Starring in the biggest TV Show of 2022 - Stranger Things' Fred
- Red
- Feb 12, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 14, 2023
Netflix's hit TV show Stranger Things broke records in 2022 with its incredible fourth season. Actor Logan Riley Bruner had the opportunity to star as a recurring character in the series, who soon became a favourite for many fans.
After working with a theatre group, Rosie's Theater Kids at his elementary school, Bruner began his professional acting career at just 10 years old.
In an exclusive interview with Red's Reviews & Interviews, the actor describes his beginnings in the industry as "moving one piece into another and slowly building a reputation."
He continues, "I'm one of those people that is the opposite of overnight success... It was really bit-by-bit, block-by-block; I worked my way into the industry and really built a career through just trying to do good work, and working with good people, and making good projects."
When asked about the audition process for Stranger Things, he replies, "It was really like any other audition... I got a self-tape request for Stranger Things 4, I'd auditioned [for Jonathan Byers] for the first season, for the same casting director... so I knew the project and i loved the project."
Logan was inspired by Dacre Montgomery's audition for Billy a few years prior. He stated, "I absolutely loved [Dacre's audition], so I knew there was a little bit of freedom to kinda play. In most self-tapes, you do the scene and you do it as simply as possible, but at least from what I had seen, Stranger Things was kinda willing to see some stuff that was a little outside the box. So I went and I bought glasses, I really tried to make myself as Fred as possible."
A month and a half later, Logan received news that he got the role and therefore would be a part of Stranger Things. Filming was planned to begin in Atlanta during March of 2020, but COVID delayed it a few months.
Bruner describes the set as "incredibly gracious and kind", and also "full of people who just want to create a cool project.. nobody really has a big ego or they think that they're bigger than everybody else."
Continuing to discuss the cast of the show, he mentions that Natalia Dyer is "amazing, she's a truly giving actress, she's incredibly kind."
Jamie Campbell Bower played Vecna on the show. Bruner recalls that he was "terrifying.. it was an amazing experience to be able to work with him."
As a result of his role on the show, Logan's portrayal of Fred has been found on billboards, posters, T-shirts etc, and he has gained almost 200,000 followers on his TikTok account. Fred was a well received character by fans, many of which create fan-art and cosplay as the character. The actor describes the experience as the "things that as a young upstart actor you dream about."
He continues, "It also just opened a bunch of doors in terms of acting. I mean, I was able to get a guest star on a TV show that was just offered to me because of Stranger Things. I auditioned for a bunch of really amazing projects. I'm playing a lead in a movie that's coming up soon, and I think the reason people were able to trust me with a part that big is because I had been on a show like this. You really have to build a reputation for being able to do things, and so Stranger Things opened that door for me and really gave a lot more weight to my name in terms of what people were able to trust me with. So I think Stranger Things has really launched me into a new aspect of my career."
The actor states that the biggest thing the show taught him was "how to connect with people who have such a huge connection with a character, but don't necessarily know [Logan] the person, and how to build boundaries."
Logan will be starring as a lead in the upcoming comedy movie, All You Need Is Blood. You can follow him on Instagram @loganrileybruner
Comentarios