In HBO’s DTF St. Louis, the close relationship between weatherman Clark (Jason Bateman) and his ASL interpreter, Floyd (David Harbour), is complicated by an affair with Floyd’s wife, Carol (Linda Cardellini), resulting in a death investigated by two law enforcement officials, Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) and Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday).
Awards Buzz spoke with Harbour about the appeal of this show and how it doesn’t feel like anything else:
“I think it is truly original, for some people, for better for worse. For me, for better. But I do think there are some people who watch that first episode and it is such a unique tone that it may take a little second to get into the world because, yeah, I find it truly unique. And I’m really proud of the gentleness, not only with Floyd, but throughout the whole piece. I think it really subverts the suburban noir idea or genre or even the idea of heroes and villains in general and it makes everyone gentler and more human.”
He shared what he likes most about his character:
“There’s just so much to like. Probably the fact that he’s an Olympic-level pommel horse champion secretly is one of my favorites. I guess, at the core of him is this relationship with his stepson that I really love. There were a couple scenes early on that Steve wrote and the way we shot them in this skate park, that was just such a beautiful night It was me and this young actor Arlan, who was just wonderful, and I just really liked that relationship. I think it’s very beautiful. I think that Floyd, he’s such a lovely person and there was a fear early on that he would be almost too perfect for this world or that there’s something almost wrong with him because he is so kind and a bit aloof. I think that one of the joys was to ground him in a real three-dimensionality to see his relationship with Linda and the difficulties in that, to see sometimes when he could be a jerk or insensitive. I think we did a good job of keeping this gentle character from becoming a cliché or just an archetype and making him a real three-dimensional person.”
Watch the video above to hear whether he’s a fan of recumbent bicycles as well as how his Marvel costars have embraced this show, as well as a preview of his upcoming film Evil Genius, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
DTF St. Louis is streaming on HBO Max.
