STRANGER THINGS Producer Shawn Levy Says Getting The Rights to "Thriller" Was The Hardest Thing He's Ever Had to Do
One of the greatest things to come out of San Diego Comic-Con this year was that new trailer for Stranger Things Season 2. That trailer filled by with nostalgic joy, especially with Vincent Price's narration from Michael Jackson's "Thriller"! That just took the trailer to a whole new level and it was absolutely perfect!
Turns out they almost didn't get the rights to use it! They had a completely different trailer cut to show attendees at Comic-Con because their request for "Thriller" kept getting rejected! Luckily, producer Sawn Levy came through and closed a deal to use the song at the last minute. It wasn't an easy task, though. In an interview with io9, he said it was the hardest things he's ever had to do as a producer.
"It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do pull off as a producer. It's very very hard for reasons I won't go into. We were rejected repeatedly for months. And a month ago it was over and we had another trailer that was being shipped to San Diego and it did not have that song. And the brothers and I would watch it, and it just really ate away at us cause we knew it was a good trailer, but with Thriller it's next level. And so, I basically decided to be a massive pain in the ass and I went back into bull-headed producer mode and I figured out a way to license Thriller and that's what you saw today. So that was a really happy day. The day that we pulled off that licensing arrangement."
I'm so happy that Levy was actually able to pull it off. The use of "Thriller" was so freakin' cool! It fit with the trailer so well, that it was like it was specifically made to help promote Stranger Things Season 2. You might as well just watch the trailer again to be reminded of its greatness! I am a little curious to see what the other trailer would have been like.
Stranger Things returns to Neflix October 27.