We Have a Ghost releases on Netflix later this week, and what appears to be a wickedly silly, charming family movie just might be the source of one of David Harbour‘s most intriguing performances ever.
In the film, Harbour portrays Ernest, the titular spirit that unsuccessfully haunts the walls of the house recently purchased by the family of teenager Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston). When Kevin ends up turning Ernest into a social media phenomenon, complete with fan meetups, the CIA catches wind of the specter, landing Ernest and co. in a cat-and-mouse chase for the ages.
Though ghost and ghost-adjacent shenanigans will be a big name of the game for the film, the role of Ernest was something of a challenge for Harbour, given that the character has no dialogue and therefore relied on a purely physical performance. By the looks of the trailer, Harbour seems to have accomplished his task quite well, and in an interview with Screen Rant, the actor named an unlikely source of inspiration for such a role.
I was scared because he doesn’t have any lines, right? So it’s like, “How are you going to reveal this guy?” But I thought a lot about that movie E.T., and how expressive that little alien was with just a little finger and a puppet. And there’s something about the simplicity and the stillness of Ernest that I found really profound. He was alien to this world; he was uncomfortable with it. And there was something about that, that I really latched onto and that allowed me a real focus.
We know that Stephen Spielberg’s influence on movies is borderline untouchable, so perhaps this isn’t as out-of-left-field as it may seem at a glance. On top of it all, a role that’s so evocative of one of cinema’s most beloved aliens certainly isn’t just uncharted territory for Harbour, so it will be interesting to see how the actor goes about bringing such a character to life (insofar as ghost characters can be brought to life, har har).
We Have a Ghost hits Netflix on Feb. 24.