Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown gets high praise from director of her new Netflix movie: "We were very lucky to have her"

Millie Bobby Brown switches demogorgons for dragons in the new Netflix fantasy movie Damsel, providing what the director has called a "fantastic" performance.

"We needed an actress that has the craft for delivering something that is really, really tricky and difficult in this revision, which is the survival journey," Juan Carlos Fresnadillo tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Dune 2 on the cover. "At the end of the day, this movie is about a girl who becomes a woman. Millie is in that moment of her life where she’s experiencing that transformation. She was really good at putting in the character probably many things that she’s going through now."

Brown plays a young noblewoman in the new dark Netflix fantasy who agrees to marry a handsome prince. However, she soon discovers that all is not what it seems and she's actually been chosen as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt. In order to escape a fearsome dragon, she has to use her wits to survive. 

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"She takes you into that journey and makes you feel what she’s experiencing," Fresnadillo continues about the Stranger Things star's performance. "Only great actors are capable of dragging you in, and making you feel that you’re with them, suffering, sweating, fighting. She’s fantastic. We were very lucky to have her because she’s not only capable of doing that kind of physical part, but she’s really sensible about the nuances and the subtle details in the story too."

A new trailer for the fantasy shows Brown discovering the harrowing secret of her arranged marriage, as well as showcasing some of the epic action we can expect. The film also stars Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett, and Robin Wright.

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Damsel releases on Netflix on March 8, 2024. The above is just a snippet of our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Dune: Part Two on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, February 21. For even more from SFX, sign up to our newsletter, which delivers all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.