Dacre Montgomery Photograph by Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images [This story contains spoilers from Dead Man's Wire.] Don't expect Dacre Montgomery to half-ass his performance, and especially not in his new movie, Dead Man's Wire. The 31-year-old actor slowly fell "in love with movies and the idea of the process of making films" growing up while watching his parents, who worked as a 1st AD and sound recordist. After grinding for 10 years and studying drama in college, Montgomery eventually landed his breakout role as Billy in Stranger Things in 2017. Related Stories TV Streaming Ratings: 'Fallout' Falls Off With Change From Binge to Weekly Release for Season 2 Next Big Thing 'Tell Me Lies' Star Jackson White Has Conquered the "Psychological Puppet Master" But as someone who is always looking to "explore the limits of what I'm capable of in every way," the actor says, his latest role in filmmaker Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire made for the perfect challenge. The film is based on the real 1977 Indianapolis hostage situation, where disgruntled businessman Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgard) held mortgage executive Richard Hall (Montgomery) captive, with a shotgun rigged to a "dead man's wire" around his neck. "I'm always someone who's going to be pushing to have the handcuffs tighter and the wire to be real," he tells The Hollywood Reporter of how he made the filming process a more immersive experience. "And sure, I left set with bruises around my neck and my arms and a sore back and whatever else, but I think it helps believe the performance." Below, Montgomery opens up about his preparations to portray a real person in Dead Man's Wire, how physically taxing the role was and working so closely with Skarsgard. He also reflects on Stranger Things, with the megahit series wrapping last month. How did you first get attached to Dead Man's Wire and what attracted you to the script? I got a text from a rep saying, "Gus [Van Sant, director] wants to call you about playing one of the leads in his first film in eight years." I obviously freaked out. Gus is a bucket list director of mine, so when I got the call, I was like, "Oh my God. He FaceTimed me the next day and was like, "Look, I'm doing this film. It's called Dead Man's Wire. It's based on a true story and I'd love it if you could play Richard or Dick Hall." I didn't know anything about the true story. I was looking it up while we were chatting and I was like, "Gus, Dick Hall is 55. You do realize I'm 29." Gus was like, "Yeah, I don't care." I was like, "Okay, well, who are you casting to play Tony?" Tony's 48, he's 5'10 [and] he's an American Greek man. He goes, "Bill Skarsgard," who as we know is 35, he's 6'8″ or 6'7″ and he's Swedish. So I was like, "This is not obviously what the true characters look like," but it's a testament to Gus. It's not about that. It's about the soul or the creative spirit of the actors he casts in his film. I've learned that as part of his process, even in making the film. He said, "Obviously let's try and get you looking like Richard, but let's not put an emphasis on it." But I don't do things in between. So I went to 1,000 percent - bolded myself, got rid of my eyebrows, tried to become this man, this character. And it was a really rewarding experience because Gus is super collaborative and trusts the process. Dacre Montgomery in Dead Man's Wire. Row K Entertainment/Everett Collection Given that the film is based on real events, what did your preparations and research look like to take on the role of Dick Hall? I have a random, abstract way of entering that space, which is [that] I create a perfume for every character I play, which I've done in the past, and kind of hybrid the real story and the fictionalized Bill/Dacre/Gus version of Tony and Dick Hall's story. I created a perfume that embodied what I wanted to bring to the character and what I knew about Dick Hall. Dick Hall wrote a book after the situation that happened in his life. It's a really tragic story. He was sober and ost his sobriety after everything happened; he lost his brothers and his dad. I tried to put all of that into the scent, and also this idea of the '70s that I had because Gus is very artistic and tactile and was able to describe the '70s to me in detail. I found that really rewarding, and I tried to bottle all of that up into a scent that I could spray on my costume every day that smelt like the moment. Across the film's 105 minutes, there are only a handful of settings that you filmed in. When you can't rely on your environment as much, how do you go about getting yourself into your character's headspace? The biggest thing that was really helpful was actually just getting Bill and I in a room together and the wire around my neck and his hand on the gun, because we're more like dance partners than scene partners. We have to move as one for so much of the film, and the funny thing about that was that it was kind of a catalyst for this darkl