'Stranger Things' star has a lot of empathy for troubled teens, stresses importance of forgiveness

EXCLUSIVE - Bicycles play a nostalgic role in the popular sci-fi series "Stranger Things." And they are just as important to one of the show's stars, Matthew Modine, off-screen as well.

Modine is an avid bicyclist in New York City, so he was already pretty comfortable in the seat when he took the role of Greg Townsend in the new movie, "Hard Miles." The film, from director R.J. Daniel Hanna and Blue Fox Entertainment, is based off a true story about a social worker at a youth facility who assembles a group of juvenile convicts to embark on a 1,000-mile bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. The movie also stars Leslie David Baker ("The Office"), Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Jackson Kelly, Jahking Guillory, Damien Diaz and Judah Mackey and features an appearance by Sean Astin.

"Well, bicycling has always been a part of my life," Modine told Fox News Digital. "Ever since I was a young boy, to get to school, we rode bikes to school. "

But while his bicycling skills helped him to get through the film, Modine said the kind of touring they were doing on set was something that all the cast was learning to do together.

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Modine touted biking as good therapy for anyone struggling because it forces one to be "present."

"Well, most importantly, because when you're riding a bicycle, you have to be present, and so much of our lives can be consumed by distraction of thinking about what we could be doing, what we should be doing, or… mistakes or things that we've done in the past that are troubling us," he said. "So, when you get on a bicycle and start riding, your thoughts can drift, and you can think about lots of different things. It does become kind of a meditation, but you have to be present." 

In "Hard Miles," Townsend takes four struggling young adults on a grueling bike ride from Denver, Colorado, to the Grand Canyon. Most grumble at the start, but the teens eventually embrace the adventure - and one another - as they log the miles.

"And because of the kind of physical exertion that 'Hard Miles' takes these young kids on, riding 762 miles from Denver, Colorado, to the Grand Canyon, it makes them very present," he continued. "And the further they get away from Denver, Colorado, and the gang that they may have been in, the troubled home that they may have come from, the eating disorder that one of them is experiencing, that it helps to give a greater perspective. 

"I think about it like when we see a horse with those blinders on. So it makes the horse not have the ability to have peripheral vision. And the further you get away from those problems of our past and not worrying about the future but being present, it kind of pulls those things away. And you're able to see the world that you actually exist in, that there is this moment and there really is, the past is the past, and the future is unknown. So why not try to be the best person you can in this moment?"

The same goes for Townsend, who credits bicycling with helping him through his own troubled past.

"Being a troubled kid myself, I was one of those things that got me on the straight and narrow," Townsend told CBS News Colorado in November.

"The atmosphere, the environment, the experiential education that they get out of it, and the physiological part of riding a bike, kind of does a lot of really amazing things if you want it to," he added.

Modine adamantly said that juvenile convicts deserve empathy, sharing how his own past has proven that it's important to not let former mistakes ruin a child's entire future.

"Every child deserves empathy," he said. "It's an extraordinary thing. The window of troubled youth, it's usually between, like, 14, 15 and 17 years old. And how unfortunate it would be that we punish a child for their life because they made a mistake in their youth... As my grandparents used to say, there go you, but for the grace of God." 

"There are plenty of mistakes that I made in my youth that, had I been judged for that behavior when I got older, it may have hamstrung me. It may have, you know, it would be a tremendous weight to have to carry with you throughout your life. Some mistake that you made when you were 15 years old, 16 years old. So... it's so important for communities, for society to remember the mistakes that we made when we were in our youth and take greater effort to help those children in those circumstances, so that they can get on with their life."

The actor zeroed in on the importance of forgiveness, noting it's in the name penitentiary itself.

"They used to call prisons penitentiaries," he said. "Now, the root of that word is penance. So when we made a mistake, you made the mistake. You go to a place and you rehabilitate yourself. You know, you learn, you do penance for the mistake that you made, and then you get on with your life. And when we started calling penitentiaries, prisons. We changed the sort of perception and vocabulary of the circumstances of those people… and the mistakes that they made… And I think it's so important that we help people to rehabilitate and get on with their lives and not continue to punish them throughout their life."

"I always think ‘Hard Miles’ is a great example of helping people to see those young people that, yes, they're knuckleheads and make mistakes," he said at another point in the interview. "But inside of them there's goodness and that we can do something as a society, as a community, to help those people rehabilitate and get on with their lives. And I think that's an important story." 

"And, you know, like Grandma Ethel used to say, there go you, but for the grace of God... And I'm not even religious," he laughed.

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Modine's two worlds - cycling and acting - collided during his time on "Stranger Things." Though he doesn't ride a bike in the series himself, his young costars pull nostalgic heartstrings each time they ride together through the fictional city of Hawkins, Indiana. 

"When you watch 'Stranger Things' and you see all the kids riding around on bicycles, I think that's part of the appeal and attraction for young audiences today," he said. "Watching 'Stranger Things' is just how liberated all the kids were because of a bicycle. So when I moved to New York City to study acting, I used to bicycle to get to all my auditions."

As an environmentalist, Modine started an organization called Bicycle for a Day as a way to "reduce his carbon footprint." It eventually grew into an organization to help to lobby for the bicycle share program in New York City.

He recalled how tens of thousands of people showed up to an event for the cause at the South Street Seaport and Mayor Bloomberg gave him a certificate and an official Bicycle for a Day proclamation. 

"So, yeah, bicycling is a big, important part of my life," Modine beamed.

"Hard Miles" hit theaters nationwide on April 19.