1. The 12-year-old actress, Millie Bobby Brown, resisted getting her hair closely cropped. The Duffer brothers showed her how incredible Charlize Theron looked as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road and that was enough to convince her.
2. In order to prepare for their characters and get into the vibe needed for their acting, the kids watched movies like The Goonies, Poltergeist, E.T., and Stand By Me.
3. In fact, the creators of the series asked Millie Bobby Brown to try to emulate some aspects of the alien from E.T.
4. In fact, the series is full of little visual references to E.T.:
5. Seriously, they're all over the place:
6. And don't forget the references to Stand By Me:
7. Alien
8. And of course, to The Goonies:
9. The now iconic logo resembles the covers of Stephen King books...
10. ... And the opening credits are just like every movie of the 1980s.
11. By the way, Stephen King is a fan of the series.
Watching STRANGER THINGS is looking watching Steve King's Greatest Hits. I mean that in a good way.
12. And of Millie!
Millie Brown, the girl in INTRUDERS, is terrific. Is it my imagination, or are child actors a lot better than they used to be?
Check the date! He tweeted that way back in 2014. Could he have influenced the decision to cast her as El?
13. The sets are full of posters for old horror, adventure, and science-fiction movies.
14. The costumes of the Hawkin police department are a tribute to the Amity Island police from Jaws.
15. The character 011 makes reference to Paula, a character from the SNES game Earthbound. She has psychokinetic powers and she travels on bikes with other kids to fight villains from other dimensions.
16. The issue of X-Men mentioned in the first episode that the two boys wager for is the one in which Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix.
17. There were no plans for Steve and Nancy to reconcile at the end of the season, but the show creators saw potential for more seasons and decided to modify the character.
18. The excellent soundtrack is supervised by Nora Feldman, the same person who worked magic on the soundtracks for Californication, Roadies, and The Parent Trap.
Can't wait for Season 2!
