Stranger Things' Brett Gelman Got Seriously Into Karate For His Murray Role

Brett Gelman, who plays the affable conspiracy theorist Murray in "Stranger Things," finally got to show off his karate skills in the Netflix show's fourth season and become an action star. In an interview with Vulture, Gelman shared that as a lover of the action film genre and as someone who was uncoordinated when he was younger, it was very satisfying to channel his inner Van Damme. "I trained, for three months and four days a week, with Simon Rhee and Phillip Rhee, who are masters in Taekwondo," he said. "I wanted to make sure that I reflected and represented being a black belt as much as possible."

While he wasn't actually striving for the black belt, Gelman wanted to make sure his training was as extensive as those who actually would. According to Gelman, the regimen included "a lot of combinations of punching, kicking, and blocking; the different types you can do in martial arts [are] very extensive. You could train for three months and only scratch the surface of the vocabulary you acquire."

Gelman wanted to learn that vocabulary "so when I got with Hiro Koda, who was the ['Stranger Things'] choreographer, I could use what I learned and know what Hiro was talking about when he wanted me to do something. Or if I didn't know what he was talking about, I would be able to quickly learn it because my body was used to learning martial art moves. I was drenched in sweat at the end of every single workout."