Dacre Montgomery in 'Stranger Things.' Courtesy of Netflix Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Dacre Montgomery is opening up about acting post-Stranger Things. In a recent interview with People magazine, Montgomery reflects on how his breakout role as Billy Hargrove in the Netflix series "pushed" him in a "commercial direction" and led him to take an acting hiatus after his character's (Spoiler Alert!) death in the season three finale in 2019. "I think with Stranger Things - as any big show on Netflix - it's kind of like you lose your anonymity overnight," he said. "It was amazing and overwhelming and a combination of many things, and I felt really lucky and really fortunate to have that opportunity." Related Stories Movies Helen Mirren on Finding Time to Do It All and Why She Doesn't Plan to Retire Anytime Soon Movies 'Night Always Comes' Review: Vanessa Kirby Gets Put Through the Wringer in Netflix's Grim Neo-Noir Odyssey He continued to explain what he learned about his career goals from the show. "I grew up really wanting to work with all tour directors on arthouse films and really explore how far I can push myself in terms of character development and really, really fall in love with stories. And when Stranger Things came out, I felt like ... I was really being pushed in a commercial direction." That direction led him to "take time to step back" to figure out what projects he wanted to focus on moving forward. Outside of appearing in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 box office hit and Oscar-nominated film, Elvis, Montgomery has focused on acting in indie films. "That sort of stuff takes time to kind of reverse engineer a career that's going one way into a different direction," he said. "It takes time, and I can't just generate a story, an amazing story [and] an amazing director in front of my eyes." Montgomery said his new horror/fantasy film, Went Up the Hill, is "exactly the thing I want to be doing," and he wants to work on projects that have "something really important to say." "Now I kind of feel like I'm in a really, really good space with a couple of great movies coming up that fit the bill... in terms of where I wanted to be," he said. Went Up the Hill is now playing in select theaters. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Sports Buffalo Bills Star Dion Dawkins Addresses the Biggest Debates From HBO's 'Hard Knocks' Obituaries Tristan Rogers, 'General Hospital' Star, Dies at 79 Snoopy Ben Folds on Writing for Charlie Brown, When Music Lost Its Sense of Humor, and How "Stupid" the Critics Were About Billy Joel Live Feed YA Dramedy 'Coven Academy' From 'High School Musical' Series Creator a Go at Disney Robert Altman Dan Ziskie, Actor on 'Treme' and 'House of Cards,' Dies at 80 Hollywood History The Ed Sullivan Theater After Colbert: Last Days of a Late-Night Icon Sports Buffalo Bills Star Dion Dawkins Addresses the Biggest Debates From HBO's 'Hard Knocks' Obituaries Tristan Rogers, 'General Hospital' Star, Dies at 79 Snoopy Ben Folds on Writing for Charlie Brown, When Music Lost Its Sense of Humor, and How "Stupid" the Critics Were About Billy Joel Live Feed YA Dramedy 'Coven Academy' From 'High School Musical' Series Creator a Go at Disney Robert Altman Dan Ziskie, Actor on 'Treme' and 'House of Cards,' Dies at 80 Hollywood History The Ed Sullivan Theater After Colbert: Last Days of a Late-Night Icon