Stranger Things star Joe Keery listed two extremely strange influences in a recent interview: Stanley Tucci and Charli XCX.
Since fans of Tucci are likely ignorant of Charli, and fans of Charli are likely ignorant of Tucci, we’ll describe both. Stanley Tucci is a 61-year-old actor known for, among many others, the films Spotlight, Road to Perdition, and The Lovely Bones, the last of which earned him an Oscar nomination. He’s also a filmmaker, having co-directed the comedy-drama Big Night, the love for which prompted Keery to sing Tucci’s praises to The Daily Beast—and shout out his memoir/cookbook Taste: My Life Through Food.
“How can you blend genres?” Keery said, reflecting on Tucci’s multidisciplinary prowess. “What he does there, in a really great way, is: How do you blend a cookbook and a story about your life? Nobody’s done that in the same way, not that I have read.”
Charli XCX is a 30-year-old singer/songwriter known for her own singles, like “Boom Clap,” “Break the Rules,” and “Doing It,” and writing singles for other artists, including Iggy Azalea’s “Beg for It” and Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love.” In an interview with NME, Keery said:
“Charli was a big influence . . . She’s just incredible at blending hyper art-pop with more sugar-coated pop. It’s so cool to have this combination of art and commerce meeting in the middle.”
When one realizes that Keery is an actor, musician, and aspiring director, his idols make a bit more sense, but they’re still somewhat obscure in their respective fields. It’s not like he idolizes Clint Eastwood and The Beatles. Keery is definitely an irregular Joe, and we love him for it.
