Gaten Matarazzo On The Strangeness Of Being A Stranger Teen

Like most 17 year olds, Gaten Matarazzo has a major case senioritis. Just a couple of hours ago, he was at a downtown museum on a field trip in New York City. He loves school, yet these days he spends most of his time in the music room of his New Jersey public high school practicing piano and learning to read sheet music. ("I thought I was really bad at it, yet apparently I'm pretty good at it," he says.) He just wrapped his school's production of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Matarazzo played Leaf Coneybear, which he calls his "dream role." And on Monday nights he has a standing appointment with his immediate family member ("of 23 people," he jokes) for their weekly dinner.


"Because my grandfather is off work on Monday nights," he tells MTV News. "He owns a pizzeria. It's the most cliche thing on the planet."


These kinds of traditions are critical to Matarazzo. It's a reminder that no matter how bizarre life gets as a globally known teen that he has his family member help to bring him back to reality — even if that reality can be just as chaotic some days. "With my family member, there's no such thing as a slower pace," he says. "We're Italian."


Although things have been different these last few months. Not stranger, just different. Matarazzo wrapped Stranger Things Season 3 in November, followed by Netflix's Prank Encounters in January. Since then, he's been hanging at residence in Jersey living life as a usual teen. Or as usual as he can be once when each Starbucks run turns into an impromptu fan meet.


"I was at Starbucks today and someone was sneaking a photo by means of the window and videotaping me. It almost feels like that Black Mirror episode," he says. "I get why people do it. Although I'd much rather people come up and converse with me. It feels creepy When I look around and folks are taking photos [of me]. I feel uncomfortable doing what I want and being myself."


Such is the life for Matarazzo and his instantly recognizable curls. The actor landed the role of Dustin Henderson on Netflix's 80s-set sci-fi drama Stranger Things once he was 12. Each year later and "Dusty" could be a household name across the globe, catapulting Matarazzo and the rest of the young cast into a level of fame that you can't really make sense of at 13. By the age of 16, he had successfully negotiated for his first executive producer credit on Netflix's scary prank show, Prank Encounters. For Matarazzo, the possibility to not only host although also produce was appealing because it was so new to him.


"I aspire to experience as much as I can before I get a set objective he says. "I think a lot of times folks are like, 'I'm going to do this forever,' and so they go into it and identify that there's so much more they wish do. I want to create ensure that I do everything I possibly can. So this is something that came along that was so different, so I had to try it."


With a premise of playing "terrifying and hilarious pranks" on unsuspecting job seekers, the series faced early backlash online. Immediately after watching all eight episodes, yet, these fears have been quelled. The "jobs" in question are one-off projects, like babysitting a child being haunted by a teddy bear (that's a real prank), and all participants were bought their time. And according to Matarazzo, who observed all of the pranks from the safety of a control room stationed in the back of a van, all the situations were "so positive," adding, "A lot of times you have to loosen up and not be afraid to laugh because everybody who was involved, soon after everything was mentioned and done, each person was laughing, which is great."


Matarazzo doesn't visualize himself in the prank-pulling firm forever. Acting in his passion, and he feels the most at residence on the stage, specifically Broadway. Soon considering that, it's where he began his career at the age of 11. "My heart is theater," he says. He recently saw the reimagined revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and his face lights up any time while he talks about it. "Holy shit. It was one of the most innovative and refreshing productions I've ever seen," he says. He loves revivals — to clarify, innovative revivals — and credits shows like Dear Evan Hansen and Hadestown for bringing fresh styles, new music, and younger crowds to the Excellent White Way. "If I might get back inside a musical in any way," he says, "I would love to."


First, he has to graduate high school. Before that, there's prom. Not to say, the coveted senior class trip. Oh, and Stranger Things Season 4, which will begin production early next year. He understands he's going to miss a majority of his senior year as a result, and the comforting chaos of Monday night dinners. "It's habitually very stressful," he says. However he's quick to add that the life of a Stranger teen isn't as unusual as you might think. Sure, he can't go anywhere without being recognized. "There are so several people from different countries who have recognized me," he says. Even members of EXO, one of South Korea's most popular boy groups, were starstruck by the actor on a recent visit to Seoul. ("They're wonderful guys," he smiles.) At the end of the day, although, "everybody who's involved in the entertainment industry is just doing their jobs," Matarazzo says.


piece of his job is communicating to his 13.1 million followers on Instagram. "I didn't even know I had that several he adds. "Social media feels like a chore. I never really fancied social media before I began acting. Right now it's piece of the job, which is weird. I don't like that."


Promoting Stranger Things on his social streams is a "requirement," the actor says, although promoting himself is a different challenge entirely.


"Social media is being encouraged as a way to show each person who you are," he says. Nevertheless you don't need to show each person who are. You could keep a lot of stuff to yourself and still pursue what you love. Why is your organization each person else's corporation These are anxieties that most teens Matarazzo's age can relate to, the feeling of adopting an online persona and not routinely knowing as soon as or how to be yourself — online and off. It goes to show that growing up is unconventional enough, well known or not.


"It feels like I'm playing myself some days. I don't wish to play myself, I'm attempting to be myself."