Life gets weird enough without having to worry about whether you are covered for this or have to have a deductible for that, so the less stress when you are in need, the better.
I love retro culture. I love retro games; I love retro music.
I mean if anyone's comfortable being famous, they're a psychopath.
People deal with death differently; some even laugh at funerals.
To see a hacker actually hacking is not the most interesting thing visually, and it's pretty boring as an actor: a hacker taps on her keyboard. There's really not much more than that.
I'm good at reading people. If I wasn't an actor, I would be a psychologist.
For me, I need to listen to music in the morning, and after, it's kind of like a shower, you know what I mean? It's kind of getting rid of everything. I always play music after I act. It's not a conscious thing, like, 'Oh finally, I need to do this,' it's kind of a constant need.
My dad, who is a screenwriter, showed me all these great movies. He showed me 'E.T.' when I was 2-years-old, and I just kind of progressed from there. It was also my brother. We'd always watch movies together, and he'd do these voices and he'd always want to do skits and he'd come up with stuff with me.
I never liked horror up until I was like 10 years old.
If I lounge around for too long, I get really bored. I have to be doing something.
I’ve been asked to school dances.
I do ride my bike a lot.
Jonah Hill is super cool.
I'd love to make a horror movie, that's definitely where I want to be one day.
During 'Stranger Things 3,' I shot 'It: Chapter Two,' so I would shoot on my days off, which was super tiring and stressful, but really rewarding at the same time. Basically, I shot 'It: Chapter Two' and 'Stranger Things 3' at the same time.
Well, I kind of did the math in my head when I was like, 9. I was like, 'Well, if I want to make films' - because I want to be a director - 'I could just go on a film set and learn there.' And then I ended up falling in love with acting and the set and making friends all the time. And so I've just been doing that ever since.
I love being Canadian.
I don't want to be mean to people. I try to be as nice as possible to everyone.
I watch a lot of YouTube videos. I like game play channels like the Game Grumps. But I mostly watch sketch comedy.
I never knew anyone who have growing up who had a clown at their birthday party. They are something I think of as being from the past. So I never had strong feelings about them. I do think that they can be creepy, I guess it depends on the clown.
I probably saw 'Jaws' when I was 10.
I think I'm really bad at voice acting.
Like, everyone knows that we all need health care, but not only is it insanely expensive for most people in America, there are so many self-employed people who really struggle when faced with injury and disability and illness.
I'd recommend anyone watch 'Harold and Maude,' 'cause it helps a lot with fear of death.
I love Nirvana, Joy Division, and New Order - older alternative, I guess.
Most of the fans of Calpurnia are 'Stranger Things' fans, which is not a big deal at all. They're super loyal and incredible, and really do like the music. It's the people who aren't fans of the music and are just there because of 'Stranger Things' that really bother me.
I love '80s and '90s music.
Everyone wants to be funny. Maybe not everyone, but to an extent.
I was raised in a household where kids' opinions were just as valued as adults and I think that was important for me.
It was cool when the Duffers assigned a list of movies to watch.
It's really cool when the thing you are working on as a small team gets embraced by millions, but in the end, it's about your character and the script and your director and the rest of the cast and crew.
I don't take the Internet and social media very seriously. I've grown up around social media but to me what happens on the Internet just doesn't feel real.
My dad is a screenwriter, so he always used to watch movies for inspiration when I was a baby. I would watch movies with him, I guess, in the background.
Obviously 'Stranger Things' has given me the launching pad to have creative license for whatever I want, and I love doing the show, but when it comes to music, I want to distance myself as much as possible.
It's my given, full name. Finn's not short for anything; it's just Finn Wolfhard. And then Wolfhard means, I think, heart of the wolf in German.
Sewer rats are really gross.
I need time to do whatever I want to do. What happens to an actor that has no life experience? They don't know how to act as a different role. So, that's really important to do.
I wanted to be a director and comedian and my plan was to go to NYU. I wanted to be in UCB.
Well, we shoot for so long on 'Stranger Things' that I know Atlanta really well.
My favorite thing is to have collectives. Even when it comes to filmmaking as well, filmmaking and music and most art in general, I feel like everyone should have the same say. If you're in a collective, I feel like everyone should have the same say.
The aliens from 'Attack the Block' - I thought they were some of the most unique and creative movie monsters I had ever seen. From the jet-black hair to the neon blue teeth.
I read 'Carrie' when I was younger and that's one of my favourite books.
I usually listen to a band called Twin Peaks.
Some bands I'm obsessed with but I get sick of listening to their music after a while, but that hasn't happened with Twin Peaks.
It's going to sound cheesy, but if I have family and friends I don't really care where I am.
I think if I'm with a friend group, I try to be as funny as possible, and I don't always succeed, obviously.
Okay, I like the Clash. I like Tears for Fears. I like A-ha.
Scary movies, for me, I used to be insanely scared of.
I think growing up in Vancouver is a different lifestyle than growing up in most other places.
One day I'm going to open up a club or a concert venue where it's all ages and really fun. That'd be awesome.
Meeting Ryan Reynolds was really cool, and Blake Lively.
When I was younger, I acted in some Shakespeare stuff; I did one Shakespeare camp.
I guess with a Netflix show, if you're a kid, it's all dependent on how you're raised and if you have access to it.
My parents were in high school and college in the '80s, so let's just say I've heard some stuff, man. We listen to a lot of music and watch lots of great films, but the real context they provide from that era is about politics.
One time, when I was really young, my dad and brother were watching 'Team America,' the Trey Parker and Matt Stone movie. I walked in and they didn't know I was there, but I got really freaked out by the marionettes - just the look of them, their mouths, those grins. That cemented in my brain.
I have lots of friends who are musicians and it is such a huge victory to survive in music, period - but if you get sick or injured and don't have the kind of coverage we get in Canada, you are doomed.
Pup, who's like the most amazing, they're keeping rock 'n' roll and punk alive.
The things I want to focus on are music, writing, directing, and developing stuff.
Yeah, ever since I was super-young I had a lot of dreams - I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be a skateboarder.
I mainly use Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Those are my three.
My whole thing is having the perfect balance. Let's say I go to school. I have a day at school. That's the perfect amount of reality. Then I go and play music with my band. Then I go home and hang out with my family and my pets. I think that's the perfect amount of reality time.
I wanted to do something in film. I wanted to make my own movies. Something clicked in my brain, like, 'Oh, I can physically act! I can go on open casting calls and audition for something.'
PUP introduced me to so much more amazing music. They really shaped my sound.
If you don't realize that there are great rock bands out there, you should look for them.
Honestly, if acting never worked out, I would have done music.
The Goonies' I love. 'Heathers' too.
I usually just watch YouTube videos or reruns on Netflix of older TV shows like 'Family Guy' and stuff. But I still really want to start watching more TV.
I don't want to get typecast and I've been doing a lot of stuff to make that happen and not be the case.
I really used to like TVMaxwell, which is a classic, amazing, super-underrated comedy channel. And Cyndago was great.
If I hadn't done the PUP video, I probably wouldn't be playing music right now.
The biggest thing for me, I hate going to concerts where no-one's moving. Everyone should be dancing and having a good time.
I'd seen all of John Hughes's movies. All the Spielberg stuff. A bunch of '80s horror, like 'Evil Dead.'
I'm always interested in horror and the supernatural.
Weird Al' is awesome and so humble.
Messing up lines is always embarrassing for me.
It's intriguing to me, when I see a horror script, or something like that, that's actually original. I think that's why I love 'Stranger Things,' because it's not just horror, it's everything, and when they use horror it's right.
I'd actually love to do more comedy, but what I really wanna do is an indie drama - an intense indie road-trip movie.
I'm definitely not eager to grow up, but I do like some adult stuff.
The Duffers like that; they like watching their characters grow.
My parents are great. On every job, my whole family and I try to get as many breaks as I can.
Jason Reitman is an amazing director; he's really amazing with his actors and crew.
Doing a scene by yourself is scarier - you know you don't have other people to fall back on.
The movies I was scared by at three or four are now some of my favorite movies of all time.
I've really never discovered a band from Spotify or anything. I've really only discovered it from friends.
There's a band from Brooklyn called Frankie Cosmos, which is very nice.
I'm not a big radio listener.
I love doing both animation and live acting.
We need musicians! We need them healthy - we need to dance and we need to escape - and none of that is possible when musicians themselves need support.
Any chance I get to see a band that I like, I take it.
I try to keep my voice natural for each character, but the spirit and the cadence and breathing for each character is totally different. It's those things that set each role apart from the others.
I really would not be where I am today if I hadn't done those PUP videos. It just showed me so much. It taught me so much about music and acting and being your own boss.
I learn a new thing every single day about acting, about directing, about producing.
The more I read scripts, the more I learn about scripts, basically.
I love learning on set, it's the best acting school ever.
I love acting, of course, and I would still love to keep acting, but I want to try my hands at so many things.
My dad would play 'The Blue Album' a lot, the first Weezer album, and that influenced my alternative indie thing and that's kind of how I found tons and most of my favorite bands.
There's so many influential albums my parents would put on. Like the first album I ever heard was 'Help!' by the Beatles and from there I just loved rock music.
I definitely do have a persona onstage. I definitely am a completely different person, but I'm still having a lot of fun and there's a lot of acting that goes into it. But I haven't been playing many shows when I'm working on acting as much because it's tiring, number one. And number two, it's hard for your mind to make up what it wants to do.
I get recognized on the street and stuff, which is cool but it's also weird.
There's always something really bad that happens in 'Stranger Things,' I think the more fun we're having at the beginning, the higher the drop.
I wouldn’t call myself a spiritual person. I go to church sometimes [laughs]. But I definitely believe in some sort of supernatural elements in the universe.
I have sort of a wide view. I can listen to electronic — I like M83 and Phoenix — but I also like old music like David Bowie or Lou Reed or The Beatles; I love Nirvana. There’s this alternative rock band called Playdate that I’ve been getting into recently. My friend Malcolm is an amazing drummer and my friend Alya is an amazing guitarist so we jam together, bounce ideas off each other. I’d love to record some music.
I’m a good reader of people and [some] people don’t have a good personality and they don’t have a good idea about human rights and learning how to treat people as you want to be treated.
I’m excited for season two. I start in two weeks in North Carolina, we do the table read and I’m really excited to see the new characters and the new people that have been cast. And I’m excited to see some of the things that I’ll be attached to soon. I’m doing a music video for one of my favourite bands in Toronto called Pup.
I almost embarrass myself every time I talk to someone. [It] feels like every time I talk to someone, I say something wrong. And then I’m like, ‘Oh, that was .. that was bad.'
Usually, when I travel into a place for the first time, I’m kind of a wreck for the first few days, anxiety-wise. And then I kind of get used to it.
I like to meet everyone beforehand. I like to meet the crew and be comfortable with the director and cast and really bond with them so that I’m really comfortable with everyone.
I get really nervous before I go on stage. But it’s usually exciting, like nervous excitement. I haven’t actually dreaded [a stage for a while]. Sometimes I just get so excited.
Usually what happens when I play is I get really excited. There's only been a few ones where I’m like, dreading going on stage. And then I get up and I’m fine.
What I’ve learned from the Duffer Brothers- and I have learned a lot from Shawn Levy, too - is to be confident in my choices and vision and to make sure you have the best people around you who will execute those choices in the service of the vision. Leaving room for improv and unplanned moments is also really valuable because a good idea can come from anywhere. The Duffers are also incredibly patient and trusting in both their cast and their crew, and that gives everyone else involved the confidence to do their best work and be fearless. It’s really a virtuous circle that comes right back to the director.
My dad was a lawyer and is now an indigenous rights researcher, so there is talk and historical awareness of indigenous issues in our house all the time. Lots of people don’t even care about indigenous communities, but in my schools there are members of aboriginal communities facing challenges just being who they are. Also, there are indigenous communities in almost every country on earth, and most people don’t know that, so if I can help make people aware of these communities that are ignored or discriminated against, then maybe together we can all learn from each other and recognise that there are lots of different ways of living and we should respect that and support them. My dad also helped run a school, so I know that every school has a wish-list, and for sure some schools need more help than others. It’s not just about money, either, because everybody can give respect without cost.
We have really affordable health-care in Canada but we have so many friends in the U.S. who don’t, so I auctioned a signed guitar for Sweet Relief, which helps musicians in need. I’m also hosting an all-ages event at The Fonda in LA in May and some awesome musicians are going to help raise even more money for Sweet Relief.
I don’t really think about it too much, but there’s way too much exploitation of so-called celebrities. Reality shows are just entertainment, and people have to remember whether they’re watching one of those shows or my show, that the people doing them, and me, we’re just skin and bones and doing something - for me, anyway - that we really love to do. All these other channels, especially digital, and social media, they need stuff to put on, and they put stuff and people on that are already known elsewhere, so you see the same people for a while, and then you don't. A lot of what happens in that process is just trivial and disposable.
If I had more time I would obviously meet a lot more people, but I think I would still be guarded.
I’ve had to change my phone-number, and my friends have been harassed for their numbers so people can get to me, and I definitely don’t go out as much in places that I know will be crowded. That’s not a huge deal for me because I don’t like being in large crowds, but I also have a few hundred thousand DMs and, sorry guys, I’m just never going to look at those. I appreciate the fact that people like what I’m doing, but if you DM me and we don’t know each other, the thing is that I don’t even have enough time for the friends I already have as it is. I do try my best to reach out to fans on Twitter and Instagram sometimes, but unfortunately it has to be random because I just don’t have time to do that and act and go to school and set up directing projects and write and play guitar and all the other stuff that I do. I know people get upset and think that I'm ignoring them, but I'm not doing that deliberately. And I have had to post stuff just to explain why I DIDN'T post stuff, and that is incredibly annoying. People were freaking out around Millie's birthday and I had to explain that I texted her privately rather than did a big public post to wish her happy birthday. Or I will see supportive comments talking about the hate I am supposedly getting, but 99% of the time, maybe because my exposure is random, I have no idea even what the beef is. I definitely love that people have my back, though!
Joe is the best and that band is so good - they are paying their dues now but there is no doubt they will get heard more widely. I like all their stuff but if I had to choose one, I’d say 'Goggles’.
Yeah, I have parts of my own songs now and I have also recorded stuff with other people. I will be covering three songs with my band Calpurnia at the Sweet Relief event in May. The band includes my friends Malcolm, who was in the PUP videos with me and is an amazing drummer and actor, and Ayla, who shreds on guitar and has already had multiple Berklee School scholarships (and took the dog in the last PUP video), and Jack, a bass-master. We don’t get to jam very often because of my schedule, but I love when we do. Other bands and producers have reached out and I try to post about the bands who work so hard and sound so good, and I also sat down with a Yoda-type dude in L.A. It is unbelievable to be taken seriously by someone at that level. Over the next few months I will have a better idea about where this is all going to go.
Stranger Things was maybe the best script I’d ever read. After I read it, I was like, ‘This show is the best,’ I’d never seen anything like it.
