BANG Showbiz English
Noah Schnapp was asked to make his voice higher after going through puberty.
The 17-year-old actor — who was just ten years old when he started filming his role as Will Byers in ‘Stranger Things' – admitted the directors of the Netflix series “were not loving” the changes his body was going through so urged him to try and recapture his “innocence” in order to play down the increasing age gap between his real self and his character.
He told Flaunt magazine: “It was the peak time of change, and puberty and growing up and just everything was changing with all of us, and the directors were just not loving it.
“And I remember one of the producers coming up to me and telling me, ‘Noah, is there any way you could just speak in a higher tone and just slouch a little bit? Like, we need you to keep that Season 1 innocence that you had.'
“That was like, ‘I don't know what to tell you. My voice is dropping. I don't sound young anymore.'”
Despite the fame the show has brought him, Noah has spent this summer working as a life guard after graduating from high school because he enjoys doing “normal” things.
He said: “It's kind of a ‘just for fun thing'.
“I've kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and stuff outside of ‘Stranger Things', so it's kind of kept me grounded.”
Later this year, Noah will be sharing a dorm with other freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania, where he will attend the college's business school.
He explained about his choice of major: “I was thinking of going for acting. [But] acting was just kind of repetitive, and I wanted to try something new.
“Millie [Bobby Brown] is doing the same thing with her schooling—she's kind of learning about other things. I thought it would make more sense to do something different. And business was a pretty clear next thing for me. ”
