Technically, like its titular scarlet-haired assassin-turned-Avenger, the Black Widow film doesn’t exist. Despite numerous paparazzi set photos and an ever-growing cast, Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced that the movie is in development. Apparently, though, that news hasn’t reached David Harbour, who just won’t stop talking about his work on the upcoming the pic, despite the fact we don’t know anything about his role in it.
Harbour is no stranger to blockbuster-sized productions. Having shot onto the scene in a lead role on Netflix’s Stranger Things, the actor recently starred in this year’s heavily panned Hellboy reboot, which was riddled with production issues. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Black Widow though, as Harbour praised the film as “unlike anything” he’s ever worked on in a new interview with ComicBook.com:
“The fact that these guys are so good at what they do, and so passionate about what they do, it feels tremendous. I’m very, very happy with the situation, working on it now. It’s on a scale and on a passionate level unlike anything I’ve ever done.”
Even though Harbour has had a very storied career, it makes sense that his first MCU pic is a brand new experience for him. After all, half of the top ten highest grossing films of all time are Marvel Studios movies, so you’d think they could cough up a nice chunk of change for their productions. A large portion of this commendation can apparently be attributed to Black Widow director Cate Shortland, who Harbour considers one of the finest filmmakers he’s ever had the pleasure to collaborate with:
“This woman, Cate Shortland, who is directing this movie is one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with. She’s so, so smart, and makes such beautiful indie movies. The fact that you’d put someone like that at the helm of one of these huge action movies — and she pays such attention to the story and such attention to character — speaks volumes.”
Marvel pics are known for placing just as much focus on the personality of their characters as they do on the extravagance of their set pieces, and one could say that it’s those star-driven personas that find audiences coming back for more. While it’s rare for an actor to speak ill of a production before it’s released, it genuinely sounds like Harbour is astonished by every facet of this film, which makes us all the more excited.
Black Widow is currently shooting in Budapest as we speak – even if we’re not supposed to know about it just yet – and we can expect more details on the Scarlett Johansson-led film in the coming months, most likely at Marvel’s D23 panel.