The greatest ending in cinema history, according to Millie Bobby Brown
The harsh light of the public eye takes a toll, especially when you’ve gained fame at a young age, and being just 12 years old when the first season of Stranger Things hit screens in 2016, at 21, Millie Bobby Brown is constantly reflecting on everything she has learned since starting the show, including about her work as well as her personal life.
Hence, while she is well-versed in all the trials that come alongside young fame, currently navigating some challenging life events, like getting married and having a child, she does a good job of reframing the experience and focusing on the positives, like how the years have shaped her as an actor, and how Stranger Things will always be a central touchpoint with future projects.
It takes some actors years to get over the struggle of watching themselves back and picking apart everything they would have done differently, but Brown already knows how pointless it is to do so and understands that criticising yourself like that is no way to live, such that in interviews, she seems wise beyond her years when discussing her own approach and attitude towards watching herself onscreen.
It makes sense when you consider that, for Eleven, Brown had no room for trepidation, particularly as the role required the kind of actor who was incredibly emotionally available and able to turn up the heat on the more intense scenes and action sequences whenever the moment called for it.
It’s one thing that she takes with her, being able to be vulnerable where it counts, and, as she told Backstage, “leave your humility at the door”.
This is also one of the reasons why About Time is one of her favourite movies of all time; its message about regrets resonated with her, especially when she looked at the contexts of her own life and figured out the meaningful emotions from the pointless ones. “That is how I lived this season,” she said in the same interview, “I have no regrets, and I’m very proud of the work I’ve done. So I’m not going back in the closet and wanting to change anything.”
Her experience in Stranger Things, and what draws her to other movies, ones as emotionally impactful as About Time, is the strength of the messages they offer, especially if it’s something that has meant something to you for a long period of time, or feels specifically applicable to a certain experience or moment in time.
Many people grew up with Stranger Things, and there are many expectations and pressures when it comes to the upcoming finale, but Brown is confident that they’ve pulled it off, almost as powerfully as the final scene of the Harry Potter franchise, which she also admitted was her favourite ending in cinema history.
“The end of Harry Potter [is my favourite-ever ending],” she said, “That’s probably my favourite film, the last one”.
She is, of course, referring to the time jump 19 years into the future when we see the main characters with their children, adding, “I think it’s very similar in many ways [to Stranger Things] because you’re following these children, and you’re trying to tie their storylines and character arcs together toward the end. It’s probably the same amount of runtime. I mean, what was it? Ten years for them, too?”
