Stranger Things star admits ‘dead serious' struggle from filming scenes

Independent

19-02-2025

You might think that starring in Stranger Things would come with its pressures considering it's one of Netflix 's biggest ever shows.
But for one actor, the stress reached a peak before their episodes were broadcast.
Jamie Campbell Bower, whose credits include Twilight: New Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, won legions of new fans as the villainous Vecna in season four of Netflix hit Stranger Things.
The British star has now revealed that getting into the mindset of the evil character became a point of topic with his therapist.
People reported the actor, 36, as saying at a MegaCon Orlando fan event: 'We were going through some stuff, and he was like, 'We really need to make sure that you carve out time for you whenever you're working next.'
'I turned around to him, and I was like, 'Yeah, to be honest with you, man, I just don't think I'll be doing another bad guy for a minute.' Like it f***s me up. I'm dead serious.'
Bower said his time on the show, which has now completed production for good, has 'been amazing' and 'an incredible journey'. He will appear in the forthcoming final season, which was in production for a whole year and is set to start in November.
'It's something that so many people love and something that I loved as well and still love,' he continued, adding: 'But I definitely am ready to hang up the foam latex and wish him a slippery farewell.'
Bower spent up to eight hours a day applying make-up while portraying Vecna on the show.
In an interview with RadioTimes.com, make-up designer Barrie Gower said: 'It was about an eight-and-a-half hour process, that first time with Jamie, from start to finish.'
While they eventually managed to streamline the process, it apparently still took an average of seven hours to transform Bower into his monstrous form.
'I think we got it down to about six hours and 20 odd minutes,' Gower said. 'That was our record. But it averaged about seven hours, I think. Something like that.
'The actual application process, it was a well-orchestrated dance. It was the four of us, applying his makeup. And we would be doing this kind of dance around him. Somebody had to be at a certain place at a certain time.
'It was a marathon every day, but he was incredible,' he added. 'We never once had a complaint from Jamie.'
Bower previously opened up about his journey with addiction that 'got so bad' that he 'ended up in a hospital for mental health' in 2010.
In 2022, he shared a post celebrating almost eight years of sobriety.