“I think it’s really lucky that we’re able to represent our own age at this time,” Oleff told Insider. “You don’t see that a lot. It’s changing to the point where people are like, ‘OK, we know this 30-year-old is not 18.’ You can’t do Grease.”
To get the role of Stanley, Oleff had to audition with the scene when Stanley and Sydney (Sophia Lillis) test her powers in the bowling alley, then do an exercise that ended up in one of the episodes. He told Insider: “They were like, ‘So Stanley likes to dance a lot. Can you just look in the mirror and pretend you’re getting ready for a dance or just do whatever, like dance and stuff?’ And so that’s what I did.”
The Chicago-born actor has been working on screen since 2012, when he appeared in an episode of short-lived series Animal Practice. He came to most viewers’ attention, however, when he played the younger version of Chris Pratt’s character in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, and again when he played another character named Stanley in Stephen King adaptation It and It Chapter Two, which also starred I Am Not Okay With This lead Sophia Lillis.
Speaking to Collider, he said of working with Lillis again: “When we filmed It together we weren’t really directly performing with each other. We were more in the same scene. But here we get these full-on scenes where it’s just us interacting.
“Through that summer that we had we have this great chemistry together that I hope people really see on screen. That’s just us being us. We goof around a lot and I feel like that’s how we’ll always be.”
He added in a Hollywood Life interview: “They’re [Sydney and Stanley] really comfortable with each other and Sophia and I have that relationship in real-life where we can just trust each other and just be comfortable with each other.
“I’m really lucky to be working with her again. She’s amazing. I think the show absolutely reflects our real-life relationship as well.”
I Am Not Okay With This is streaming now on Netflix.
