David Harbour fears being called ‘Hopper’ for the rest of his life
Actor David Harbour has expressed his concerns about being constantly recognised for playing the character Hopper in Netflix’s smash hit science fiction TV show Stranger Things, the fifth season of which is still yet to be filmed amid the actors’ and writers’ strikes.
In a new interview with Insider, Harbour has revealed his plans to stop acting in TV series once the fifth Stranger Things season is completed so that he can focus solely on performing in movies. Harbour has previously starred in Brokeback Mountain, Revolutionary Road and Hellboy.
“I’ve been on Netflix, but this was a small original movie that’s going to a cinema,” Harbour said of the film Violent Night. “A whole new world opened up for me with that. I like this playing field. I want to make original movies that go to the movie theatres.”
The actor is keen to walk away from primarily being known as his Stranger Things character. “I think about that a lot, he said. “It’s a funny position I’m in, which I never thought I would be in,” he said.
Harbour continued: “The first year of Stranger Things, I remember having a discussion with a publicist and her saying, ‘Maybe you don’t want to be associated with the show so much,’ and I was like, ‘Why? I love this show. I love the character.’ And I do love the show. And I do love the character. But I don’t want to be just that character. I don’t want to be just that guy.”
Drawing reference to another famous actor leaving a successful TV show, Harbour noted, “I think about George Clooney leaving ER. Now we just see him as George Clooney. But there was a time when it was, ‘The guy from ER is doing a movie with Nicole Kidman.'”
Harbour seems to find the balance between accepting his most famous role and trying to move away from it “tricky”.
“You don’t want to shit on the people that love you for this thing that you did that you also love,” he concluded. “But at the same time, you kind of want to leave the nest. I got more in me.”
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.