Stranger Things star Dustin Henderson compares himself to his new movie character

Updated on August 02, 2022 23:20 PM by Ava Sara

Introduction

Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo says trying to work on Paramount's Honor Society was a far cry from his time on the Netflix series as Dustin Henderson. Honor Society follows Honor Rose, a high school student who decided to get into Harvard at any cost.

Honor's mission to remove the contest

Honor's task to remove the contest eventually leads her to drop for Michael Dipnicky (Matarazzo), one of the other classmates being considered for a letter, when her plan to get a recommendation letter from her guidance counsellor proves to be more difficult than she anticipated.

In 2015

Prior to Stranger Things, Matarazzo made his Broadway debut in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He went on to play Gavroche in the Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Tour before touching down his first role on television in a single show of NBC's The Blacklist in 2015.

The following year

Matarazzo shot to fame as Dustin in Stranger Things, which debuted to critical acclaim and quickly became a global trend. While Stranger Things 4 has become Netflix's second most-watched series, Honor Society is Matarazzo's first live-action feature film.

In an exclusive interview

Matarazzo discusses the particular problems of playing Michael in Honor Society in an exclusive interview with Screen Rant. While Stranger Things allows him to flex his comedic muscles on a consistently dark and severe show, continuing to work on Honor Society was quite the reverse.

Read Matarazzo's full comparison of Dustin and Michael below

"What's interesting is that Dustin is a much more comedic personality in a venture that isn't really driven by comedy." And I think Michael [in Honor Society] is a personality who isn't inevitably driven by his comedic timing in a film that is driven by comedy... Trying to match those tones was a completely different vibe. Because you're attempting to tone something down while the people around you are helping to bring the comedy forward. That's really intriguing because I'm used to doing [the opposite] on Stranger Things. But it was great fun."

With each season of Stranger Things

Matarazzo takes Dustin in new and enjoyable directions, and there are countless incidents where he can have viewers laughing and crying in the of a few minutes. However, as Matarazzo explains, Honor Society has pushed him to experiment with a new type of comedic strategy.

Matarazzo is far from the first Stranger Things alum

Matarazzo is far from the first Stranger Things alum to use the show as a springboard. Millie Bobby Brown has expanded into the Godzilla franchise, co-starred in Enola Holmes with Henry Cavill, and has several projects in the works.

According to the Actor's comment

Matarazzo more than holds his own as an actor who had so few credits to his name at the time of his big advance. According to the actor's comments, his great feeling with Honor Society may inspire him to take on more diverse projects and stretch his skill in new and intriguing instructions.

Finn Wolfhard was able to capitalise on the show's success

Finn Wolfhard took advantage of the show's success by landing lead roles in IT, IT Chapter Two, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and the recently announced Hell of a Summer, which will also serve as the 19-year-directorial old's debut. If Honor Society is any indication of how frequently audiences will see Matarazzo, they're in for a treat.