Stranger Things Actor, Dacre Montgomery, and Director of Went Up The Hill, Samuel van Grinsven talk to Herald NOW. Video / Herald NOW
Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery is starring in an eerie new Kiwi horror flick.
Montgomery joined director Samuel van Grinsven on Herald NOW yesterday to promote Went Up The Hill.
The feature follows the aftermath of a woman’s death as her ghost possesses her still-living son and widow.
Montgomery saidthe spooky story is about “how we can be a reflection of the people who have left a mark on us, and what we choose to do with that”.
He and co-star Vicky Krieps each play the role of the dead woman in what is called a “three-hander” - a story focused on the dynamic between three key characters.
The device is unusual in film, but common in theatre.
Montgomery said he and Krieps “perceived the movie to be less of a supernatural tale, and more of a film where two people create their antagoniser in themselves to deal with their grief and trauma”.
The Australian actor is best known for playing villain Billy Hargrove in the second and third seasons of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
He recently confirmed to Screen Rant he will not be appearing in the show’s highly anticipated fifth season.
Montgomery said the film was an exciting challenge after his years on the hit show.
Dacre Montgomery played the sibling of Sadie Sink's character on Stranger Things. Photos / Netflix
“For me, the brilliant thing about this movie is it’s so much closer to myself than the character I play in Stranger Things.”
Montgomery said playing Jack has helped him figure out who he is.
Half of his family is from New Zealand, so production provided opportunities to reconnect.
“I’d never played a character with my accent before, so even that in of itself was quite revealing and made me feel quite vulnerable.”
The flick was filmed in the Canterbury region, an area with sentimental value to van Grinsven.
The director’s parents were ABBA impersonators, which he said informed his “nursery rhyme” approach to the Kiwi landscape.
“We went up and down New Zealand in the back of a tour van growing up, so for me, my kind of memories of the South Island are very childlike, wide-eyed, sort of fantastical memories.”
Both van Grinsven and Montgomery will be attending a screening at Lumière Cinemas tonight, with a chance to question the actor and director after the showing.
