'Stranger Things' star shares why he got his license to officiate weddings
"Stranger Things" actor Matthew Modine recalls first getting his license to marry couples, and previews his upcoming duties in officiating his costar Millie Bobby Brown's wedding.
EXCLUSIVE - "Stranger Things" actor Matthew Modine's off-screen relationship with his co-star Millie Bobby Brown is a lot less fraught than it is on the popular sci-fi horror series. So much so that she's trusting him to officiate her upcoming wedding.
Modine met Brown at just 11 years old, when she first started playing "Eleven" on the show. As Dr. Martin Brenner, AKA "Papa," Modine's character is portrayed as an antagonist who allegedly worked for the U.S. Department of Energy, as a senior research scientist and as the director of the fictional Hawkins National Laboratory. Season four revealed that he held children with supernatural abilities captive in a lab and forced them to participate in experiments. It's little wonder then why Eleven holds little affection for him.
The audience loves to hate the TV villain, but in real life he has a soft spot for romance. Brown, 20, and her fiancé Jake Bongiovi, 21, son of rocker Jon Bon Jovi, announced their engagement on Instagram last year. Though the couple has not publicly said when they plan to marry, it was revealed last week that Brown asked Modine to do the honors.
"Stranger Things" actor Matthew Modine will officiate his costar Millie Bobby Brown's wedding. (Fox News Digital)
"Oh, it'll be a very emotional day," Modine told Fox News Digital. "And Millie and I, I've known her since she was a little girl. She was actually 11 years old when we began working together on 'Stranger Things.'"
Modine explained that it was another friend of his who was getting married who encouraged him to get a license to officiate weddings.
"It was a friend of mine who was getting married, and we were just talking about it, 'who's going to get you married?'" Modine recalled. "And I knew that you could get those licenses, to be able to officiate a wedding and to legally, get someone married. And he said, oh, 'I would love you to be the person who officiated my wedding.' And he actually was the person who went out of his way to get all the paperwork and took me to the place where, you know, you become, I don't know what you call - an officiant - to be able to do it. So it was him, and it was his wedding was the first time that I had done it."
STRANGER THINGS. (L to R) Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2022 (Courtesy of Netflix)
"And it's a wonderful thing to be able to do, to sort of, to speak on behalf of a group of people," he marveled. "He's really speaking for everyone… So when you say, ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here, in this event,’ so you're you're bringing people together to join two people in what hopefully could become a great bond, a union between two human beings. And it's a beautiful thing."
Modine spoke fondly of his own wife, Caridad Rivera, and hoped that Millie and Jake could find the same happiness.
"I've been married for four decades," he beamed. "And, not only is my wife my best friend, she's my greatest confidant and, teacher and, yeah, I mean, she's just about everything to me. And I think it's extraordinary. It's a miracle when we find someone, to be able to share our lives with. I don't stand in judgment of of marriages that don't work out. I mean, it's, they're complicated. And some people grow together and some people grow apart. For however long it lasts, it's a beautiful thing. I've had a great marriage, and so I wish that for Millie and Jake."
Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi are seen at the 75th British Academy of Film and Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain, March 13, 2022. The engaged couple recently revealed that Browns "Stranger Things" co-star Matthew Modine, who plays Dr. Martin Brenner, will be officiating her wedding. (REUTERS/Henry Nicholls)
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Modine said that working with young actors like Brown has given him the opportunity to impart some advice and perspective as they begin to navigate ther early Hollywood careers.
"It's an opportunity to share things that you've learned along the way, how to navigate a career in the motion picture industry and television," he shared. "What is celebrity? What does it mean? What does it signify? Is it you in the industry? Are you a part of an industry? You know, when we watch the credits on a film, it's very important for everybody to understand that all of those people whose names we see at the end of a film made a contribution to the making of the film."
He added, "You happen to be one element of it… You might be the person who's in the forefront at the, you know, the the first person mentioned and the person who's on the screen. But you can't do your job without all of those other people that make a contribution to the making of the film."
Modine has had a busy couple of years, most recently appearing in the critically acclaimed "Oppenheimer," which took home the Best Picture trophy at this year's Oscars. His next movie, "Hard Miles," is based on the real life story of social worker Greg Townsend, who led a cycling team of juvenile convicts on a 1,000-mile bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.
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