Millie Bobby Brown has opened up about leaning on the Russo brothers during filming for the Electric State, because she had never experienced a huge phase of her teenage years that her character was going through.
The Stranger Things star is set to appear in the Netflix blockbuster alongside some huge names, including Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Brian Cox and Anthony Mackie.
Marvel legends Joe and Anthony Russo were behind the cameras for the flick, which is slated to be released on March 14, 2025 and reportedly cost an astonishing $320,000,000 to make.
Appearing at New York Comic Con 2024 on Thursday, alongside Chris and the filmmakers, the 20-year-old delved into her role and how they helped her to tap into her ‘teenage angst’ for the first time.
‘I had never done anything like this before. I went into it, maybe on a cockier side, thinking that it was going to be like a Vecna situation, Demogorgon, I could take it on, and it was not,’ she recalled.
‘It was very different. As an actor, it challenged me. It’s just finding who she is while filming. I didn’t do much prep because I went straight from one film to another.
‘So, I really went in with the idea, I just want to be like a 90s Drew Barrymore. I just remember, I kept sending this image of her, and I was like, “I want my hair to look like this, this is what I want to wear.” I just had this idea of who I wanted and then I really found who she was as we went along.
‘The Russos did such a beautiful job in directing and my trajectory, because I think obviously with playing this angsty teen, it can easily come across as there’s a human left in her.’
‘I didn’t go through the angsty teen phase yet,’ she laughed. ‘So I kept going back to the Russos, [asking] “How do you want me to play this and that?”
‘We really found it together, which I think was what I really loved so much, just this collaboration of finding who she is, and how I found her. [I’m] so unbelievably proud and happy with the end result.’
In the Electric State, which is ‘set in an alternate, retro-futuristic version of the 1990s’, Millie stars as orphaned teenager Michelle, who is accompanied by eccentric drifter Keats and her mysterious robot, Cosmo, as she searches for her younger brother.
‘As they venture into the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off corner in the desert where robots now exist on their own, Keats and Michelle find a strange, colorful group of new animatronic allies – and begin to learn that the forces behind Christopher’s disappearance are more sinister than they ever expected,’ the synopsis reads.
During the panel, the Enola Holmes favorite also raved about how much fun she had with Chris, sharing that she was initially intimidated to share the screen with such a huge name, before he immediately put her at ease.
‘We actually met a few years before. I’m a huge fan of Chris,’ she continued. ‘I walked on the set and of course, it’s intimidating.
‘I’m 19, I have to be here and I have to give you 50% and I was intimidated. And then he walks on the set and like, “Hey!” as if he’s known me my whole life. I feel seen and loved already, and it was an immediate click.
‘I felt so unprofessional because I laughed every single take, he would make me laugh.
‘I think just having that energy – in any workplace but on set, specifically – creates this sense of trust and love and friendship that I think transpires on the screen, which I think is really special and really rare.’
‘We did have a lot of fun, and she’s just incredible,’ Chris agreed. ‘She has such a huge heart, such a love for animals, such a love for her now-husband, Jake, who was on set every day.
‘They’re just totally awesome, normal people who live extraordinary lives, and I can see the person in that, because I feel the same way, in a way.
‘We had a great time, we became fast friends, and you can’t get rid of me. Sorry.’