In today’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo gets spooky with David Harbour (“Stranger Things,” “Black Widow,” “Violent Night”). The actor is currently promoting his film, “We Have A Ghost,” which follows a family that discovers a ghost named Ernest (David Harbour) in their new home, which leads them to become internet sensations while also helping the ghost find peace. The film hits Netflix on February 24 and also stars Anthony Mackie, Tig Notaro, Jennifer Coolidge, Jahi Winston, and more.
During the chat, Harbour discussed the unique nature of the script and the film that led him to trust that “We Have A Ghost” would work.
“I really like Christopher Landon’s movie, ‘Freaky,” Harbour said. “It was a really interesting, unique movie. Because it does blend genres and, as you know, with ‘Violent Night’ and things like that, I’m interested in opening up the form and blending genres and doing things that are unexpected. Because when I go to the theater, I think the hardest thing to get people out to the theater nowadays is like, ‘What haven’t you seen?’ Like, ‘What is going to be new and remarkable to you?’ So, I felt with ‘Freaky,’ [Christopher Landon] is doing some interesting things cinematically. So that was super cool. And the other thing was that [Ernest] didn’t have any lines. I mean, it’s a ghost, the character is one of the leads of the movie, and he doesn’t say a single word throughout the whole movie, and I thought, ‘Wow! What an incredible challenge.”
Harbour is also very busy these days. He’s gearing up to simultaneously shoot not only the final season of “Stranger Things,” but also Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” where he’ll reprise his character of Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, which debuted in “Black Widow.” While he couldn’t share any details on what’s to come, he could delve into what he wants to explore for the lovable Red Guardian.
“It’s so interesting to think about where he ends up at the end of Black Widow after his story is complete and what happens to him after he’s out of prison. Where does he go?” Harbour said. “To reconnect with Florence [Pugh] is going to be great as well. And also, I would like to see, because he is an idiot and he is an ego maniac – all that stuff, but he does have this fire in him, and I think he could rise to certain occasions if given the chance. I’d like to see him be a little bit more of a badass as well. I’d like to see those fighting skills, which we see a little bit with Taskmaster, but as messed up as he is, he does have the super serum, and he knows this Russian Sambo technique, and I think we could see a lot more color in that department in terms of his range as a fighter. And I’d like to see where he can go now that he’s out of prison and he’s got more hope for his life, like who he might become. There’s a lot of potential and a lot of opportunity.”
Harbour is also set to appear in Neil Blomkamp’s upcoming video game adaptation of the hit Sony game, “Gran Turismo.”
“I’m really excited for people to see that movie,” Harbour said of the sports/racing film. “Again, like what’s happening with “The Last of Us,” I think PlayStation has now changed its focus from making money to instead, their focus really is just making good stuff. They want really high-quality stuff. And the script is real quality. Neil [Blomkamp] is real quality. To me, one of my favorite movies of all time is “Hoosiers,” and it has a feeling like “Hoosiers,” in the sense that it’s a real sports movie and a real inspirational story and very moving.”
He also touched on the technical aspects of “Gran Turismo,” which he described as “unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”
“We Have A Ghost” will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday, February 24. You can listen to the entire conversation with David Harbour below.
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