The 2018 GQ TV Actor of the Year reveals his character, the menacing Billy Hargrove, plays a major role in the forthcoming season of cult Netflix series Stranger Things.
Dacre Montgomery has just had the most fulfilling week of his entire career. “There was a 25-page scene we had to shoot in four days, I flew back to Atlanta just for it,” the 24-year-old actor explains. “All of my scenes are pretty much done now. I walked off-set and… to feel that fulfilled – as an actor and
a human being – it was incredible.”We believe him, too. After all, Montgomery has had some time to reflect – he’s currently back in Perth, where he grew up and where he’s based when he’s not in Atlanta filming the third season of prodigious Netflix series Stranger Things. “I’m keeping healthy in my mind and my body,” he tells GQ.
“Of all things, where I’m sitting right now – here in Perth – allows me to keep healthy like that. It lets me have regular structure because there’s not any film industry here. There are no voices around me going, ‘Do this, do that’. I come back here to take stock. I think you need to do that or you can take it for granted. But in Perth, I don’t.”
As far as ascents to fame go, Montgomery’s has been meteoric in such a way that only a chiselled twenty-something playing a textbook bad boy on Netflix’s hottest show could be. When Montgomery joined the cast of Stranger Things, at the dawn of the groundbreaking show’s second season, stardom was basically a shoo-in for the young actor.
That’s not to undermine his talent. Montgomery’s portrayal of the villainous Billy Hargrove is confronting, visceral and a little uncomfortable to watch – three traits integral to every great villain. But his ability to engross himself in such a powerful character could also double as his biggest challenge.
Besides his role in the 2017 big-screen adaptation of Power Rangers, which received lukewarm reviews but made some $200m at the box office, Stranger Things was our first real introduction to Montgomery. It’s been a strong first impression. And as they say, first impressions count.
“I think about it a lot,” he says, when we bring into question life after Billy. “I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to match this character with other equally interesting characters?’ I think it’ll have to be something completely different. Something that will concrete me in other ways and show a more multi-dimensional act.” Continue reading
