Steven Spielberg has helmed 32 movies and counting, but he can’t quite keep track of all the actors that he’s worked with.
“Stranger Things” star David Harbour revealed that Spielberg forgot he starred in the 2005 film “War of the Worlds.” While Harbour’s scene was eventually cut from the final film, he was credited as a “dock worker” on the production, he told Yahoo!. The scene included Harbour and lead actor Tom Cruise at a bar together.
“I don’t know if you remember the movie, but [Cruise’s character] works nights and he gets off work at the dock and he goes and he’s late to pick up his kid. And that’s where the mom gets really mad at him for being a deadbeat dad sort of situation,” Harbour explained. “Well, in the original screenplay, there was a scene where the reason why he’s late is he’s out drinking with his buddy at the bar after his shift at like eight in the morning. And his buddy at the bar was me. And we had a little scene in this bar and it was not a great scene. It was also not a necessary scene to the film at all…And we shot it and I remember thinking it was probably going to get cut, but Spielberg was there and it was so exciting to meet him. He cast me. And then, you know, it just got cut, just never wound up in the movie.”
Harbour continued, “It’s crushing. It’s crushing and horrible. But it was kind of great because years later Spielberg produced ‘Revolutionary Road’ and he came up to me at another table reading for something else and he was just ‘Oh, David, I just want to say I really love you in “Revolutionary Road.” I think you’re just terrific. We’re so happy. I really one day would love to work with you.’ And I did not bring up the fact that we had already worked together and he had cut me out of his movie.”
Harbour’s role in “Revolutionary Road” also caught the attention of another A-lister, Madonna.
“I got a call from a casting director that I knew very well saying they’re putting together a top-secret movie read-through, but you just have to show up at the St. Regis and go in this room and all will be revealed. And I was like, ‘This is really weird and creepy,'” Harbour reflected. “‘You have a sex scene in it and they thought you were sexy.’ And so all weekend, I was literally thinking about Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese. I show up at the St. Regis and I get in the room and there’s a bunch of other New York actors there and in walks Madonna, who’s directing this movie. The first thing that flooded over me, I was like, ‘Wow, Madonna thinks I’m sexy.'”
“Stranger Things” star David Harbour revealed that Spielberg forgot he starred in the 2005 film “War of the Worlds.” While Harbour’s scene was eventually cut from the final film, he was credited as a “dock worker” on the production, he told Yahoo!. The scene included Harbour and lead actor Tom Cruise at a bar together.
“I don’t know if you remember the movie, but [Cruise’s character] works nights and he gets off work at the dock and he goes and he’s late to pick up his kid. And that’s where the mom gets really mad at him for being a deadbeat dad sort of situation,” Harbour explained. “Well, in the original screenplay, there was a scene where the reason why he’s late is he’s out drinking with his buddy at the bar after his shift at like eight in the morning. And his buddy at the bar was me. And we had a little scene in this bar and it was not a great scene. It was also not a necessary scene to the film at all…And we shot it and I remember thinking it was probably going to get cut, but Spielberg was there and it was so exciting to meet him. He cast me. And then, you know, it just got cut, just never wound up in the movie.”
Harbour continued, “It’s crushing. It’s crushing and horrible. But it was kind of great because years later Spielberg produced ‘Revolutionary Road’ and he came up to me at another table reading for something else and he was just ‘Oh, David, I just want to say I really love you in “Revolutionary Road.” I think you’re just terrific. We’re so happy. I really one day would love to work with you.’ And I did not bring up the fact that we had already worked together and he had cut me out of his movie.”
Harbour’s role in “Revolutionary Road” also caught the attention of another A-lister, Madonna.
“I got a call from a casting director that I knew very well saying they’re putting together a top-secret movie read-through, but you just have to show up at the St. Regis and go in this room and all will be revealed. And I was like, ‘This is really weird and creepy,'” Harbour reflected. “‘You have a sex scene in it and they thought you were sexy.’ And so all weekend, I was literally thinking about Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese. I show up at the St. Regis and I get in the room and there’s a bunch of other New York actors there and in walks Madonna, who’s directing this movie. The first thing that flooded over me, I was like, ‘Wow, Madonna thinks I’m sexy.'”