Dad jeans? It’s a no from David Harbour, who plays Chief Jim Hopper, the ultimate TV dad, on season two of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Over the span of nine episodes, Hopper goes from being our favourite TV detective to instant father figure to Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven — something Harbour himself frets about.
“God, I have such mixed feelings about being a dad, because I don’t want to have to start wearing dad jeans and being seen as a completely non-sexualised being,” he admitted at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival.
“But no, reading the scripts, I did know that there would be a very paternal side to Chief Hopper that we did not experience in season one, so it was cool to have that come out.”
There’s also the small fact that, on the internet, Hopper has become known as the ‘Hot Dad’.
“There we go! That’s what I like to hear. I like that,” reacted Harbour, with a laugh. “I just wish I was as handsome as Joe Keery, though, who plays Steve Harrington. I really like that kid. He’s so hilarious in the show. I love his work so much, so I kind of fanboy a lot over him.”
The pair have been mutually fanboying each other in interviews and on Twitter, though Harbour feels equally proud of all his co-stars on the sci-fi horror series.
“I’m so proud of the actors, I can’t even tell you. I’m not normally like that in a lot of things that I do, but this show, there’s just such a genuine [feeling] that when I watch it I’m so impressed with everybody,” he said.
“It’s just such a joy. I don’t get to hang out with them in real life very much, so it’s nice to kind of fanboy out from afar on social media,” he added.
Harbour is currently in the midst of wrapping up one other major movie project: Hellboy. The comic book superhero is known for being exceptionally large and red.
“We’re almost finished shooting. It’s been a wild ride — it’s going to be a crazy movie. It’s a lot of red paint in the mornings,” said Harbour.
“It’s very different than a lot of these other superhero movies. It’s very dark, and weird and funny and strange. It’s almost like a monster movie, like Frankenstein and these old monster movies,” he added.
Fans of the Hellboy comic and franchise will have to be patient, however, as Harbour’s reboot isn’t slated to hit theatres until January 2019.
