Matthew Modine says he ‘sized up’ Millie Bobby Brown’s fiancé Jake Bon Jovi before their first date

Exclusive: ‘Stranger Things’ actor tells ‘The Independent’ why he was asked to officiate co-star’s marriage to Jon Bon Jovi’s son

Matthew Modine has revealed that he met his Stranger Things co-star Millie Bobby Brown’s fiancé Jake Bongiovi before the couple’s first date, saying he went to “suss him out” and “size him up”.

“I was the first person to meet Jake,” Modine told The Independent ahead of his cycling film, Hard Miles. “He was such a gentleman. He was so kind, this young man, and comported himself in such a grown-up manner. He was very impressive. I don’t know what I expected from a rock star’s son, but he’s a very impressive young man.”

Bongiovi is the son of Jon Bon Jovi. Last month, Modine announced that he will officiate Brown and Bongiovi’s upcoming wedding and has written vows for them to exchange.

Modine, 65, first met Brown, 20, during production of season one of Stranger Things, which aired in 2016. He plays Dr Martin Brenner, a government scientist who has a tumultuous relationship with Brown’s character Eleven, who refers to him as “Papa”.

The Full Metal Jacket star said he believed he was chosen for the important role in her wedding because of “the counsel that I’ve given to her over the course of knowing her.”

“I mean, she was 11 years old when we met,” Modine continued. “It’s a very nurturing, very loving relationship. When we filmed season four, she invited me to stay at her house.

Matthew Modine and Millie Bobby Brown with her fiancé Jake Bongiovi (Getty)

“She saw me going through my process, which she’d never seen, of memorising lines, just sitting down with the script and saying the lines over and over again.

“She asked me why I work so hard to memorise. She said: ‘Obviously you know the lines. What are you searching for?’ And I said: ‘Millie, I’m working with the most famous actress in the world! Certainly one of the most famous actresses in the world, and I have to be prepared.’

“What you want to do is get to a place where you don’t have to think about what it is you’re saying, and be able to react to her.”

Hard Miles stars Modine as real-life social worker Greg Townsend, who assembled an unlikely cycling team of juvenile convicts for a transformative 1,000-mile bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

Brown announced her engagement to Bongiovi, 21, in April 2023 with a black and white photo on Instagram. Their engagement came nearly two years after the pair confirmed their relationship with an Instagram selfie in June 2021. While their wedding date hasn’t been publicly revealed, the Enola Holmes star hasn’t shied away from sharing details about their engagement.

During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Brown shared that Bongiovi proposed to her underwater and that they nearly lost the ring in the process.