See ‘Stranger Things’ Child Actor Play Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’
Finn Wolfhard, the young actor who played one of the leads in Netflix’s hit Stranger Things, has turned his attention from replicating the Eighties on the show to the Nineties on Twitter. Yesterday, the 13-year-old posted video of himself playing the opening chords to Nirvana’s “Lithium” on an unplugged electric guitar.
On Stranger Things, Wolfhard played Mike Wheeler, an inquisitive preteen who will stop at nothing to find his missing friend, Will Byers, and who befriends a girl his age at the same time his friend goes missing. In an interview with Vulture, the actor expressed an affinity for movies like The Goonies, E.T. and Stand by Me, the influences of which all reverberate through the show. He also named a number of musical artists who were popular in the Eighties that he liked, including the Clash, Tears for Fears and A-ha. He also threw in Guns N’ Roses but added the caveat that they were “more of an early Nineties thing.”
“My dad and my mom used to play that kind of music in the car when I was a baby,” he said of his music taste. “And then my mom introduced me to the Beatles, and I got obsessed with the Beatles, and then I just went from there. I would also search the web: You know how one video leads to another leads to another? It was kind of like that, but with songs. A Beatles song led to a Led Zeppelin song, and then a Led Zeppelin song led to the Rolling Stones.”
While Wolfhard and the rest of the Stranger Things cast and crew await Netflix’s call for a second season, he has moved on to another project born in the Eighties: a remake of Stephen King’s It. In the film, he will play Richie Tozier, a wisecracking character referred to as “Trashmouth” in the book.
From Eleven’s alive-or-dead status to what 1980s references are next, here are some questions we still have for ‘Stranger Things.’ Watch here.