Stranger Things’ Eduardo Franco Channeled Sean Penn’s Spicoli When Playing Argyle – Looper

While Sean Penn has a long list of well-known credits, including “Milk” and “Mystic River,” he’s known to multiple generations as one of the best teen characters in movie history, Jeff Spicoli, the high school slacker and surfer who, like Argyle, has a deep appreciation of pizza. And it’s a character that Eduardo Franco drew a lot of inspiration from as he prepared to step into Argyle’s surfer persona.

“Sean Penn in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ is always in the back of my mind,” he told The New York Times. “My initial approach was to just completely be blown out of my mind all the time -– as the character, not Eduardo the actor! I wanted Argyle to be completely clueless: When someone says, ‘Oh my god, Argyle, we gotta get out of here!’ I’ll be like, ‘Huh?'”

Franco noted that not every scene called for such a reaction due to the intensity and adrenaline involved in much of Season 4. And while Argyle appears clueless, it’s his quick thinking and Surfer Boy Pizza knowledge that engineers an impromptu salt bath, allowing Eleven to transport herself to her friends back in Hawkins, Indiana, as they prepare to take down Vecna. In the war against the Upside Down, few would probably have pegged a Spicoli-inspired character as a savior of humanity.