Becoming one of the most lucrative properties for Netflix, Stranger Things has relaunched many actors back into stardom, including Winona Ryder. Another actor who has found large popularity since the premiere of Stranger Things was David Harbour.
Mainly known for portraying Hellboy’s titular character and Elliot Hirsch from the Newsroom, created by Aaron Sorkin, David Harbour has utilized the opportunity to play Jim Hopper to showcase his acting skills.
David Harbour returned from the dead
At the end of season 3, we saw Jim Hopper die as the characters were saving the world from the Mind Flayer. The death of the character seemed pretty definitive but he has returned in season 4. While commenting on his character’s return, he started to Collider:
“He’s been, as we’ve seen, he’s in this Russian prison, so we get to reinvent him in a sense. He gets to have a rebirth from what he had become…”
Even though the character had a well-executed sacrifice and resolution with other characters. David Harbour insists that there is more to see from the character, in an interview with Los Angeles Times, he comments on the same:
“I mean, I really wanted you to see a different layer of him. The layer without skin, you know, who really is the beaten man. And there’s no sort of ironic joy in it. There’s no Harrison Ford anymore. It’s just been stripped away from this brutal environment.”
The Actor went from ‘Dad Bod’ to Super Fit
A striking difference we see in Jim Hopper from season 3 is his fit body, losing his ‘dad bod’ from previous seasons. David Harbour almost lost 60 pounds to prepare for the role in season 4. While describing the process, he said:
“It’s amazing. You try to do all these different things, the protein and the this and that, and then you just stop eating, and you lose weight.”
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But doesn’t suggest others do the same, stating that he always felt hungry during the shoot. He too felt the negative effects of the diet, asserting:
“I think you’ll see it’s not very good for me, mentally and nutritionally”
Though the transformation does make sense, the loss of weight shows how life in a prison camp has been harsh on Jim Hopper, demoralizing him. Considering he needed to be fit for Marvel’s Black Widow too, the transformation couldn’t have come at a better time.
Source: Screenrant
