David Harbour chats with THR at the 'Thunderbolts*' premiere in Los Angeles and shares some of the characteristics he wanted to explore with his character. Plus, he describes what his character's pop culture obsession would be.
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00:00Long ago, you and I went comic book shopping, and you came across a Dungeons & Dragons comic of Rick & Morty,
00:06and you lost your mind, and it was years ago, man.
00:09I can't believe you're...
00:10Oh, I'm forever.
00:11The theater is, you know, going well, and you're bringing up Rick & Morty Dungeons & Dragons.
00:16The childlike glee that I got to see.
00:18Wow, I know it's true, man. I do love Dungeons & Dragons, and like a teenager, I love Rick & Morty, too.
00:24I mean, I think that show is so genius.
00:26So I'm wondering, Alexei's also a geek for pop culture, American pop culture.
00:30What do you think the equivalent for him would be as you freaking out over Rick & Morty?
00:34So funny. I mean, I've never even thought, like, specifically what that would be for him.
00:40That's such a good question. I wish I did.
00:42Like, it's probably Rick & Morty.
00:44Like, unfortunately, he's sitting there watching his own tapes of him in the Soviet Union,
00:50and even in his apartment, which, again, you'll never see this stuff in the movie.
00:53The incredible artists that work on these movies that never get seen, like, the posters in Alexei's apartment,
00:59all over his apartment are posters of him, like, with vodka, like, or with the workers, like, with a sickle,
01:06and, like, some woman with a, I mean, it's hilarious.
01:09Like, he was the bride of Russia, and he tried to, you know, so he's stuck in that, chasing those ghosts.
01:17So last question for you, because I love the specificity of vision you bring to characters,
01:21whether it's Hopper's hat, the tear in Hellboy's jacket.
01:23You really love to dedicate yourself to these things.
01:25What did you want to bring to Alexei that was so important to you to convey who you felt like he was,
01:30visually or metaphorically?
01:31That's a great question.
01:32I mean, I think that the biggest thing that we, it was a sort of combination.
01:41Like, Florence and I came in, and we were very keen on having this dynamic between Alexei and Yelena
01:48be very grounded, very real, very strong.
01:52And for me, it was about, Natasha was the center of that family, even in the revisiting of them.
02:01She's the one that pulls us all together.
02:04She was the star.
02:06And then with her loss, it's like, what happens to a family?
02:10I mean, I know my family's gone through deaths, and, like, you see how the family restructures,
02:15or, like, what's important or isn't important, or what gets lost, or what gets gained.
02:19And I think that we wanted to be very specific about the fact that these people's reactions
02:25and the fact that, like, Alexei just shut down and wouldn't even talk to her.
02:31I can't wait to see it, and I love your work, man.
02:32I really appreciate it.