‘Enola Holmes 2’ Director on Millie Bobby Brown Growing up ‘Clever’

• “Enola Holmes 2” director Harry Bradbeer said Millie Bobby Brown’s childhood may have been “tricky.”
• Bradbeer imagined it might’ve been tough growing up as one of the most “clever” people in a room. 
• Brown previously said that she was told she was “too mature” to get work as a child actor. 

Harry Bradbeer, the director of “Enola Holmes 2,” told Insider that he didn’t think it was easy for Millie Bobby Brown to be “clever” and grow up in the entertainment industry. 

Brown stars in “Enola Holmes 2” as the titular character, and also serves as a producer. Bradbeer, who has directed both “Enola Holmes” films at Netflix, told Insider that Brown has retained an “instinct for the truth” across her career thus far. 

“It’s not easy being clever,” Bradbeer said. “I wouldn’t understand. But for her, I’m sure you’re there in a room, and you can see sometimes when someone’s got a dopey idea, and you either speak up or you keep quiet. So I think for her growing up in that world, it must have been quite tricky to be able to see things that maybe weren’t right.”

Brown spent much of her childhood and teenage years working as an actor. Her breakout role was in the wildly successful Netflix series “Stranger Things,” which premiered in 2016 when she was 12 years old. “Enola Holmes” and its sequel were her first credits as a producer. 

Brown, who is now 18, told Allure in the magazine’s September cover story that she had “always” known that she was mature, but was left in tears when a casting director told her at 10 years old that her maturity would preclude her from succeeding as a childhood actor. 

Bradbeer said that Brown was “inspired” by other creatives that she’s worked with, namely “Stranger Things” showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer.

He told Insider that after a “grueling” fourth season on “Stranger Things,” Brown came back for the “Enola Holmes” sequel with “even quicker” instincts when it came to the film’s script.

Bradbeer said that he and screenwriter Jack Thorne looped her into the plotting process earlier than for the previous film. 

“I remember pitching a story to her very early on, I think Jack did the pitching of the document we put together,” Bradbeer said. “And I just watched Millie’s eyes like a hawk to see the eyebrows, whether they went up, was she happy, was she puzzled, when she fell over, when she screamed.”

He continued, “She was our first audience for the story, and it helped us to see what was working best.”