Before his Stranger Things fame, David Harbour did many small and significant character roles in several films and TV series. Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds was one project he could never forget due to a major disappointment. If you don’t remember seeing him in the sci-fi flick starring Tom Cruise, that’s because he was cut from the film. While Harbour accepted his fate, he was probably hurt by the fact that Spielberg had no memory of working with him in the film.
Harbour has two major projects in his current slate. He will reprise his Red Guardian role from Marvel’s Black Widow in the upcoming film Thunderbolts*. Harbour has also started filming his fan-favorite role as Jim Hopper for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
David Harbour’s Scene With Tom Cruise Was Cut From Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds
David Harbour was credited as a dock worker in the production of Steven Spielberg‘s 2005 film, War of the Worlds. However, his scene with Tom Cruise, as his drinking buddy at a bar, was cut from the film. Harbour opened up about his unfortunate encounter with the Jaws director during an interview with Yahoo!.
The film featured Cruise as a divorced father Ray Ferrier, who works as a crane operator at a dock. In a scene in the film, Cruise’s character is late to pick up his daughter and gets in trouble with his ex-wife. However, Harbour shot a scene with Cruise at a bar which shows the real reason why the father was late.
Harbour shared that the scene was not a necessary one and he had the feeling that it would be cut from the film. However, he agreed to the scene because he was excited to meet Spielberg. However, the scene was cut at the editing table and never made it into the movie. The Banshee actor shared with Yahoo!:
“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 was right about the scene since it didn’t have any relevance to the larger plot of the film. His fortunes turned around when he got a meaty role in the Sam Mendes-directed film, Revolutionary Road. The film was produced by Spielberg’s production company, DreamWorks Pictures.
Steven Spielberg Had No Memory Working With David Harbour In The Tom Cruise Movie
David Harbour did a pretty good job in his role as Shep Campbell in the Leonardo DiCaprio film. He even managed to impress the Schindler’s List director who praised his performance in Revolutionary Road when they met during a table read for another project. However, Spielberg had no clue that they had worked together earlier in War of the Worlds and told Harbour that they should work together on a project. Harbour told Yahoo!:
“[Spielberg] 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.”
Spielberg hasn’t cast Harbour in one of his movies yet, but he should really make up for his unintentional mistake soon. A 6 foot 3 inch actor who has the skills to make their audience emotionally invest in their character is a rare find in Hollywood.
Both War of the Worlds and Revolutionary Road are now available for streaming on Paramount+.
