Long before they became known for creating one of the most popular television series in recent history, Stranger thingsThe Duffer Brothers were a pair of twins who, not long after college, wrote a script for a horror film that immediately sparked a bidding war. You've probably never heard of the film, much less seen it, because it was more or less abandoned by its studio and released to the world as an afterthought.
The name of the movie is Hidden, and while it could have meant the end of the Duffer Brothers' careers, it didn't. Instead, it served as a calling card for M. Night Shyamalan and inspired the brothers to keep hustling to eventually achieve their lifelong goal: becoming professional filmmakers.
How did the Duffer Brothers make their first film?
It all happened so fast, and then it all went wrong
To understand how the Duffer brothers got to Stranger thingsYou have to start at the beginning. Ross and Matt Duffer were born and raised in North Carolina. They first started making films in the second grade and from that point on they innately knew that telling stories was what they wanted to do with their lives. As young adults, they attended Chapman University and, shortly after graduation, began the long and arduous task of breaking into Hollywood.
However, for the Duffer brothers it wasn't such a long and arduous journey, at least not at first. Shortly after graduation, the twin brothers wrote a screenplay for a horror film titled Hidden which generated enough interest in industry circles that Warner Brothers not only purchased it, but also allowed these first-time directors to direct it. A tense script about a family struggling to survive in a bomb shelter for reasons initially unknown, Hidden The sale seemed to almost secure their future in Hollywood. Except it didn't.
As Ross Duffer later described to Vulture while discussing the brothers' career trajectory, he sensed something was amiss very early in the project's life cycle when he received an unusual call from the studio, telling the news outlet:
“I started to get worried about three weeks in. We got a call from a manager, and he says, 'Wait, the whole thing's in a bomb shelter?'”
Shortly thereafter, Warner Brothers underwent a regime change that did not improve the situation. Before they realized what was happening, the only people interested in Hidden fate was the Duffer Brothers themselves. At that early juncture in their careers, both men felt like they’d achieved their dream only to have it ruined, with Matt telling Vulture, “You’re knocking on the door for years, and they finally let you in the party. And then they’re like, ‘It was an accident. You don’t really belong here. Get the f*** out of here.’ Your dreams come true, and then they don’t.” But the Duffer Brothers weren’t done dreaming just yet.
What's hidden?
Family ties and horror, which sounds terribly familiar
Hidden it's not at all as well known as Stranger thingsbut like all good artists (especially one of their main influences, Stephen King), the Duffer Brothers love to explore similar themes in each new project. At its core, Hidden tells the story of a desperate family hoping to survive a zombie apocalypse without losing their love and respect for each other. It's similar to how friendship in Stranger things help our heroes outwit and survive the demonic entities of the Upside Down.
Hidden begins with Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) and Claire (Andrea Riseborough) living in a bomb shelter with their daughter Zoe (Emily Alyn Lind). Just as Joyce Byers will later desperately try to keep her children safe in Stranger thingsClaire and Ray are determined to keep Zoe alive at all costs. We quickly learn that the key to their survival is to try to keep quiet so that the monsters known as “Breathers” don't find them. Eventually, however, the family is discovered, leading to a series of revelations that suggest the “monsters” weren't necessarily the enemies we thought they were.
With its focus on family and its youngest character, Zoe, Hidden has all the hallmarks of the Duffer Brothers style, which would soon emerge and become so incredibly popular. The only thing missing in Hidden It was the “what if Stephen Spielberg directed Stephen King” aesthetic that they finally achieved with their hit TV series. Zoe may not be Eleven, but she’s definitely a prototype for the character model, one that has only gotten better with time and the experience the Duffer Brothers have gained as they’ve continued to tell stories.
Has Hidden ever actually been seen?
You will have to search very hard to find it
The Duffer Brothers began shooting their first feature film in the summer of 2012 in Vancouver, British Columbia, but Hidden would not be released for another three years. After the change of regime at Warner Brothers, a wise new studio executive decided to shelve the film, canceling its original release date. In the end, Hidden It climbed out of the hole Warner Brothers dumped it into when the studio released the film directly to video-on-demand in 2015.
Based on the critical reception that immediately followed, it's kind of hard to blame Warner Brothers for being so dismissive of the film. Hidden. When it was finally released, the film received very few positive reviews, with most critics noting that the Duffer Brothers' innate instincts in the medium needed to be further honed to prove a real success. Some, however, were a bit more positive, like Nav Qateel, who wrote for Influx Magazine, who called it “a finished film with a satisfying conclusion. It's also a very adult and mature film, far removed from the typical low-budget offerings we're more accustomed to.”
How did the Duffer Brothers go from the failure of Hidden to the success of Stranger Things?
It required a surprise twist that only M. Nigh Shyamalan could deliver.
Shortly after Warner Brothers relegated the Duffer Brothers' debut film to the video-on-demand market, they got a second chance when M. Night Shyamalan got hold of the script for Hidden and sensed in these twins two soul mates. So, he hired them to write his television series, Rebel pines. Encouraged by their experiences making that TV series, the Duffer brothers finally sat down to write their dream project, a concept that condensed all of their childhood obsessions into the young adult horror series. Stranger things. …
When the Duffer brothers arrived in Los Angeles, launching Stranger things as a Stephen King/Stephen Spielberg mashup, he was eventually told to downplay the comparisons. That wasn't great advice because most of the dozen or so TV executives who were pitched the idea ended up rejecting it. Then, the vice president of Shawn Levy's development company, 21 Laps Entertainment, discovered the script and promptly told his boss,
“It's about these two twin brothers that no one's ever heard of. And it might be the best pilot I've ever read.”
The rest, as they say, is history. 21 Laps Entertainment has acquired the rights to Stranger things and quickly created a production deal with Netflix. After its release, Stranger things has become one of the streaming service’s biggest original hits ever and continues to be Netflix’s flagship series, even as it finally nears its end.
Asked if they would change anything about their trip, the Duffer brothers seem hesitant, saying, “At the end of the day, Hidden It was a great experience because we know what it means to fail. And we know it will happen again.” Today, the Duffer Brothers are on the opposite end of the spectrum from where they started. They are the ones who receive spec scripts from aspiring writers hoping to imitate their creations. And who knows, maybe one day this will lead to a new TV show, even more popular than Stranger things. …