Stranger Things' David Harbour Impressed Liam Neeson With One Unexpected Skill
Turns out, Netflix's Stranger Things actor David Harbour can throw a punch or two.
Harbour is a trained wrestler and jiu-jitsu fighter. And showing off his martial arts skills was enough to impress even Liam Neeson.
In his interview with Total Film Harbour, who inhabits the character of grumpy police officer Jim Hopper for the Netflix 's show, said that the Schindler's List star was surprised.
"[I'm] trained in wrestling styles and jiu-jitsu," Harbour revealed. "I did a movie with Liam [Neeson] after the Taken series. He marveled at it. When you're in your twenties, in your prime physically, nobody's really interested in you doing that. And then you get to be a little old and crotchety and incapable, and they get very interested!"
Neeson, of course, is no stranger to all kinds of action movies, but the actor does not do his own stunts and has been working with the same stunt double, Mark Wanselow, since 1999. This is in contrast to Harbour, who recently starred in the Marvel movie Black Widow as the Red Guardian, the Moscow-born KGB agent and Captain America's equivalent. When asked if he would like to play Red Guardian again, the actor said yes.
"I love Red Guardian. I can't wait to pull back the layers. The great thing about him is that he's not very well-defined in the comics, like some of the other Marvel superheroes. So we can play with him in a different way, and be surprising and unexpected," The Newsroom star said.
The next movie where we'll be able to appreciate Harbour's martial arts skills is Thunderbolts, which will be released in the summer of 2024. The actor's Red Guardian will be a member of a team of supervillains recruited by the government to go on a mission.
David Harbour said he is very excited about the movie and is happy to be working with his co-stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent and Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova to create "colorful characters" in the movie.
Harbour has also told Total Film about his portrayal of Santa for Violent Night, a film about a group of elite burglars who break into the home of a wealthy family, take them hostage and try to open their safe.
The belligerent Santa Claus turns out to be in the house, and he's no saint as he beats the hell out of the gangsters - not your typical Coca-Cola fashion Santa. Get ready to see the unconventional Santa in action this December when Violent Night is released.