Publications
Partners
Cape Town – From celebs to plebs everyone is talking about the Netflix hit show, Stranger Things.
The supernatural, sci-fi drama is so addictive you'll have to clear your calendar to binge all eight episodes in one sitting.
Set in the 1980s it draws heavily on 80s pop culture and the works of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Stephen King and John Carpenter.
The story centres on a group of four friends who try to track down their friend after he disappears. In their search for him they meet a girl with telekinetic powers.
See the trailer here:
The relatively unknown Duffer Brothers are the masterminds behind the hit series.
Here are five things you need to know about the show:
1. Meet the Duffer Brothers
Twins Ross and Matt Duffer were born in 1984. They began making films when they were in the third grade.
2. Other work
They wrote and directed the horror film, Hidden in 2012. It was released in 2015.
See the trailer here:
They were hired by M. Night Shyamalan to write and produce episodes for Wayward Pines.
3. Networks rejected the show
In an interview with Rolling Stone they revealed that up to 15 to 20 networks rejected the series. TV executives didn't think that a show featuring four children as the lead would interest adult viewers.
4. From E.T to Goonies
In an interview with DailyBeast the pair revealed that when they pitched the story to Netflix the trailer they made had about 20 to 30 different movies as an example of what they envisioned for the series. The movies they used were the ones they grew up with.
Their aim for the series was to let it "play like one of those movies would’ve back then, that was sort of the goal."
See a Vimeo clip of all the cross references here:
5. The title was inspired by Stephen King
The original working title for the series was Montauk.
However, when the brothers started selling the show they used a fake Stephen King paperback cover. They would type titles on the paperback to help them.
"Stranger Things sort of sounds like Needful Things—it sounded like it could have been a Stephen King book from the ‘80s," Mike told the DailyBeast.
STRANGER THINGS is pure fun. A+. Don't miss it. Winona Ryder shines.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) July 18, 2016
(Photo: Gallo Images)
