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For better or worse,Stranger Thingssolidified Netflix’s dominance over the streaming market when it debuted back in 2016. Not only did it kickstart the streaming platform’s dominance over the medium, which inadvertently impacted the theatre-going experience, the Millie Bobby Brown-led show remains the platform’s biggest hit to date.
But before enjoying a lavish budget of a reported $30M per episode for season 4, the first season’s budget was quite minuscule in comparison to its successors. However, this didn’t stop theDuffer brothersfrom bringing their vision to the screen, and one of the most impressive shots from the first season ended up causing them a lot of production issues.
The Van Flipping Shot inStranger ThingsProved To Be Stressful for the Duffer Brothers
With a modestbudgetof $6M per episode, the Duffer brothers prioritized practical effects over CGI inStranger Thingsseason 1. Their commitment to it elevated during episode 7,The Bathtub, whose opening shot saw Eleven flipping a van during the famous bike chase sequence, a homage toE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The duo later confessed that the whole sequence was done for real, stressing (viaEW)“The van flip was a lot of fun”.
Stranger Things is One of 2 Shows That Convinced Madelyn Cline to Drop Out of College and Pursue Acting
That isn’t to say it was entirely a smooth ride, quite the contrary. Not only were the producers initially against the idea, but their first go at filming the scene didn’t go quite well, even though they nailed the test shot. The directing duo detailed that after the explosion went off, the van ended up hitting one of their cameras, which cost them thousands of dollars in damages.
One of the explosives didn’t go off and the van skidded headfirst into one of our cameras, destroying both the camera and its lenses, and costing the production thousands of dollars. Our line producer was understandably loathe to try the stunt again,
Despite the shortcomings, the duo didn’t fold in, and executive producer Iain Paterson finally gave them the greenlit for the second round after the duo promised him that the shot“would be heavily featured in the trailer”.
Second Time Was the Charm for the Duffer Brothers
Fortunately for them, the second time would prove to be a roaring success, with the Duffer brothers adding“Our cameras captured it in all its glory”. The producer too got his fair end of the bargain, as the scene was indeed featured in the trailer, and the episode in general remained special to the creators, as it intertwined all of the three storylines together.
We feel a lot of affection for this episode, because it’s a little bit… bonkers. And, at least for us, it’s the most purely “fun” episode of the season. Our three disparate story lines collide as our teens, kids, and adults all finally team up.
Since flipping the van successfully inThe Bathtub, they haven’t looked back, and it’ll be interesting to see how the story concludes in theupcoming final chapter, slated to release in 2025.
Bombshell Video Teases Stranger Things’ Dr. Brenner Could Still Be Alive After Matthew Modine Said “I don’t want to believe it’s over”
Stranger Thingsis available to stream on Netflix.
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2539
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
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Millie Bobbie BrownThe Duffer Brothers
