Huge. I'm talking like stadium, like arena tours, the Wiggles would do. And would just be packed. That's unbelievable, isn't it? Two to six and all of their parents. Just singing the songs. Singing the songs. Chee, chukuk a big red car.

Wow. Fruit salad, yummy, yummy. Come on, dude. See, I remember, I remember shit like Fraggle Rock and, uh, you know, Let the music play Worries for another day Let the music play Down in Fraggle Rock

You don't remember Fragile Yeah Fragles were in the 80s Oh no I have no idea with that You should check out the Fragles It was kind of twisted and weird That's something that I guess I never really learned much about

Was like old like 80s kids Like kid stuff Like I've always like Because I've been told Like the biggest thing we get with the show Is did you have to do your homework Did you have to study 80s about culture music movies

And what's your answer No I already knew all of it Because my parents I mean They like any songs They play in the radio They'd be playing that stuff

They'd show me the movies That they love when they were kids Like I always compare Like people always ask Like they're baffled That we might have an understanding Of what the 80s were like But the people who were in the 80s

They're just they love to talk about The fact that they're from the 80s already That's true They're very proud bunch What movies do you love from the 80s That you went back and watched and go, wow, this holds up. Like, I'm sure back to the future.

Yeah, well, that. I mean, all the classics, but that's everything. Those are the movies that, like, defines the generation. I want to get down, like, the nitty-gritty stuff and, like, find, like, really weird niche movies that were, like, I still haven't. Like, I, like, of course, Back to Future, Goonies, Stand By Me, E.T. I'm trying to think of some other good ones. I mean, never-ending story.

That's always great. Ah, the never-ending story. Look, the song, yeah. But that movie is one of, it was one of my favorite movies. Forever, I don't know why it didn't scare the crap out of me, because I was a very brightened child of very basic things. Like the count from Sesame Street still scares me to this day. How can that count the ways?

Don't do it. One. Two. I have an irrational fear of the count from Sesame Street. Really? Because I had a nightmare about him when it was fine. What was the nightmare? Just him creeping out?

I remember it like it was yesterday, so I was walking through this castle, dark, deep, it was deep, it was damp, it was dark. There was like little torches lining the walls, but in some reason, I was with Elmo. I was with Elmo. And we were walking through this castle, and he's like, we got to go in this room now. I was like, I don't want to go in that room, I'll know. And he was like, well, there's no way out of this castle unless you go through there. And so he went in, and it was almost like a little theater with, like, a curtain where a puppet show would be. like the curtains would move and then you see the puppets pop up

and then they do like the puppet show you know what I'm talking about but there he was the count just popped up and he was doing like this weird spell and he was doing his he was counting his shit and stuff what was he counting? I don't know I was fine it was a nightmare I had when I was five and he just he like did like a weird spell and there was mist and there was fog

and then the animatronic from the buildbear workshops came out of nowhere and was like chasing I'm still scared of that guy now because of it and seriously it was a recurring dream for maybe it could have been like a week but it also could have been like two years in my life it's like you know like stuff like

from that far right like you bury did it is it because your parents were letting you watch horror movies at five years old just ran no the count from Sesame Street is what scared that's what got me going like that's what really set set me on

but I do remember however watching Jaws for the first time from my hallway at like 11 o'clock at night when I was like four or five. Not smart. No, because my parents were watching it. They were doing their movie night. They put us to bed and they were just going to chill. And they were watching their movie and they picked Jaws.

And I was like, I had done it a lot because like the past couple of movies they chose to watch were pretty okay. Like I remember they watched E.T. one night and I just snuck behind in the hallway and just watched the movie from there where they couldn't see me. But Jaws was the movie of choice. And I walk in right as the kid with the raft. Oh, boy. Right as the little boy.

Right when he dies and the... Right when he was snashed up. Uh-huh. Remember the old woman? Uh-huh. You knew that there was a shark and you let them swim anyway. Why? And then she smacks him, I think, in the face.

Oh, it's right. Right? She smacks him. I mean, well-deserved. Yeah, well-deserved smacked Roy Scheider's face. Uh-huh. Should affect the mayor, but yeah, I remember that scene like, like, no tomorrow, then. It was the worst.

And that didn't give me nightmares. I never had a nightmare about that. Just about the count. You and Elmo trekking through a castle. It was so annoying, dude. It didn't happen so much to a point in which I'd just wake up. I'd go to bed and be like, all right, I guess we're going to have to deal with this dream again. It happened to a point of just a team.

That's five years old. All right, here we go. So what was the first gig you got? Do you remember the first auditioning for something? What was that? First big audition was for the lay-miss tour. The first audition you ever auditioned for was the lay-miss tour. I didn't get it.

I did not get it. This was when the tour started. It was the 25th anniversary tour. They announced the tour after the concert that they held. I believe it was at the Royal Albert Hall in England. I'm not sure, though. Like Nick Jonas was Marius. And Alfie Bo, who is a very famous actor, a very famous portrayer of Jean Valjean.

He was playing. He was in it, Norm Lewis. It was my favorite thing to ever watch. It was what got me into theater was this concert. But they announced the tour, the American tour, after that concert, and they started holding auditions. I was seven years old. And I got a call in for Gavrosh, and I was so, I was like, this is it. This is my big break.

and I didn't get it and then they called me Were you devastated? I was horrified. Really? Just genuinely crushed. This is before I was able to really understand

that rejection in auditions was the commonplace. So you're just a little boy experiencing it for the first time and it's something you didn't like were you thinking of giving up right then? No. I was just like, I guess maybe

I must have been but I just wanted to keep trying. And it was like that show is what kept me is what kept me going. Like, I was auditioning for a bunch of stuff. A lot of commercials, a lot of theater. A lot of, like, not a lot of TV and movie stuff, though.

It wasn't what I was going for. I didn't have to look for it. I still had a lot of problems with my teeth, had a list. I was still, like, it was an awkward stage for me at the time. And TV and film was not about it, I remember. It's just something you didn't think as a child. You knew innately at that young age that there was something maybe odd or something that was going to keep you from doing that stuff so you kind of ran away

from it is that what you're saying i didn't run away from it i i went head first because i was told the first i was told of my parents that that was always going to be a possibility at that point in my life before i had grown up they didn't know how severely my condition was going to affect me they didn't know if i was going to have severe issues with my back or with my spine with my knees if it was going to be a real challenge for me and at that time they really prepared me for the worst. Right. And this is called CCD.

This is the cladocranial displaced you. Exactly. That's right. Thank you for perfect pronunciation. Thank you. But yeah,

it was that condition and they weren't sure how bad it was going to affect me at that point. Up to that point, it looked like it might have been getting ready to

hit me like a truck. And so they were just always prepare me for that. And I guess this is something that I didn't realize was messed up until like now.

at the time I was like I like that they're being honest I like that they're treating me like an adult but at the time it was not something that a seven year old should be hearing all the time but I remember casting directors would constantly tell me like oh kid we love you but nah just get those teeth in Jesus they would say that

yeah they say and I expressed to them like I was also only seven so a bunch of seven year olds already have their teeth in so I guess they assumed that it might have just been like a regular like missing teeth like teeth situation all that jazz right right i always heard i'm like uh get this teeth and i'd explain the condition and then they tell me well you're not going to have much luck in this industry then they would tell you that yeah straight up and i don't think i ever told my manager my mom about this stuff

because i thought that was commonplace like they'd tell me in the room and i'd be like all right thank you very much and they'd be like how was it and they'd be like it was great let's go home do you think it was because maybe you were hurt or you didn't want to tell them that No, maybe it was something I suppressed But honestly, it was something I was so used to hearing And dealing with by myself I heard it so much I knew I was so aware of it

To a point in which I was maybe numb To the idea of being offended by it Wow Weirdly Weirdly, yeah I think it's helped me more than it hasn't Unless like later down the road Like I'm going to have some weird anxiety awakening

No Like crap, I've been suppressing that. But you kept forging ahead. You forged ahead, and then what happened? I forged it because of lame-ins. I'm like, I know they're going to call me back because the tour's still going on.

They called me back every single time just waiting for me to get taller. That's what they always said. It was like, get taller. So how often would they call you every three months? Every like three months, like six weeks and three months. How tall are you, Gaten? Yeah, they'd call me it every single time.

And then I'd do the same thing over and over again. I'd sing the same song. That was the song of my choice. I'd sing the material that they'd say. send me and then they'd call me in for the callback I'd go in for the final callback I was always in for the final callback like I was always down to the wire and then it always came back to me that um that I was too short and then the final like I and in the meantime I was still working I got my first job on Broadway and Priscilla queen of the desert right um which is a wonderful

show it was a great show to be in at such a young age too but at this I'm still working around this stuff, hoping for Le May Ms. above all else at the same time that this is all going on. So I had my Broadway debut in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which is a great show. Very thankful for it. It's a comedy musical, a comedy musical, it's a comedy drag jukebox musical. Because it was a movie. Yeah, it's a great movie. Yeah, it's a great movie.

And they made a jukebox 70s jukebox musical out of it. Wow. And it was a lot of fun. I got to play the lead character's son, who was in a, you know, a little bit more of the musical than he was in the movie. And you fell in love. You fell in love with theater.

Oh, instantly. That was my passion. I remember I'd go out the stage door and sign and people would ask him and they'd like, are you ever thinking about doing film one day? I said, absolutely not. And they said, why?

I said, because we have to get it right the first time. Wow. That's pretty genius. How old are you when you said that? Eight. I was nine years old. Nine years old. You got to get it right the first.

How brilliant is that? Right, with such a cocky little shit. I remember that was just the worst. Were you popular in school, or were you kind of a nerd group? Like, you know, because I was, I was kind of like an outcast, not an outcast, but just, I didn't belong anywhere. I kind of was the shortest kid in my school. It's weird. It was a weird dynamic because there weren't a lot of theater kids in elementary school.

Like, most kids don't branch off into the theater kid world until they get to, like, middle school and high school where there's, like, theater programs where you go and to, like, come do the show, and then they're like, I guess I'll try it. And then they're like, oh, I love this. But I was already a theater kid before that was the thing for kids because I was already doing it. I was in elementary school. I was already going. I was listening to showtune. So, like, what's that? I'm like, it's from a musical.

Like, what's the musical? I was like, well, let me tell you. That was my favorite thing. but I had a great group of friends I had a well as I say group I had a great select number of friends who always had my back who I never felt judged by

people I went to dance class with that did not continue by the way did not continue dancing why is that why is that I was terrible at it it's so bad but isn't it freeing isn't it just freeing to dance

it was it did not feel like that no Yeah, I had a great group of friends who made me feel accepted, but also I didn't feel like I had time for that. Not that I felt like I was above it. Maybe I did. I mean, I was a cock of a little asshole at that point, but I just felt like it wasn't necessary to worry about it because I was working at the time for so long. And I would try to explain it to people.

They'd be like, why do you leave school a little bit early? I'm like, I'm going to the city. I do a show up there. I'm like, why? I'm like, I didn't even think about it myself. They're like, why do you do that? I don't know. It's fun.

That's all I thought. And I was like, it's a job. That's cool. And I was like, no, it's not a job. I was like, yeah, they pay me. And they were like, yeah, but it's not a job. You're nine. You're singing.

How is that a job? Exactly. And so I always took great offense to that. I was like, it is a job. You don't respect it enough. But it was always good is that I had friends who were also doing the shows with me. I had kids who were, age, you were going through the same thing.

And did you really love doing the show? Because there seems to be this theme. When you're at a younger age, and I've talked about this before, it seems like you don't care as much. You just kind of do it. You don't get really nervous. You just, you know, and then the older you get, you start thinking about shit, it gets in your head and you start getting nervous at a later age. That's what happened to me. But like, so you were kind of a free spirit and didn't care? How old were you when you worked in your first project? I probably, you know, high school, but it was different. I started when I was like 17, like 16 doing plays.

It's young. That's still young. I was a lot more fearless, though, back then, for sure. Absolutely. And you were fearless? That's the thing is like I didn't comprehend exactly what I was doing, especially going on on the Broadway stage. Everybody's right there who's staring right at you, face to face.

There's no screen, there's no curtain. It's right there. And people kept telling me. to like, are you okay? Are you okay? And I didn't know what they meant. I was like, what do you mean? Yeah, I did this in rehearsal for three weeks. I'm fine. I don't know why, like, the only difference is that now there's people there. That's the only difference. And I was already so comfortable with that. And I ran, there were nerves, of course, but I remember they weren't the nerves that I have now. Like back then the nerves were just like, I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait. Let's get out there. I'm so excited.

And I remember like, so we have a guardian who works backstage who is there to like watch the and she, like, works for, like, the union and stuff, the equity union, making sure that kids are being treated nicely and all that jazz and you have super, like, you know, it's like basically a babysitter who makes sure that, like, you go out there on, get out, get out on your choosing time, getting costume, you're being treated correctly, doing your homework, all that jazz. It's a, it's a rough job. Wrangling, you bastards, yeah. Wrangling, really wranglers. Child wranglers. Child wranglers. That was the actual name. I'm not fucking with you. That's the name. It was child wranglers. And that's the most,

and I wish they didn't change it, because that's the most accurate description of what that happened to tell. It was this wrangling, this group of theater kids, nine-year-old theater kids. Oh, man. But I remember I was like so jazz

that I was about to run out there before my kids. She was like, give it a second. Wait. I was like, I just remembered going. And then the minute I was out there, I got a big big cheer which was rare

I got a big big cheer and I didn't know why I mean it was my Broadway debut and so they put that in the playbill that I was having my Broadway debut that night and then it wasn't until after the show I heard that the only people cheering was the like

hundred people that were just there in my group to see me in the show that night wow like there were so many tickets were sold that night just from my fans family that went out there to go see me in that show and I knew that and that's why I was not

scared. I never performed for them like at the house and they were like get up and sing for us. I'd be like, no. But then being there was like the hug that I needed. Did they love you? Did they think you were phenomenal? I don't know. Maybe. Even if they didn't, they were like, I was nine. Even if they didn't, they were like, you were great, you're nine. You're like, let's go get some ice cream and pizza. Seriously, I just, I, my grandfather was absolutely shitting a break. Why is that?

My grandfather, he was nervous for you. Petrified for me. Like, all he would say, he wouldn't say it to me, he never said it to me, but to everyone, he's like, what if he freezes? What if he gets out there? And he just freezes. And I just remember him like talking about this to me. Like now, he's like, you couldn't, I could not, he was sweating.

like he changed the shirt throughout the show because he was just sweating through it because if I had like if I did if I like because any nine year old could realize the scale of what's going on there yeah and genuinely freeze up and I just didn't I didn't feel the need to did you ever mess up oh all the time but you didn't care I did you were hard on yourself if I messed up because then I wasn't doing my job properly and I remember the first oh I remember the first time I ever messed up a line on stage. I didn't even mess up a line. I just forgot to say a line. And so another actor on stage covered for me. The actress was playing my mom. I remember the line. I was like, but I went to stay up late.

It was an Australian accent. So I was like, I want to stay up light. I had an Australian accent when I was nine too. I can't do it anymore. Wow. But I had an Australian accent for the show. And then all she did was like, look at me. I didn't say my line.

And she just said, do you want to stay up late? That's exactly how she recovered it for me. Wow. Really necessary. I went back in my dressing room and I cried for two hours. Are you serious? I cried until the end of the show. It was already like all my stuff I finished.

I had one song. I was singing my song. My eyes were puffy from crying like earlier before that. I went home on the bus ride home. I cried the whole way. Oh, you were so hard on yourself. I was just like, I'm like, I'm fired. My mom's like, you're not fired.

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And ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. Ever wonder how dark the world can really get? We dive into the twisted, the terrifying, and the true stories behind some of the world's most chilling crimes. Hi, I'm Ben. And I'm Nicole. Together we host Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast that unpacks real-life horrors, one case at a time. With deep research, dark storytelling, and the occasional drink to take the edge off,

we're here to explore the Wicked and Reveal the Grim. We are Wicked and Grim. Follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform. So from the kid who was going out signing autographs saying, I never want to do theater or I never want to do movies, look what we do on one take that, you know, they don't do it on. Then you start to transition. What was the big transition to that?

And what was, how did that come about? Stranger things. That was the first thing you've really auditioned for. That was like a TV show or a movie? Well, I did one episode of The Blacklist on NBC. Right. Yeah, it's great. It was a really fun role.

He played this brainwashed nine-year-old boy who had been living in a cult and who had been raised in like a cult in the woods who had been cast out. So the gist of the episode was they had support. There was like this cult, the men in the cult were required to take three wives. And because it was a small community, there were too many boys to girls. there were more boys than there were girls. And so the marriages in which one man would have three wives, it was not going to work out because there were enough people.

So the gist of the show was this episode, there was a ceremony every year where the oldest son of a family once they reached the age of 12 would be celebrated. And like, this is like 10, like 9, 10 year old kids. They would be like practically like molested. They would be like, they would feast. And then they would strip them naked. and throw them out in the woods

in the middle of January. Jeez. Assuming that they were going to go out to the woods and they would die and they wouldn't have to worry about them. This is your first performance on TV? This is my first movie performance. So, but yes,

so they assumed that they would die out there. But what happened was one of the boys was able to survive long enough to wait until the other boys went out and were cast out and he took them under his wing, continued the practices of the cult

out in the woods, collecting all the boys that were being cast out until they eventually plotted to go back and kill all of them. And they were successful in doing so. And it's a cool episode. And my character was a nine-year-old potential suicide bomber

who drove a van out into the freeway full of explosives with the button ready to go saying the only cure for corruption is disruption over and over and over again. And that's like it was dirty. I was like covered in grime and it was like a hostage negotiation like if I hit the button

everybody on the highway was going to be blown the smithereens and so this really nice lady like the one of the lead characters in the show talked me out of it reunited me with my mom and the information I gave them gave them enough to go and infiltrate the cult

and stuff like that and your parents allowed you to do this oh great it was awesome because all I said was that one line over and over again I had to play a crazy kid it was awesome Wow. That was the only TV experience I had before doing Stranger Things.

And what was the Stranger Things audition? Like, do you, I mean, did you even, like, your agent just said, hey, there's this show that they're doing Stranger Things. Or how did that come about? It was such a random, basic audition. Just a random, basic audition. It wasn't special. There's this thing, Stranger Things, and they want you to audition for it.

It wasn't called Stranger Things. It was called Montauk. it was a show that was called Montauk it was going to take place on Montauk Long Island that was always the goal it was based off of a real place called Camp Hero Right

Yeah it was this this government facility That was supposedly It was like a radio tower type thing It was like for communications and radio communications For the military And there were rumors that

There were a lot of weird shady government experiments going on And so they based their show off of that. And it's the same thing. Hawkins Lab is just based off of Camp Hero. And is a Camp Hero still there? Yeah, it is. You can go see it.

You're not allowed in. But you can go up to it, and people have gone underground and have seen and heard some weird, weird shit. Really? Yeah. Like animal carcasses scattered around the, like, edge of the facility. but to like alarming extent

like tens dozens and dozens of like animals just like all scattered around the like premises this is creepy shit like chasms that are full of water at this point everything's flooded out it's on Montauk so anytime something flooded

they didn't go in there to clean it out because it was an abandoned building so it's waste high water people go in and like try and find the facility and see what's in there but like rumors of strange noises rumors of like buildings being like

like rooms being uncovered that like had like chairs with like straps on them why would they have chairs with straps? So it's no wonder why they made the series based loosely on this kind of thing it just makes sense. I took the job

thinking it was going to film in Long Island three hours from my house it was going to be a mini series I was going to be in like three or four episodes and then they I signed on and they were like so change of plans it's going to film in North Carolina and then the month later they were like change the plans it's going to film in Atlanta Georgia were you confident in the audition did you know your lines inside out did you know come on I know it's one of the only auditions in which I had two other

ones that week I was like razzled my mom wakes me up that morning she's like you're ready for this tape we got to go up to the city I'm like oh my God I completely forgot about this one And so I'm memorizing my lines as I'm going up to the city. I have nothing. I know none of it. And I'm freaking out. But also I was like, yeah, I had two this week. I'm like this one of, I mean, maybe it'll be fine.

I'll be good. I go up there. I have the sides in my hand, which I always hated doing. And I was literally looking down at the size as I was forgetting lines. You can see the audition. They released the audition tapes of all the kids for like their first tape. And you can see me looking down at my sides because they don't know. I don't know my lines.

I had no idea why they, but like, they told me to, like, the many you sent that tape and we needed you in the show. I was like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. It was one of the worst auditions I've ever known. Isn't that something that it's just, it's just you? It's just your personality. It's something about you that they just gravitate towards. When I say you, it's like the proverbial you.

It's like me or that guy or when they walk in, that's the guy. I'm like, but that guy didn't give a good or it doesn't matter. That's the guy. It was weird. What was your worst audition? Do you remember? I auditioned for this thing called The Grey with Liam Neeson. And The Grey, I think it was called, or the Grey Wolf or whatever it was called.

But I remember the guy who cast, it cast me in a couple of movies, like Poo Hall Junkies, and, like, he cast me in Urban Legend and some other stuff. And I went in there, I was so bad that I stopped myself. And I said, I said, I'm terrible. And he goes, no, no, no, it's fine. I go, no, no. I go, John, I go, John Papsedadere, a great casting director, I say. Oh, great. Yeah.

I got to go home. I got to go home, man. I got to, I got to work on this. This is terrible. I didn't work on it. And he goes, hey man, Rosie. I love you. Go on.

And I left. But I was, I was dreadful. I couldn't go on. It was just like, it wasn't reading. It was, it wasn't like glancing at your lines. It was like. It was, it was just me going. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and an occasional eye contact.

Just no eye contact at all, just me reading the lines. I had, like, it was, it was a terrible audition. It happens. Oh. So what they do, did you even get a callback or? Oh, I got a callback that I was hella prepared for. I got a call back. I was like, I ain't doing, I am messing this up again.

I got a call back for this one. They wanted me back. And so I was like, all right, I'm putting in everything I got for this one. It was so funny because I was auditioning for Mike originally. I think all the kids. I don't know if you heard that. My whole stomach just went, and I didn't hear it.

Oh, I hope it's in the mic. I hope it is too. Me too. I'll raise the volume on it. It was literally, it was like an internal fart. Like you didn't let a fart out and it just went back up.

By the way, can you armpit fart? No. Oh, my God. I'm a genius with it. I'm a genius. Maybe I'm a genius. I mean, I mean.

There you go. My brother can leg fart. Oh, I could leg fart, too, but they're not as long. They're like, whirch. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a little like, like, squirts, yeah. Do you know that people are listening right now saying Gaten is way more mature than Rosenbaum?

Rosenbaum's armpit farting, and he's interviewing a 19-year-old. Uh-huh. He's been upstage completely. Oh, yeah. I wish I could. What was I talking about? You were saying you got the call back and you were hell of prepared, and you just, you killed it.

No. I didn't say I killed it. I was prepared, though. Right. It was funny. I was auditioning for Mike originally. Right. That was, um, most kids were, I think, probably at that point.

It was either Mike or Will. Dustin really hadn't been written all that much. The whole, like, uh, I remember in the dummy sides, Lucas, his big schick was that he was, like, obsessed with going out with Nancy. Like Mike's older sister. Right. I remember like that one, either it was Dustin or Lucas, but I remember, like, Lucas had this biggest crush on Nancy, and that was like the driving force behind the dummy sides. I know they never really wanted to go with it, but they just needed, like, audition material.

Right. And I remember after I went in for the callback that I was up for Mike or Lucas or Dustin, or it was like some weird, like, lost in translation, like type stuff. But for some reason, I thought that I was going in for Lucas. really i had the sides for lucas they did the scene from stand by me where um corey feldman's character he's i'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck he's at the he's at the fence and he's screaming at the guy uh in the junkyard that was the lucas sides that they picked and uh we did that scene and i was uh yeah i was so ready to play that part i'm like he's he's he's serious and he's he's got an edge to him and he's he's committed and he's like ruthless he's

like really cool tough guy character and uh and then they were like and then they called me back and they were like no no no um with that sorry we want you for dustin and like i remember we were like pissed about it you were like oh man really we thought we didn't think it was a big part we heard it was a serious we thought it was like a recurring guest character that he wasn't going to be in much that he was a pretty fun character to play but wasn't like pivotal to the story or anything. They're like, no, yeah, you're coming in for Dustin. So then they had the final callback,

and had me read for Dustin in L.A. After Dave. Did you meet with other actors? Did you mix and match? A little, like a very small amount. This happened in L.A. Right. I was only by myself for the first two auditions, I remember.

And I went to L.A., and I met Finn. And we were in the same. We were in the room together. We were in, like, the waiting room, and his leg is bouncing, and I'm biting my name. nails and but the thing is especially when you're younger we might have been going over the same part we weren't but like we could have been and I just remember he talks about it a lot like I just remember I walked in I was like hi and he just look at he's like hey and I was like what's

your name and it just started from now like we just started talking and laughing and I was like you're from Canada that's crazy I thought it was the craziest thing in the fucking world and he was from Canada. I'm like, oh, this is a real project. They're flying people in from out of the country. He's from Vancouver. This is a two-hour flight from L.A. It's a two-hour fly, yeah. This is awesome.

This is legit. That was so stupid. But I just remember it was in a media connection with him, and we established a rapport there right before they called us in for the audition in that room. And I remember it went really, really great because we were in there. We talked with them for a bit, just like about. kid shit. I remember video games or movies or music. Finn was always such a big movie buff. It was always into the classics. It was always like asking like what camera they were using to film the

audition. Oh my gosh. Really? Always has been and still is. It's still so like that's what I love watching Finn on set because he's always so invested in everything that's going around. Not just in what he's doing, which is always incredible, but of like how the set is running and like what the directors are doing, what the DPs are doing, what cameras they have that year. I know so much of, like, camera lingo solely because of talking with Finn. So he's really interested. He's probably going to be a writer-director when he gets older. He's going to be an absolutely incredible director. You could just tell. I just know. Because he's aware. A lot of actors aren't aware when they're on set. Like you said, he's aware of all the things that are going on. I remember when I was on set,

just every day, I was like, you know, I could come here and I could just learn. my lines and hit my mark and do my job or I could pay attention and learn and learn about this craft and learn about all the things that go on in filmmaking and it was like a crash course it was like yeah you know just years and years of learning how it works just by being on set and paying attention he's he's always been very aware of that he's always been very aware of going in and understanding this is not just something where I can expand my ability on the camera which is already exceptional, which he's already just great.

But he goes in understanding that this is an incredible learning experience, an incredible opportunity to know so much more than you might have potentially known when going into direct your first project. Yeah. Or going to shoot your first project. Yeah. When you first saw Stranger Things,

because there's one thing you get on set, you get cast, you're like, holy shit, this is great, I'm doing it, you're acting. When you first saw it, though, When you first saw the first episode of Stranger Things, what was that experience like? Because the quote, yeah. I just love this.

I love this. We watched all of us, all the kids. It was Meefe and Caleb, Millian Noah. It was before Sadie joined the cast. She didn't join until season two, which sucks. Like, it's incredible. It's like, as if she's always been there from day one. But all I can think is like, oh, my God,

it would have been so great if the gang was complete. for that first initial go for it. Right. But, uh, because it didn't, it always felt great, but it didn't feel complete. It didn't feel complete until we, until, uh, until, uh, until safety joined. And I was like, cool, this is our group. This is the group is what we needed. That's always, that's always what it felt like to me.

But anyway, we were, uh, we went to this on stage screen gems in, uh, in Georgia. We, uh, there was this back little room. Oh, somebody's screaming downstairs. I'm like, oh, probably a dog or something. There's this back room where they now hold all the costumes for background actors. All the costumes in the back that are going to be like trying on for like for all the background work and stuff. So it's really cool. But back it was an empty little space, empty little room.

And they brought this rinky dink little TV out there with like a bird, with just a regular DVD and a DVD player that had a rough cut of the first episode of the show A lot of the editing hadn't been finished at all A lot of it was still

There were still like shots in which You could still see the green screen It wasn't even edited out Stuff like that But they had music put together A rough cut of the music They had It was just a rough draft

Of what the show was gonna look like But even they put so much work into that And all of us were in it All the cast The crew Everybody was there on that day Which granted it was pretty small at the time. And we just sat down and we watched it. And I just still remember every single moment

of it to this day. Blown away. It was six years ago. Blown away. Six years ago at this point, absolutely blown away. Just like, this is something that, like, we've contributed to. That's what was so great being so young. At the time, it was just going to school and filming and going to school and filming all at the same time, every single day, it was routine. We were spending so much time with each other the same kids every single day so of course

we fought and of course we were just oh man someone's laughing I don't hear it I don't hear it I don't know

I do it's my I think it's my stepmom laughing I don't even know but yeah we like so we like fight every now and again

and it was getting to a point in which like we were already it was like we've been doing this for like seven months let's wrap this shit

let's go home like it was like because we hadn't seen it we hadn't seen what we were doing right we were doing it and we had

hadn't gotten any bit of, like, assurance that this was going to be great. We kept getting told, enjoy it well at last, because it's probably not going to get a season two. And, uh, we just watched it and just knew. We were like, okay, we're in good hands. We're safe. That's awesome. That's awesome.

Hey, this is called, uh, shit talking with Gaton. Oh, I love it. These are my patrons, my lovable patrons who give back a little more to the podcast. Amazing. They're high patrons. Yeah, they're amazing. and they love you and there's some questions

and just rapid fire. Right. Little Lisa, love Dustin and Steve's friendship. What's your favorite scene between you and Joe Kerry? Train tracks season two

Farrah Fawcett hairspray scene where he tells me what is secret to his hair is because it's the one scene with two characters. The first scene I think in the show where two characters who have nothing in common

finally find something in common with each other and realize themselves how arrogant they were being. They didn't like each other at all solely because of the superficial idea of hang out with the nerd and also hanging out with the jock. And then they have something in common and it brings them together in a way that they never thought it would. And it was like a beautiful budding little flower of something very, very fun. I love it.

Razzie, when you sang the Neverending Story theme song, did you see the movie before that? I know you did. Indeed. I did. Did you know all the words to it already? No, I didn't remember the song. What are the first words to the song? How does it go again? Turn around.

Ryan. Ryan's right here and Ryan has not missed one episode. He's my engineer. You can't see him. Say hello, Ryan. Hey, Ryan. What's up? How are you doing?

I'm good, man. This is great. Yeah, he loves it. He loves you. He loves the show. And I mean, who doesn't love the show? So you had seen the movie. That was your answer, of course.

You had seen the movie before you sang it. how much, and you recorded it in a studio, right? You recorded the song in the studio? You recorded the song, no, we sang it live. You sang it live to a track, or? No, I think it was Acapella. Did you have time to learn it? How long did you have to learn that?

So it was super quick. So Gabby, who played Susie, she's incredible. She's one of my favorite people to ever exist. And I hope she hears me say that. She's the best, seriously. And she's a Broadway kid as well. She was in a very great show called Fun Home, an incredible role in an incredible show called Fun Home.

Genius musical, incredible. And he goes, so she sings, and being our extra little theater band jazz, we made a number out of this. We knew what we needed to sing. We weren't going to sing harmonies or anything, and then we were doing it. And I forget if I had the harmony track or she did. But I think we were like, one of us want to take the harmony track?

We were like, yeah, I'm like, lower or higher. He looked lower. And we were like, all right. And so we just did. And we made a whole number out of this thing. We show up on set to do her side first in her bedroom, where she's singing the song. And I was off-camera reading for her

and singing the song with her. And they were like, guys, it's great. So it's 10 on 10. They're like, this is a literal number. You're like, you can't remember. In this, you haven't done Broadway shows. my shows so you have to you have just done a bag of we're pissing our

pants I remember oh my god and that's where the prep was like she had the hard work because she they filmed her stuff first right and then they filmed all of my stuff later that night when the sun went down out on a random field and hill right on the lot and they put blue screens up around

the parking lot area so you couldn't see it and we were like sitting up on like the grass and she was standing there too and she sang with me on my end I don't know if there was a track I don't think there was I I think we just kept Acapella and just made sure we remembered the tempo. I love it. It was great.

Even if we were recording for the album, that's just our live recording from the show. It sounds great. Thank you. Kelly S. Rapid Fire. Here we go. How is it working with Robert England and the new season of Stranger Things? Oh, Robert's great.

He is great. I did Urban Legend with him, and he's just an icon. Very, very cool. He's an icon. He's an icon. Very, very cool. Robert's great. The fact that we got him is awesome.

Michelle Kay, any pranks from behind the scenes of strangers? things and who's responsible for those? Yeah, I remember there was this one prank. It's not my prank. Is it funny now? I don't know if it's funny now. It might be less funny now. It's pretty messed up. But I remember there was one of our crew members

who worked in costumes who was getting married very, very soon. This might be season one or two. And she's so excited. Of course, she's about to be married. It's incredible. And Noah and Millie decided to prank call her. And Noah prank called her.

As Brian, the manager of the venue that her wedding was telling her that there was a construction issue at the venue and they were going to have to cancel the reservation for her wedding. This is like two weeks out of her wedding. So she's freaking out. He's crying. She's freaking out. I mean, if you're going to prank someone, you got to prank other people on the cast. You can't prank the car. No, literally.

and so and they remember like so noah can't see it he's just on the phone on one end and really's a room and she goes and she goes and she goes could it could have and I don't know I think I think she took it well I think afterwards she took it well

maybe not for like the first day or two oh my gosh now you think it well but I remember that and I was like whoa so maybe no more pranks on set uh Maya P what are the best and worst things good question best and worst things

about growing up in the public eye best thing is that I now I think I have a general awareness of what should be pretty acceptable behavior for somebody in my age you know what I mean like there's it's an age where you can make mistakes and should make mistakes but at least I have a bit of consciousness as to knowing that my actions are going to affect other people everybody this is the case for everybody but in my case it's pretty immediate if I were to do something it would definitely affect those and everybody would know about it yeah so it's definitely keeps me grounded but worst part there's a lack of anonymity there's a lack of a little bit of fun there i think

especially being really young you want to be able to do dumb stupid teenage shit and uh you with it by having your parents ground you rather than have to deal with it with people making a headline that you're just like washed up or something i feel like that with cell phones and shit too just like in general it's like we know we didn't i didn't grow up with cell phones so we were able to to just do what we wanted and nobody could see and nowadays everybody's got a phone so if I'm gonna get up there

and act like a jackass everybody's gonna know about it and I am a jackass I am a jackass I am a jackass like yeah it was just stories like back then you just hear it's like I remember I was at a bar

and like I don't know who like Rob Lowe was there and he was trash or whatever like I don't know right right now it's like don't know that's true we have a video of it

hey you know I saw on an interview that you know talking about anonymity but something cool is that is it true that a bunch of your family and friends started to work at a restaurant and then you were you got a job at the restaurant while filming stranger things and you did it tell us why you did it because i know you were playing the story is like you were playing mario cart and they were all yeah yeah so in the fallon interview but i loved it because they were off to you know working and you were just by yourself playing mario cart over and over and over to the point where you mastered mario cart Yeah, too of, I'm so good at Mario Kart game. I'm so good at Mario Kart.

And nobody plays Mario Kart anymore. Like, it's not like it's like a popular game. It's not like Smash Brothers. Right. Like everybody, like, who's my age, like, is really good at, like, Smash Brothers and there's, like, tournaments we have in school, but I was always really good at Mario Kart. But, no, it was just this restaurant that was nearby where I lived,

and a lot of my friends happened to work there. I attended the restaurant quite frequently because my friends worked there, and this was during the pandemic. and it was an outdoor seating restaurant so it was open and um it was the only thing that i saw that it was going to make me not sit on my ass all summer because from that point from march up until june i was i was i was quarantined i was inside it was like during the whole it was during the social distancing do not leave your house days like before anybody was getting back into work right anybody doing anything what are you getting paid at this restaurant

It was, I was getting a food runner. So what, like 7.25? 7.25 an hour. And you're, you're bringing food. You're bringing food to tables, right? You got a mask on. Yeah, so I had like a, like, you know the pull over sleeve masks? Yep.

Yeah, I had one of those and a cap. I still have long hair at this point. So I tucked in all the hair into my hat and covered it and put the sleeve over the mask. And the only thing that you saw was my eyes. And I double mask. So I had a mask underneath. I had like a regular, like, surgery, like two surgical. mask underneath and then the sleeve mask on top because I still want to be conscious about it

I was like I come from a really really uh uh small town in Jersey super super super conservative but and super like at this point really really uh I guess lax is the nicest word I can say about the situation going on but super anti-vax area yeah so even back then they were like like anytime there was a restaurant that was open people would just go just to make a point of it. Like, I'm not socially distancing. I'm going to be cool. Oh, yeah. So I didn't like to feed into that. So I made sure that I was still very cautious about it. So I really did mask up, and it helped disguise me a little bit. But did they still recognize you just from the eyes?

100%. People have told me that. They said, like, they're like, I saw you. I was like, cool. And they're like, it was the eyes. I'm like, I'm going to go dry in the classroom. I feel weirdly attacked and violated that dude I saw you imagine any person it could be my brother it could be my girlfriend and like it's just the eyes and like when you walk up and like I know it's you I just recognize your eyes like that's

creepy I've never met you in my life the scariest thing anyone's ever said to me hey do you think this is the uh do you think this could be the last season of Stranger Things have they told you anything or do you think it could be You're hoping it's not. It would be dumb if it was. It would be dumb if it was the last season.

It's probably, it's for, like, they're not, they can't say whether or not there's going to be a five until season four is released. Right. And then they'll know, based on ratings, based on how it does, if they're going to want a five, it's going to do well. Like, even if it's not, like, even if it's not a good season, I think it is. Even if it's not a good season, it's still going to do well because people have been waiting for it for so long. and our fan base is just incredible.

Are you excited? Are you excited about the next season? Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. You love being on set? You love being on set. You love acting with these guys. I didn't realize how much I took it for granted

until season four, though, because of COVID and everything. We started production March, I think March 8th or something, and then closed down March 16th. We had like a week of filming before it shut down for a two-week hiatus, which ended up being six months. and um it was it was we were devastated but it was we got back in september and i was like oh my gosh this almost got like taken away for good and before at the time which i was just like oh back to another season and that's what i took i was like not only was i taking it for granted the

experience but i was taking the learning experience and the and the love of the crafts i wasn't taking it seriously as much as i could have and so i think the season is the one where like A lot of us, maybe, but I just felt like it's really where I genuinely tried every single day. Every time I walked in, I was like, this is going to be a good day because I'm going to make it one. That's great. It felt really great. And that's why I'm really stoked for this season. I feel like everybody was just putting every bit of their heart and soul into it because maybe that was, it was clear to us that that might not have been normal anymore or commonplace.

Right. Is there, lastly, are there any, like, little love connections on set? ever been in there anything like people dating or people flirting or people or you guys just keep that to yourself not for me i mean i've been in a wonderful relationship with my girlfriend for almost four years wow yeah it's great she's incredible you've been in a longer relationship than me and you're 19 that's amazing but on set other people there might there might be something i don't know i mean and that's true and nobody tells me i mean charlie and natalia have been dating for probably like four or five years at this point.

Wow. Yeah. I think they've been seeing each other since season one, but we're pretty private about it until like maybe a little bit after. It's hard to hide it. Like they couldn't go out and like go on dates in public without people be like, Jonathan and Nancy really dating and really like the headlines about it.

So eventually it was hard to keep the secret, I think, but they've been together for quite some time. How cool is Winona Ryder? Winona Ryder. Winona's Thebomb.com. genuinely one of the sweetest ladies I've ever gotten to know. really he's great just a sweetheart she's really genuinely she's great and and you know david har harbour yeah david harbour he just seems like the coolest guy he just seems like he's awesome i love working

with david there's never been a person who who drives me to impress as much as david does really work around a group of people shan levy too who's uh who directs uh episodes three and four of all of our seasons and as an executive producer on our show. He he, I mean, what have you known that he's directed? You see the movie Free Guy that came out with... I didn't see that. You directed

that. He directed night at the museum. Oh, yeah. He's, he's been working for so long. He has such an energy and a drive, but like, he just drives me to just always feel like, I'm like, I really want to impress this person. I want to like, not impress, but say more like,

this person drives me to be the best version of myself on the set that I can because they take what they do so seriously. Like David is well. Like David is always just so into it and ready and committed and understands everything he needs to do. I mean, maybe he doesn't feel the same way, but whenever I see it, I just know, like it just looks like he's always giving us all and is ready to do the best he can no matter what he's doing. Do you? It's not intimidating. It's just like, all right, let's do it. Yeah. Do you want to continue? doing movies and TV and stage and just do all of it?

Do you want to get back to the theater? What are you excited about? I want to go back into the theater. I really want to get back into the theater because I haven't done the theater. I haven't really, like, done a long run in a show. It doesn't even have to be on Broadway. I'd love to do work off Broadway. I'd love to do workshop theater.

I'd love to do experimental theater. But I've never done a long run since my voice changed. Right. It's been a bit. well you're getting older this is good exactly i'm really i'm excited to try out new things and also uh now it would be the first time i do a show in which there's no child labor laws that are going to be like uh there's no like child wranglers

no child wranglers those wranglers are gone those days are old uh this has been a a real treat for me i i you know i met you at a con and i was like this dude is just so cool i think he'd be a great guest and i was right about it it you were a fantastic guest today i mean i think people are going to love this i'm just glad i got to be a part of it thank you for having me on yeah this is just wonderful i really really enjoyed it i wish you continued success you're a great guy and uh i'll see you at the next con or i'll see you somewhere i'll text you and say hello do it no seriously i'm doing a lot of the cons uh i'm getting back into them now that uh they're they're open after the restrictions are lifted from the

pandemic and stuff. So I'll see very, very soon, I know. Yes, indeed. All right. Give my love to the family downstairs screaming. Go listen to some Great for Dead, some moody blues. Now I will. All right. Now people know I'm opposing. All right. Gaten, thanks so much, man. Thank you so much, Michael. See you, brother. Bye. There you go. Gaten Matarazzo. I hope you had a lot of fun with it. Again, if you really enjoy the interview, please subscribe to the podcast. Listen to it, spread the word with your friends. Follow us on our handles. Ryan, what are those?

At Inside of You pod on Twitter, at Inside of your podcast on Instagram or Facebook. That is correct. We appreciate you listening. And hopefully you got something from it. Hopefully you're like, hey, you know, that didn't sunk. Thank you for spending the day with us. You're an hour.

It's just an hour. But again, there's so many podcasts out there. So it's like, you know, you just hope that people tune in and they continue to tune in. That's all you can do is do your best, you know. What was cool was hearing Judd Apatow say how he listens to the podcast. And then he was like going, oh, you're Jimmy Conner's episode.

Kevin Neillan episode. I'm like, oh my God, you listen to the podcast. That made me really happy. I was like, oh, somebody I really respect and adore. So that was pretty cool. If you want any inside of you on any inside of you merch or Smallville merch signed, go to the Inside of You online store. There's Smallville lunch boxes.

There's autographed, autograph pictures of me, of Lex, of Inside of You mugs, of tumblers. There's so many really cool things there. Also go to sunspin.com and get tickets to see my band Sunspin March 5th at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. 2 shows. You know, you can win Zooms. There's prizes. There's all sorts of stuff. You can also go to stage it.com and type in Sunspin. But please join us. I think you'll have a great time. Everybody who comes to the show is surprised about how much fun they have. They actually enjoy themselves and we respond. We see your messages on the screen. And we're like, oh, look, it's T, T, T, R. 467 what's up man thanks for being here and all that stuff and you can go to sunspin.com

if you want to buy any get any zooms with me um on cameo patron if you want to join patron the lovely patron it's patreon.com slash inside of you uh if you know my patron saves the show the patrons what would I do without the patrons you get you know they get to ask questions to the guests they get there's different tiers so check it out if you want to support the podcast good questions patrons just by the way really they really have to Like this last week, we did a few interviews, and they're really coming in hot. They really know their stuff. In fact, sometimes I use their questions as part of my questions before I read their questions.

We just have to credit them now. I have to credit them. They're very smart, very intuitive, very knowledgeable, and they do their homework. They do. You know? And so that's nice. So thank you for listening to the podcast. I really appreciate it right now.

One of the perks of being a top tier patron, P-A-T-R-O-N, is that you get your name read off. And these are supporters. These are the top supporters of the podcast. I'm going to read them off. I think Ryan knows most of them. Let's see. Nancy D. Leah. Yes. Sarah. V. L. L. L. L. Y. H. Nico. P. Robert. Robert. B. Correct. Jason. W. Kristen K. Amelia. O. Allison L. Rage. C. Joshua. D. C.J. P. Jennifer. N. Stacey. L. Chen. R. N. P. S. Jemal. F. Janelle. P. B. Correct. That's what I said. Roger S. Kimberly E. Mike E. Eldon. Supreme. 99. Moore. R. M. Chad. D. W. Correct. Leanne P. Jan P. J. R. Maya. P. Madie S. Belinda N. Chris H. H. Dave. H. H. H. Sh. Spider-S. Sheila. G.

Brad. T. Ray. T. What? H. correct. Tabitha.

T. What happened to Tabitha, 262? 273? 273. Not to be confused. She's no longer with us, but that's a little shout out to her. All right. Tom and Lillian A.

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Corey. K. Sam Coleman G Dev Nexon Michelle A Jeremy C Cody R. Gav Benator

Correct David C John B Brandy D 4 Camille S The C Correct Joey Pants

Joey M Willie F Christina E Adelaide N Omar I Lena N Eugene and Leah

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At A At A at a bowl f a bowl f a bowl okay joshua b Tony g Sean r and Megan t these are the top tiers these are the people that give back the patrons that really give back to the show and keep us afloat and I couldn't do the show without them so thank you for all your support and love and we just keep doing this I think we're over we're over 200 episodes now I hope to do 200 more and that's up to you so if you're listening continue to listen and get other people to listen to it from myself Michael Rosenbaum and the Hollywood Hills of California right from the Hollywood Hills of California get a little way to the camera we love you guys

thank you for allowing me to be inside of each and every one of you and you know what just be good to yourselves be good to yourselves thanks for listening and be grateful man we're all here we're alive let's let's keep that going I'll talk to you Hi I'm Joe Salcy

I host of the stacking Benjamin's podcast. Today, we're going to talk about what if you came across $50,000. What would you do? Put it into a tax-advantaged retirement account. The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this addition that we're adding. $50,000. I'll buy a new podcast.

You'll buy new friends. And we're done. Thanks for playing everybody. We're out of here. Stacky Benjamin's, follow and listen on your favorite platform.