Season four of the hit series Stranger Things has recently premiered on Netflix. Over its first weekend, it has already broken Netflix viewership records. Part of the series was filmed in Lithuania, with the country’s actors appearing on screen.
Lithuanian actor Vaidotas Martinaitis, who played Soviet ward Melnikov in Stranger Things, and Jonas Špokas, locations manager of the series and representative of Baltic Locations, spoke about the filming experience in an interview with LRT RADIO.
Vaidotas, was working with a company of this magnitude and signing confidentiality agreements common or new for you?
V.M. It‘s now becoming common. We’re coming across foreign productions and co-productions more and more often. It’s no longer surprising.
Jonas, even before the interview, we were talking about the confidentiality agreements and how much you could talk about the series. Are you calm now that someone from the team of the series is not going to call you and tell you that you said too much?
J. Š. I'm certainly not calm. Of course, it’s much more important to keep all that information to yourself until the premiere. When everyone sees the result, the audience notices a lot of things, and there is less to hide.
Of course, those contracts are strict. Especially with production, there are a lot of details that have to remain confidential at all times. So, you must think all the time about what to say and what not to say. [...] When you work locally, there are fewer restrictions, but with both HBO and Netflix, you’re always thinking about what you can say.
Vaidotas, did your family know what you were filming?
V. M. I cannot say specifically who knew and who didn’t know. Just a small group of professionals or colleagues, who were also involved in that series, knew where we were working.
The producers of the series were also careful to use the working title of the series, which was Tareco. It was like a code name, everybody used it. Confidentiality is necessary nowadays because intellectual property is increasingly easy to steal or manipulate. Even they [Netflix] are tired of hiding things like that.
During the filming, I had an opportunity to talk to a Russian woman living in America who was one of the translators of the Russian-speaking characters in the series.
She said that they divide the translation of the whole series into at least 15 small pieces and give them to different translators. The trouble is that the translator then doesn’t know the context of the story, and when they have to translate a text without context, the translation is nonsense. Then, when those texts are all brought together, you need an editor to connect them stylistically. [...] They are doing everything to protect themselves.
How were the actors selected for this series?
V.M. In my eyes, the selection process was standard. They were looking for actors through the company, there was a standard procedure. There were video tests. I entered the lottery, and I won it.
Jonas, how did the team discover Lithuania? Did the previous HBO series Chernobyl, which was also filmed in Lithuania, contribute to this?
J.Š. You could certainly say that it contributed. As far as I understood from speaking to the Netflix team during production, they definitely spoke to HBO. [...]
Of course, the fact that Chernobyl was a successful project also contributed to this. Maybe it gave Netflix the courage to come here. It wasn’t as if they were going to a completely unknown place.
What did the Netflix team say about Lithuania and working with Lithuanians?
J.Š. As far as we were told, they were really happy. On the other hand, it often depends on the success of the project, as well as on personal experiences.
We were lucky that Lukiškės Prison was an ideal location for them. We filmed over two visits, and we were even lucky with snow on one occasion. On the other hand, we had some really big challenges. For example, when they first came, we needed a real Siberian winter, and it was two degrees outside. But we managed to create snow. They got what they were looking for.
And in the second year, there was already a pandemic. There were restrictions, and it was not easy to fight coronavirus on the film set. Nevertheless, I think the production results were in line with or even exceeded expectations. I sincerely believe that they enjoyed it here and would come back if they had a chance.
How long was the filming and was it only in Lithuania?
V.M. No, they came to Lithuania twice. In Lithuania, I had one filming shift in Lukiškės Prison, and the rest of the time I was filming in Atlanta. Everything that we see inside was filmed in Lukiškės Prison, and everything outside was created by them. I was amazed when I saw in the pavilion how they managed to create the snow and snowstorms with 30 degrees outside.
Jonas, let’s go back to what was filmed in Lithuania. For example, the Semeliškės Orthodox Church. How is location hunting taking place?
J.Š. The locations are usually already written in the script. Usually, in the beginning, you work with the art department. It’s responsible for creating the universe of the film. In this case, we didn’t have a script, as [...] we only had the scenes that were going to be shot in Lithuania. From them, you could understand what was needed. Then, you have conversations with the filmmaker. Because we know the region, we offer options, and he always chooses from two or three locations.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
