That 80's Show

Stranger Things is the TV series no one can stop talking about. Starring Winona Ryder and referencing everything from Close Encounters to Alien, it was the brainchild of the Duffer brothers, who, like the monster on the show, seemed to come out of nowhere.

- Steven Leckart

Being a twin can get irritating. For starters, people ask questions like “Are you guys twins?” As kids, your folks dressed you up in matching outfits, which didn’t help. That’s why the Duffer brothers have a rule: The thirty-two-year old auteurs behind Stranger Things—Netflix’s supernatural retro-80's series turned pop cultural phenomenon—never order the same thing at a restaurant. Usually, that is.

We’re sitting in a booth at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood on a warm fall afternoon when Ross asks the waiter for a Moscow mule. Matt sighs, then reexamines the menu before caving: “I’ll do that, too.”

If you’re the Duffer brothers, you don’t want people—let alone some magazine—making a big deal about the twin thing. After all, their differences are noteworthy. One brother has a silver streak in his hair (Matt). The other brother (Ross) is taller—and older. “By, like, a minute,” says Ross. “It means I’m wiser.” To which Matt deadpans, “It is meaningless.” But as the Duffers sip from matching copper mugs and spontaneously finish each other’s sentences, it becomes clear these writer directors know that every little detail does matter.