David Harbour has dropped out of “Behemoth!,” an upcoming drama film from “Michael Clayton” director Tony Gilroy and Searchlight Pictures.
A representative for Searchlight Pictures confirmed to Variety that Harbour stepped back from his role.
Harbour was set to star alongside Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde in the film. Multiple insiders familiar with the project said Harbour was overwhelmed by the series wrap of “Stranger Things” — a monthslong episodic rollout and global water cooler moment with intense press scrutiny — and stepped away from the project to rest. The role has been recast, two sources said, though Harbour’s replacement was not immediately known.
Reps for Harbour did not immediately return requests for comment. While plot details remain scarce, an official logline for “Behemoth!” briefly states the film follows “a musician from a family of musicians who returns to Los Angeles,” serving as “a love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it.” Gilroy penned the script and directs. He also serves as producer with Sanne Wohlenberg.
Throughout his career, Harbour has remained very open about his journey with mental health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 26 years old after an intense episode. He told Variety in a 2022 interview that, although there are more conversations today about “wanting an open dialogue about mental illness,” the focus is often solely on the “tragedy.”
“The colors of that dialogue need to be much broader in the sense of everything,” he added. “We pathologize this idea of normal and in truth, everybody has a lot of different experiences we should try to appreciate.”
Harbour is best known for playing Jim Hopper on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” First premiering on the streamer in 2016, the sci-fi drama series just capped off its fifth and final season with a two-hour finale. His other recent credits include films like “Thunderbolts*,” “A Working Man” and “Gran Turismo,” and TV shows like “Marvel Zombies” and “Creature Commandos.”
The story was first reported by Hollywood-centric social media gossip account Deuxmoi.
