Dacre Montgomery, star of Stranger Things, has talked candidly about his reasons for taking a break from acting.
After his final appearance in season four of Stranger Things in 2022, Montgomery, who portrayed Billy Hargrove in the popular sci-fi series on Netflix, took a year-long break from acting.
His most recent performance was in the horror-mystery film, Go Up the Hill, which came out on August 15. Additionally, he starred in the mystery-thriller and drama film What We Hide, which was released earlier this month.
Montgomery claimed that he decided to take a hiatus from acting after Stranger Things because he wanted to focus on more personal endeavors and felt that his career was being steered into a more commercial path.
He told PeopleMagazine, “I think it’s kind of like you lose your anonymity overnight with Stranger Things, as any big show on Netflix.” It was incredible, overwhelming, and a lot of other things, and I felt quite privileged to have been given that chance.
However, I believe that as a child, I had a strong desire to collaborate with all tour directors on arthouse films, push myself to the limit in terms of character development, and fall deeply in love with stories. Additionally, I felt like I was being pushed in a more commercial direction when Stranger Things came out.
Montgomery plays Jack in Went Up the Hill, a character who travels to a distant part of New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother, whose ghost stalks her widow and son, played by Vicky Krieps.
Regarding Went Up the Hill, Montgomery stated, “The process of practicing and making the film really changed my life.”
Montgomery has also starred in Power Rangers (2017), The Broken Hearts Gallery (2020), and Elvis (2022).
The native of Perth, Australia, claimed that in an attempt to reverse engineer his career, he made a list of the projects and filmmakers he wanted to collaborate with during his acting break.
With a few fantastic films coming up that fit the description for where I wanted to be, I feel like I’m in a very, really good place right now, Montgomery said.
You make these films for that reason, don’t you? Because for it to be effective, it only needs to affect one person. Participating in projects like that is exactly what I’m attempting to achieve in my profession, he continued.
Montgomery’s attractive naughty lad Along with his character’s sister, Sadie Sink’s Max, Billy was the standout character in Stranger Things 2, but then—poof! Joey Morona, the resident pop culture analyst on Cleveland.com, said. It will be interesting to watch where his career leads him now that he is back on screen.
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