I can’t believe the Oscars are coming up this weekend already. This year is going by really fast (like a train crash). I’m looking forward to the Academy Awards, although I hope they’ve streamlined it somewhat, and I hope it’s full of rousing speeches like the SAG awards. I wish we didn’t have the need for people to speak out, but we do and the winners and presenters at the SAGs really delivered. One of the best speeches was from Stranger Things’s David Harbour (Chief Hopper) who used the message of Stranger Things, that a bunch of outcast kids can fight evil, as a metaphor for taking on 45’s administration. He said, in part:

We will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no home. We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters! And when we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per Chief Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized! And we will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy.

[via Consequence of Sound]

One of the most viral moments at the SAGs was Winona Ryder’s reaction to Harbour’s speech. She looked like she was deep in thought, she pulled a lot of faces and she nodded her head and raised her fist. Only Harbour said that Ryder did that because she couldn’t really hear what he was saying. Harbour made those comments at the Writer’s Guild Awards over the weekend, where Stranger Things was up for best drama series. (That went to The Americans.) He also said that he ran his speech by his costars ahead of time and that it went through several rewrites. Here’s what he told People Mag:

Harbour is revealing the real reason Ryder reacted the way she did on stage.

“She couldn’t hear me!” Harbour, 41, told PEOPLE at the Writers Guild Awards in New York Sunday night. “Which I was confused by, because I was screaming! But apparently, she couldn’t hear me…”

The Shrine Auditorium’s acoustics may have been partially to blame, but Harbour added of his costar, “She is just such a porous, expressive woman and actress — I think it just flowed through her like every experience — and I loved it.”

The actor said that he ran the speech by several co-stars (not including Ryder), and spent a week writing multiple iterations — but despite his prep work, there were still some things time didn’t allow him to touch on — one being the way women are perceived in the industry.

“A lot of Hollywood female characters are not treated as ‘bad ass’ — I wanted to talk about that … the women characters in our story that have such power….”

“What I was really trying to say in the speech was not so much political as it was cultural,” he said. “I feel like [actors] do have a responsibility as influencers in this culture that creates good or evil. We have a responsibility and we should be aware of that — that is really what I wanted to talk about.”

[From People]

It’s possible that Ryder missed what he was saying toward the end of his speech when the crowd was loudly applauding, but she was standing right next to him the whole time so that doesn’t ring true to me. Still, I like the way he responded to that question, by saying that she’s a “porous, expressive woman. I’m also still so impressed by that speech. I checked Harbour’s IMDB and he doesn’t have an writing credits yet. He should definitely consider writing if he hasn’t already.

Stranger Things is possibly coming back on Halloween of this year. There’s no confirmation on that, but many people believe that the trailer aired during the Superbowl hints that season two will air on Halloween.

photos credit: Getty and WENN.com