Dacre Montgomery To Direct And Star In The Engagement Party
The Stranger Things star steps behind the camera for his long-awaited directorial debut after a four-year creative build-up.
Sydney, August 15 EST: Dacre Montgomery isn’t just waiting for the Stranger Things endgame to play out he’s plotting his own. The Aussie star is making his feature directorial debut with The Engagement Party, a project he’s been quietly marinating for four years and is finally ready to shoot in about two months. Oh, and he’s also starring in it. Because why not juggle both lead actor and director for your first time at bat?
From Hawkins Heartthrob To Behind-The-Camera Boss
Montgomery’s been hinting at this pivot for a while, but talking to People, he finally said the quiet part out loud he wants full control of the story. “I want to be in control of the storytelling,” he admitted a line that might sound lofty if it didn’t come on the heels of some very real experience.
While shooting Dead Man’s Wire with iconoclastic director Gus Van Sant, Montgomery pitched a dream sequence. It made the final cut. That small creative win lit a fuse. If a single idea could shift the tone of a Van Sant film, imagine what he could do when he’s calling every shot.
Dacre Picking His Moment
Four years is a long time to sit on a project in Hollywood years, but Montgomery wasn’t interested in rushing. Finding the right story was step one. Locking in financing was step two. Now, it’s about building a production that reflects the voice he’s been sharpening away from the spotlight.
That break wasn’t accidental. After the whirlwind of Stranger Things, he stepped back not out to focus on roles that actually moved him. His recent turn in Went Up the Hill, a slow-burn psychological thriller from Samuel Van Grinsven, is exactly that kind of work emotional, personal, and worlds away from Hawkins, Indiana.
The Actor-Turned-Director Pipeline
Montgomery’s jump to directing puts him in buzzy company. We’ve seen Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele, and Bradley Cooper turn that leap into career rocket fuel. But there’s a difference between joining the trend and owning it. If The Engagement Party sticks the landing, Montgomery could be more than just another actor trying the director’s chair he could be the guy who makes it look like the natural next step.
Of course, the pressure’s real. Directing while starring means making every choice twice once for the character, once for the film. Some first-timers drown in that split focus. But Montgomery, judging by how carefully he’s played this, seems less like a risk-taker and more like a chess player.
What’s Next
Details about the film’s plot are still hush-hush, but Montgomery is clearly framing this as a calling card. With his final Stranger Things season looming and his indie cred rising, this is exactly the moment to prove he can build a story from scratch and still give the kind of performance fans show up for.
In a year where pop culture is obsessed with reinvention from Taylor Swift’s genre pivots to Jonah Hill’s surprise directing turns Montgomery’s move isn’t just a career shift. It’s a statement he’s here to make the stories he wants to tell, not just the ones he’s handed.
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A bi-coastal pop culture critic and former indie screenwriter, Gia covers Hollywood, streaming wars, and subculture shifts with razor wit and Gen Z intuition. If it’s going viral, she already knew about it.
