Gaten Matarazzo Breaks Out Beyond Stranger Things With Pizza Movie And What He's Doing Next
After nearly a decade in Hawkins, Stranger Things standout Gaten Matarazzo is blazing a new trail with the stoner comedy Pizza Movie, chasing roles far from his blockbuster roots even as the show’s pull keeps tugging.
Gaten Matarazzo is not interested in doing Dustin 2.0. After spending about a decade on Stranger Things, the 23-year-old is chasing something looser and weirder. Enter Pizza Movie, his new stoner buddy comedy that just landed on Hulu.
Breaking the Dustin box
Matarazzo knows exactly how this goes: you play one character forever, and every audition after that starts to look like spin-offs of that character. He gets why people do it. He also isn’t trying to live there.
He called it a tug-of-war — casting folks see what worked, then want more of it. Fair ask. But he wants to stretch beyond the Dustin lane. The difference is, he’s one of the rare actors who can actually say no now, and he’s very aware of the privilege that comes with that.
"I can make decisions based on what feels good for me. I’m very lucky to be in that situation."
So what is Pizza Movie?
It’s an off-beat, very high-on-its-own-supply buddy comedy written and directed by SNL alums Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. Two college roommates accidentally take a hallucinogen on empty stomachs, then spend the rest of the night trying to hunt down a pizza like it’s the Holy Grail. That’s the movie. And yes, it’s on Hulu right now.
- Matarazzo plays Jack, a college freshman whose life is policed by an overbearing RA from hell (Jack Martin going big with the bit).
- His partner in chaos is Sean Giambrone, with the two playing best friends who might be a little too glued at the hip.
- Even with the college upgrade, Matarazzo is still in his sweet spot: the outsider getting chased, clowned, and generally steamrolled by the world.
- The twist is the friendship dynamic starts emotionally open — the hugs and the "love you, man" stuff is already baked in — so the conflict is about how codependent they’ve gotten.
- Where to watch: streaming now on Hulu.
The outsider thing isn’t an accident
Matarazzo likes playing guys who aren’t in the cool crowd — especially in comedy. Watching someone scramble to fix their image is funny, and Jack is basically powered by public perception. His words, not mine: the guy’s sense of self is in the toilet. As an actor, he relates a little too well to worrying what people think. He admits that mindset can be toxic, which is exactly why it’s fun to satirize.
From Steve and Dustin to Jack and... Jack?
Stranger Things fans already know he can sell a two-hander thanks to the Dustin-and-Steve run with Joe Keery. Here, that chemistry gets rerouted to Giambrone, and Matarazzo gives a lot of the credit to his scene partners: when the person across from you is charming, kind, and wildly easy to be around, it’s not hard to look like best friends on screen. He even calls Giambrone the room’s instant MVP — the guy everyone notices immediately.
About the high school thing
He jokes that doing a college movie might finally get him out of high school casting purgatory. Realistically? He’s pretty sure he’ll be playing teenagers for a while because, well, movies love 30-year-old teens. It bugged him growing up, but if they ask, he’ll show up — and still have fun doing it.