Shocking Exit: David Harbour Abruptly Leaves Searchlight’s Highly Anticipated ‘Behemoth!’ Drama
David Harbour has abruptly exited Tony Gilroy’s upcoming drama “Behemoth!,” a project still shrouded in secrecy despite its heavyweight pedigree. Very little is publicly known about the film beyond its cast, but the title alone hints at the kind of massive scale Gilroy gravitates toward. The filmmaker first carved out his place in Hollywood with high‑octane screenwriting credits on blockbusters like Michael Bay’s “Armageddon” and the first four “Bourne” films — the fourth of which he also directed — and he’s now deep into directing this mysterious new venture.
“Stranger Things” Star Drops out of “Behemoth!”
“Behemoth!” has been in development for nearly a year; the project currently has at least eight actors attached to it, including Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Matthew Lillard, and the aforementioned Harbour, who has become famous in recent years for his role on the hit Netflix series/cultural phenomenon “Stranger Things.” Harbour plays Jim Hopper, the Vietnam-vet chief of police in Hawkins, Indiana. He has been with the series from its 2016 beginning to its much-watched, much-celebrated Season 5 finale this past New Year’s Eve.
Apparently, it’s this very role that was responsible for his decision to bow out of “Behemoth!” His work on the latest season of “Stranger Things” constituted months of effort on a project that was subject to a constant media microscope. On January 6, Variety reported that, according to “multiple insiders familiar with the project,” this experience has left him fatigued, and he chose to leave “Behemoth!” because of his desire to take a break. How long this break will be and how he will spend it are anyone’s guesses, which is just as well: his celebrity status notwithstanding, those matters are nobody’s business but his.
A New Actor Quickly Takes His Place
Not 24 hours later, on January 7, Deadline reported that Gilroy and Co. had found somebody else for the part. The person in question is Will Arnett, a prolific actor who has voiced characters in many animated films (including “Ratatouille,” “The Lego Movie,” and “The Nut Job”) and acted in a number of comedies, such as “Hot Rod” (2007), “Blades of Glory” (2007), and last year’s well-received “Is This Thing On?”
“Behemoth!” has been in production since this past October, so there are filmed scenes featuring Harbour that Gilroy will need to reshoot. Fortunately, Deadline says, according to “insiders,” Harbour’s time-consuming preoccupation with “Stranger Things” now works in the movie’s favor: such was his schedule during the early part of production that the scenes in question are minimal. Therefore, there’s no expectation that this recasting will push back the conclusion of the shoot, which should come in a matter of weeks.
This isn’t the first instance of recasting during the making of “Behemoth!”: early on (back in March), Oscar Isaac (“Ex Machina,” “Frankenstein”) was attached to play the film’s lead role. However, he dropped out in August, and his role went instead to Pedro Pascal.
Whom Will He Play, and in What Story?
So far, “Behemoth!”‘s studio, Searchlight Pictures, has made almost nothing public in regard to the plot of the film. At the moment, we know that the main character (presumably the one played by Pascal) is a cellist. The January 6 Variety article also quotes an official logline as calling the movie “a love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it,” and describing the protagonist as “a musician from a family of musicians who returns to Los Angeles.”
Of course, this doesn’t even begin to tell us about Arnett’s character – nor about the roles played by any of the rest of the cast, for that matter. Nonetheless, we know that these actors will star in a drama that will shine a spotlight on a seldom dramatized but supremely important facet of Hollywood entertainment: the people who score our favorite movies.
The release date of “Behemoth!” remains undisclosed at this time.
