Jamie Campbell Bower on Stranger Things Season 5, Vol 2, Vecna's Voice, and Jurassic Park — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01[music]
2. 0:06>> It is time.
3. 0:10How are you doing today, sir? Hi, Steve.
4. 0:12It's good to see you again. I'm really
5. 0:14well. How are you?
6. 0:16Um listen, I feel like I just saw you
7. 0:17and that's because I did and I'm just
8. 0:19going to say uh uh episodes 5, 6, and 7
9. 0:22are fantastic. I really can't wait to
10. 0:25see the finale. Bless you. Thank you so
11. 0:27much. It's lovely to be able to talk
12. 0:29about them. It feels like
13. 0:31like a gift. I'm unwrapping stuff. It's
14. 0:32very cool.
15. 0:34Uh so, I got to start with the most
16. 0:35important question first. You were in
17. 0:37Twilight, you were in Harry Potter,
18. 0:39you've been in Stranger Things, and now
19. 0:40you're going to be in Lord of the Rings,
20. 0:41The Rings of Power. What is the next
21. 0:43franchise you're going for? Jurassic
22. 0:46Park.
23. 0:47>> [laughter]
24. 0:48>> Ooh. Something Is that something that
25. 0:50you definitely want? I would love to be
26. 0:52in Jurassic Park. I mean, I I I've
27. 0:54always loved those films growing up and
28. 0:56it's funny like I think I watched I
29. 0:59think I watched one of the new ones a
30. 1:01while back when it first came out, but I
31. 1:03like have watched more of the new ones
32. 1:05recently. I
33. 1:07They're amazing. They're so much fun. Um
34. 1:10yeah, and there's such a nostalgic feel
35. 1:11to those first three movies for me, you
36. 1:13know, as a kid, as well. Yeah.
37. 1:15Uh the original Jurassic Park is um
38. 1:17amazing. I definitely have to know um if
39. 1:19you got in a Jurassic Park, would you
40. 1:21insist on getting eaten by a dinosaur?
41. 1:23>> [laughter]
42. 1:25>> I feel like in Jurassic Park, the people
43. 1:26that get eaten by the dinosaurs are the
44. 1:28bad guys. You know, there's that like
45. 1:29great shot in uh where the man gets
46. 1:32eaten on the loo uh on the toilet in one
47. 1:34of those early ones. Um
48. 1:36uh would I insist on getting eaten?
49. 1:38Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. No. No. No. No.
50. 1:43Actually, no. So, you want to I get it.
51. 1:45So, where are you going to be uh
52. 1:47watching the series finale of Stranger
53. 1:49Things?
54. 1:50>> I'm going to be watching it with my
55. 1:51friends.
56. 1:54Oh, you're you're all seeing it
57. 1:55tomorrow. I couldn't possibly say.
58. 1:58>> [laughter]
59. 2:01>> They're not showing it to anybody, at
60. 2:03least journalists and and people until
61. 2:04New Year's Eve, uh you know, until it
62. 2:06goes live. One of the things that blew
63. 2:08me away was I saw you on TV recently
64. 2:10doing the Vecna voice. I really had no
65. 2:12idea you could do that with your vocal
66. 2:14cords. So, when you were hired by the
67. 2:17Duffers, did they have any idea that you
68. 2:19had this ability, or were they hiring
69. 2:21you for like your acting and then it's
70. 2:23like a bonus, oh I can do the voice,
71. 2:25too?
72. 2:26I I I have a vague recollection of
73. 2:30going to see them in the writers' room
74. 2:33or the house that they had in LA
75. 2:36uh
76. 2:37prior to fully being cast in season 4
77. 2:40and them saying, "We like your voice. We
78. 2:42really like your voice." And I was like,
79. 2:45"Okay, cool. Like
80. 2:47>> [laughter]
81. 2:47>> that's nice." Um
82. 2:49so, I don't I don't know. You'd have to
83. 2:51ask them specifically if if they just
84. 2:54believed that I could. Um but it was
85. 2:57definitely like a process, you know, I
86. 2:59have emails that I would send to them of
87. 3:03me doing the voice in different
88. 3:06environments with different music
89. 3:08underneath it once I'd kind of gotten to
90. 3:10a space with it that I felt really
91. 3:12comfortable with. Um
92. 3:14So, I don't know if they cast me solely
93. 3:17because of anything. Um
94. 3:19but it was definitely something that
95. 3:21like
96. 3:22when I came to approaching the
97. 3:24character, I was like, "No, I really
98. 3:26really want to work on this. This is
99. 3:27something that I really want to bring to
100. 3:28the table here." Um because it just felt
101. 3:33I don't know. I felt like I had a duty
102. 3:34of care, I suppose.
103. 3:36I'm totally I'm sure that they cast you
104. 3:38for you and then the voice was like a
105. 3:39bonus just because how could they know
106. 3:41you could do that
107. 3:43Vecna voice, you know, before you got
108. 3:45cast?
109. 3:45>> Yeah, it's possible. It's possible.
110. 3:48Yeah. Yeah. I'm just Anyway, so Stranger
111. 3:51Things: The First Shadow is a play that
112. 3:53I didn't realize how much it ties into
113. 3:55the final season. And, you know, knowing
114. 3:58so much about Henry's backstory, when
115. 4:00were you first told about the story and,
116. 4:04you know, the backstory and how much
117. 4:06when you finally learned all that did it
118. 4:07sort of impact your portrayal of the
119. 4:09character? So, I took
120. 4:13I saw the play twice in um
121. 4:16in between shooting seasons 4 and 5. And
122. 4:20then as we progressed through season 5,
123. 4:23you know, we get our scripts in kind of
124. 4:25drips and drabs.
125. 4:26Um and there was obviously like the cave
126. 4:30moment um in episode
127. 4:33three, I think it is, or four of this
128. 4:35season, uh where he's stood outside and
129. 4:37Max is like and you know, he was
130. 4:39terrified and whatever. Um and I think
131. 4:42for me, having seen the play, there were
132. 4:45definitely story beats that I took with
133. 4:47me into those particular moments, you
134. 4:50know, of of just how that felt and the
135. 4:54impact and
136. 4:57how much was taken away
137. 4:59from Henry, you know, like
138. 5:02even with like the simplicity Well, not
139. 5:04the simplicity, but like even in his
140. 5:06relationship with like Patty Newby, you
141. 5:10know, like
142. 5:12that was something that was in his
143. 5:14heart, you know, and and
144. 5:18an experience
145. 5:21led that to being taken away. It was
146. 5:24another moment where like
147. 5:27love was like removed from him and hope
148. 5:32was removed from him.
149. 5:34So,
150. 5:35you know, it was definitely helpful to
151. 5:37have seen that and to have experienced
152. 5:39that.
153. 5:41And uh
154. 5:44Yeah. Yeah, so
155. 5:47how much did I know?
156. 5:49I was
157. 5:51figuring it out and asking questions as
158. 5:53we were going along and
159. 5:56drawing lines between things that I, you
160. 6:00know, knew were like aha moments and
161. 6:03things that I was doing and then making
162. 6:04sure that the you know, that I was on
163. 6:07the in the in the right on the right
164. 6:09track, you know, with being able to ask
165. 6:11Matt and Ross like am I right in
166. 6:13thinking this? And they're like, "Yeah,
167. 6:14sure."
168. 6:15>> [laughter]
169. 6:16>> So, one of the things about this final
170. 6:18season is you are all over it in terms
171. 6:21of different characters and what was it
172. 6:23like for you as an actor seeing how much
173. 6:25responsibility
174. 6:27your characters, if you will, had in the
175. 6:30final season and how much you weren't
176. 6:33going to be in makeup. Uh it's just you
177. 6:35deliver a really great performance this
178. 6:37year in multiple roles. I'm just
179. 6:39curious, you know, the pressure of doing
180. 6:40it.
181. 6:41>> Thank you so much. That's very kind of
182. 6:42you to say.
183. 6:44I mean, you know, the the the prospect
184. 6:47of playing
185. 6:49Mr. Watson felt quite scary. Like, not
186. 6:53because of
187. 6:55not so much because of like the
188. 6:57pressure, but like
189. 6:59from from outside sources, but like just
190. 7:02making sure that like
191. 7:04I could do it, that I could bring it
192. 7:06forwards, that I could
193. 7:09use
194. 7:12my skill set and my brain in a way that
195. 7:15felt um
196. 7:17I suppose
197. 7:19uh
198. 7:20conducive to the story.
199. 7:22Um because it is a it is a sort of new
200. 7:25iteration, almost. It's a presentation,
201. 7:28as I said before, you know, and that's
202. 7:31really scary once you built a character
203. 7:33to go "Awesome, you've built that one
204. 7:35and you've built Vecna. Now, here's a
205. 7:37new one for you to [laughter] build in
206. 7:39the same universe." And you're like,
207. 7:41"Okay." And like, so how do I take
208. 7:43things from one character and put them
209. 7:46in somewhere else to make sure that
210. 7:48there is a sort of cohesion between them
211. 7:50all. Um
212. 7:52and that was that was the most
213. 7:54challenging thing and it wasn't that
214. 7:56like
215. 7:58it wasn't so much that I felt um
216. 8:00that it was because I was like all over
217. 8:02it. I just always felt like I had this
218. 8:05great duty of care to this story, to
219. 8:08this universe, to this world that Matt
220. 8:10and Ross created um that yes, people
221. 8:14love and know, but primarily because
222. 8:18Matt and Ross Duffer
223. 8:21built this
224. 8:22by hand, with their hearts and their
225. 8:24minds and I want to do that justice. I
226. 8:28want to step forward into that and give
227. 8:30them what they deserve, you know?
228. 8:34Really, listen, I'm out of time. I'm
229. 8:35just going to say great work and I
230. 8:37really can't wait to see where it all
231. 8:39ends.
232. 8:39>> Thank you so much. Lovely to see you
233. 8:41again.
234. 8:42Nice to see you. Good luck with your
235. 8:43speed dating.
236. 8:44>> Thank [laughter] you.
237. 8:47>> [music]