Caleb McLaughlin

Dimitri: Congratulations on the Season Four. It looks absolutely amazing. Can you imagine living in the 80s? No phones, no internet. If you needed 
to know something you would go to the library. Is it exciting to live in 
the 80s era through the camera lens?

Caleb: Yes. I feel like it’s an escape from all reality. Of course, I would never experience the ’80s. I hear it through my parents and other people that I meet, but I feel like it’s an escape. Especially with the show and the supernatural and sci-fi and fiction elements that we bring to the show. I feel like it’s a cool escape and I get to embody this character and this era that I’ve never been in.

Dimitri: The show evokes sweet melancholic nostalgia in many viewers. 

Caleb: I think what brings nostalgia is, that you can feel each time, you can relate to each era in life, the ’80s and ’90s. I feel the characters, a lot of people can relate to them, especially with the music, the feeling of the show. The show brings a warm genuine feeling that everyone loves, and the music plays a big part in the show. Absolutely. I feel like a lot of people can connect with that.
Just like the camaraderie with the friends, the love, the romance, the bromance, everything in the show. I feel like you can relate to that even now, but of course, it’s a period piece that a lot of people can’t really relate to– but the nostalgia of it just feels so real. It feels like I’ve been there before and that I feel like we do a great job at making people feel like they’re in Hawkins with us.

Dimitri: What are your favorite ’80s films?

Caleb: Before the show, I was introduced to a lot of ‘80s movies. I had to watch ’80s movies to understand what the Duffers were trying to build, and what the Duffers wanted to portray on screen. ET is number one and Stand By Me, Goonies, Ghostbusters. Those were the core movies that I had to watch to, understand what Stranger Things was about. The fiction and the supernatural, thus the fun and stay-at-home popcorn-eating movies. I’ve learned to love the ’80s movies because of the show.

Dimitri: Before Netflix, there was a Blockbuster. There is one remaining in Bend, Oregon. Have you ever rented a video from a video store?

Caleb: I rented from Red Box a lot. Yes, but I’ve been in Blockbuster a couple of times where I was like, “This is cool.” There’s a bunch of movies and CDs, that was the thing, but I never heard, anyone’s like, “Oh, I’m going to pop in a CD tonight and watch a movie.” That’s rare to hear now. It’s crazy. It’s either streaming or going to the movie theaters and like since COVID, quarantine a lot of people are now just going back to the movie theaters. They’re streaming right now, but I did have that experience when I was younger.

Dimitri: When I was interviewing David Harbour, he mentioned that he was mentoring you guys throughout these years and helped you to understand a lot of things, David said he was in the ’80s, the same age as his dad. Basically, he’s pretty much like playing his own dad.

Caleb: Yes. I’m playing my dad right now, too. That’s kinda weird. I’m playing my dad’s age in the ‘80s. I didn’t even know. He sent me a picture of him with the number eight jersey of him play like basketball. I was like, you want to see it real fast? I’m going to just pop it up. I’m like “What? You got a number eight?” He’s like, “Yes.” I actually did it because I chose the number eight because around the time we were filming Stranger Things, Kobe Bryant passed away and I wanted to pay homage to his legacy, but I had had no idea that this is him.

Dimitri: Oh, so cool.

Caleb: Yes. I’m putting it side by side and that’s my twin.

Dimitri: Absolutely. How does it make you feel growing up with those guys, as your friends, but also as your onscreen colleagues and castmates?

Caleb: I think it’s like as genuine love and you want to know why, because we’ve been through so much together. We’ve seen each other at our worst. We’ve argued, we’ve loved each other. We’ve seen and we traveled across the country, around the world with each other. I feel that like, this doesn’t happen for everybody. I feel like this soul and the chemistry that I have with these guys was ordained by God. This is like a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I’m just happy to have it with these guys.
I’m just happy to connect to such talented beings, and so smart, very intelligent people that I’m surrounded by. I’m just blessed to be able to pick their minds, and actually, share a great relationship with them. It’s so much I can say right now, but I’m just really happy to know these guys.

Dimitri: We see some shift for your character Lucas in Season 4, he is on the basketball team and trying to fit in with a more popular crowd. Did you like that pace for your character or would you prefer to say with your younger character?

Caleb: I feel like everyone has their own path, and I feel that’s the path of Lucas. It makes sense why Lucas took that path. A lot of people don’t deal with bullying. Mike, and Dustin, don’t deal with bullying, but I felt that Lucas, wanted to try something different. He didn’t leave his friends, he wanted to make a better life for his friends in school. It’s not like he totally turned on them. He was like, okay, so now I’m on the basketball team once I’m good with these guys, like, we can be happy together. No one’s going to make fun of us, no one’s going to call us names.
That plays back in season one. The bullies called Lucas midnight, made fun of his skin color, and then called Mike a frog face, because of how he looked, and Dustin toothless, because of his condition. There are real bullies out there. A lot of people can’t hold it down. I feel like Lucas, it wasn’t that he couldn’t hold it down, he was still cool with his friends, but he just wanted to try something different.
I wouldn’t really bash him for that, and he ends up realizing, I know where my friends are, and this is not where I need to be. There’s no bad blood there, but it happens. Everyone goes through those changes in high school. Some people end up not trying to look for new paths, or try something different. Some people do, and Lucas chose to try something different. I want to say he totally, he didn’t change upon his friends. He just tried something different.

Dimitri: Yes, absolutely. When it comes to Dungeons and Dragons, there’s a lot of playing on the D&D throughout all the seasons. Do you play yourself?

Caleb: No, I do not play D&D exactly. I hear about it. I always say, I’m going to play, but I haven’t. There’s never been a time where someone had D&D, the board game. Dungeons, and dragons board game to where it was just the pieces, where we can actually play. I’m not going to say I’m not going to go out of my way, but if I don’t have a crew of people to do it with, then I’m not going just to get it.

Dimitri: Last year I interviewed one of the prominent D&D players, Joe Manganiello. He plays D&D with Vince Vaughn, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, wrestler Paul “The Big Show” Wight, and “Game of Thrones” co-creator D.B. Weiss regularly. Who would you like to campaign with?

Caleb: It’s crazy. I didn’t even know that. I’m going to have Gaten start up, queue up everybody, and get everyone to start playing. He’ll get everyone to play the game, and it’ll be fun. I feel like we need to do that for sure.

Dimitri: The show has a complex storyline and is interconnected with D&D character names. If you don’t know the game, you might get confused in the process of watching the show.

Caleb: Yes. I think there’s what it is with the show too. A lot of people didn’t even understand the Upside Down until this season.
People’s like, where did this come from? Now, the episodes have shown like, okay, what is the Upside Down? Why is Eleven the way she is? The Duffers definitely have a plan for everything. I can’t even tell you. I really don’t know what their intentions are in terms of, how far, and D&D, but I feel like D&D plays a big part in the show in terms of how the storyline goes, and our villains of the show, even our heroes in the show, our victims in the show. It has to do with the board game.
I know they grew up playing D&D, and I feel like everything makes sense for our story. There are stories within our story. D&D has a story, Hellfire has a story, and everyone has their own story. I feel like Season Four answers a lot of questions for everyone, but then Volume 2 will answer even more.

Dimitri: The way Duffer Brothers expose D&D in Season 4 reminds us of the current understanding of online gaming culture for many people. Its misunderstood. What is your thoughts or comparisons these days?

Caleb: Back in the day board games were like, okay what are these games that these people are playing? Is this a cult? They’re gathering these people to do what? You’re talking about killing and all that stuff. Now parents are mad at the children for staying in their rooms for 15 hours and being drawn into Call of Duty and killing and then there are also sports games. It definitely takes kids away from being outside. They stay inside and play games, and it’s almost like a hive mind that the Mind Flayer is controlling.
I feel like a lot of parents were like, “All these video games will rot your brain,” and stuff. You never understand it until you’re in that position. I feel like D&D now is more like, “Oh, that’s a game I used to like back in the days. The games that you guys play now oh, man, it’s bad. Back in the day you really had read, you had to think.” I’m not sure if you have to read for D&D but it looks like there was a storyline with D&D you had to come up with stuff, there were numbers involved, so I feel like everything evolves as time goes on. I feel like everything evolves as time goes on. I feel like anything new will always come across that and D&D was definitely that new thing in the ‘’80s.

Dimitri: The Duffer brothers finally took Stranger Things outside Hawkins with 3 parallel stories running alongside. Are you enjoying this pace when watching the final version of the season and the size of the production grew compared to previous seasons?

Caleb: Yes it’s insane. It’s almost it’s four, for real. You got Hawkins, Russia, LA, and then you have the lab.
Honestly, everyone has done a great job this season, the actors everyone but I had to really give it up to the crew, the Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, all the directors on it, Nimrod, just wardrobe, makeup, the grips. People don’t realize how much it takes to do a show like this and what we need even crafting. People need to eat on set and hydrate and drink water, people need to be able to function, and transportation to get to set. The medics, if someone’s hurt if someone has a headache take Advil so they can keep going with the day. It’s so many moving parts that people don’t realize that is done in a show for people to be happy and be able to sit down with their families and bond and watch this show. It’s great but it’s crazy.

Dimitri: You recently wrapped filming SHOOTING STARS, Universal, and SpringHill Co.’s film adaptation about NBA Superstar LeBron James from his 2009 book of the same name. Can you tell us about your character Dru Joyce? How involved LeBron James was in the project?

Caleb: Shooting Stars is a LeBron origin story with his high school basketball teammates, but not just as high school basketball teammates. He grew up with these guys and I play Little Drew the point guard and it’s just about their story. It’s a coming-of-age story of how they all grew up in the basketball world, and how they all branched off and did their own thing. Of course, LeBron made it to the NBA, but the five of the guys and the five of the basketball players all have their own story and I think is super unique for everyone to hear about and see, especially because LeBron is one of the GOAT of the NBA. One of the greatest of all time. It’s about him and his friends. If you love basketball, and you just love a good story, you’re going to love this one.

Dimitri: You also have music projects as well. I’ve listened to your tracks today on Spotify. They are really good man.

Caleb: Thank you so much. My music man. I started off on Broadway, singing, performing, studying, dancing, tap, jazz, and ballet, so the performing arts is in my blood. I know people know me from Stranger Things and Lucas and Concrete Cowboy on Netflix and Audition and all the other stuff I’ve done but I started off in theater first in singing and performing. The music speaks of who I am and who Caleb is.
I know acting is me, but I am acting as someone else that isn’t me and I love doing that. The music is me and what’s going through my mind and my story and am introducing people to the music I love. Stevie Wonder is my favorite artist of all time and I love old-school music. I love all types of beats like Afro beats, learning to rock and roll, and contemporary music like jazz. If you know Pat Metheny is an instrument and I just love beautiful sounds and frequency. Music just speaks to me and I just want to share that energy with other people.

Dimitri: What is your take on NFTs and the metaverse?

Caleb: I would say that when it comes to NFTs, and the metaverse, a lot of people don’t know about it. I recently partnered with Step, this financial company that teaches everyone about financial literacy, and teaching you about NFTs, and metaverse, and how to save, and invest, and all that stuff. If we really want to talk about that, I just started partnering with them so I can hope into young people like me that don’t really know much about money, and savings. The basic stuff, but there’s more to it than everyone knows. There are different loopholes. Money changes every day. There are different ways to save money, and different ways to invest. Other than that.

Dimitri: For the last question, I always ask if you can give your younger self advice, but do you want to give your older self advice?

Caleb: I would say my older self definitely needs more advice to my younger self because my younger self had ambition no one can tell him he couldn’t do anything. I believe no one can’t tell me to do anything but I feel that as you get older you become more knowledgeable about life and understand there’s so much more than just the world that you live in because when you’re really young you know your parents, your family or cousins or the house that you live in, your world.
Then when you get older and then for me I had the privilege to travel around the world and just see so many different lives and not everything is fun and everything is great. People struggle, some people are happy, some people aren’t, that definitely brings a toll on a lot of people’s lives and I’m sensitive to that. I care for people, I am a humanitarian. You have to see the positive, you have to see the light in the war in the world, you have to see the light in life.
I just want to give that information to my older self just to always see the positive light in the world and just keep going. What you’re doing in your life is bigger than who you are and bigger than anything, it’s for the people, it’s for everyone, it’s for the community, it’s for love. I just have to always remember that. That’s the advice I’m going to give my older self.