Summary of Noah's "Spotlight on Acting" panel at NBFF:
He found out he was cast as Will while at summer camp, they were allowed 3 phone calls and one was his parents passing the call to the Duffers to tell him the news
He was at camp when the show first dropped too, finding out the show was blowing up by being told he got official blue checks, gaining followers, lots of streams on Netflix and new fan pages. He remembers being excited
People come up to him and say "your character (Will Byers) helped me come out"
Noah thinks he wouldn't have been able to come to terms with his identity when he did without Will, calls Will Byers his role model 💛
When asked about what it was like coming out/growing up as a child star with social media: says life is so much better when he puts the phone down and doesn't look at hate on social media
It gets overwhelming and leaves him feeling like that's all there is sometimes
Says he's a sensitive person
Talked about how hard it is to see hate online and how he's started living in real life more because people aren't mean in real life
He said his favourite fan interaction is how people meet their best friends through his/the ST fandom
What would he tell his younger self: "Be present."
"There's no perfect formula or path to follow and stick to and that's it, you kind of just - you grow up, you go through the challenges, you go through many highs and many lows, and learn from them. Just pick yourself back up and keep going."
"I think that's the hardest thing about being a child actor. You haven't fully formed yet, so you're going through all these formative, struggling, embarrassing, weird-awkward moments of puberty and growing pains in the public eye where they're all watching you. They see you as this fully formed adult who knows everything. But you don't."
He wants to do theatre/broadway
He had to turn down a lot of casting opportunities because of filming Stranger Things
Doing a tv show prevented him from doing "so many" projects that he mostly wants to do movies and things similar before committing to another tv show
"Stranger Things was a big commitment and has already been going on for TEN YEARS" *lies down on the couch from exhaustion*
He's going to graduate in 6 months!
He's in a screenwriting class and wants to write a movie
Actors he'd like to work with: Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson
Favourite movies: Black Swan, The Devil Wears Prada, Interstellar, When Harry Met Sally, All Of Us Strangers
The film "All Of Us Strangers" had him sobbing for days and says it changed how he approached his life
Favourite directors: Steven Spielberg, Celine Song, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan, Yorgo Lanthimos
He's trying to figure out who he is now that Stranger Things is ending, feels like it's all he's known
ST5 related:
says ST5 is "bigger than ever"
"Prepare yourself it's gonna be the last time we get to be with these characters"
"All of our last days on set were also our last scenes"
They didn't read the last script until a couple months left of filming
"Felt like they were telling the real ends to our real lives"
Season 5 cemented to the cast how important they are to each other/Noah realised how important they are to him
His favourite Will moment is in season 5
"Season 3 was not my favourite season for my character personally, I feel like all I did was sit there and ask to play DND"
Lonnie mentioned as an "abusive father" in relation to how complex and multilayered Will Byers is
Every time Noah sees new season 5 content he texts the Duffers to thank them for creating Will Byers
Noah made a lot of suggestions for Will in season 5 that they took on board, he mentioned that there were scenes he thought were "missing something" and he would tell them that
"People are gonna freak out if you don't write this part!" "It's nothing crazy or groundbreaking but it's good!"
The season 5 finale: "you think you know, you think something is good but then people hate it. Or you think something is bad but everyone loves it. But I loved it! I think you guys will really love it too. But I can't say until you see it!"
Mentioned multiple times how the Duffers closed every story arc well and Will's story feeling complete is why he doesn't want to do more Stranger Things
Says he wouldn't want to do more with Stranger Things in the future, he doesn't want to '"milk it"
BUT Noah says that he and the cast are so close they're like family and even if not ST, it doesn't mean they won't work on anything together again!
"Prepare to have your holidays ruined" (lighthearted)
Three words to describe Season 5: emotional heartfelt and uplifting
will add to this if any more comes up!