David Harbour Thought ‘Gran Turismo’ Director’s Style was Nuts

Harbour also talks about 'Violent Night 2,' his character in James Gunn's 'Creature Commandos,' & working on DC for the next 10 years.

If gamer-turned-elite-race-car-driver Jann Mardenborough’s story in Gran Turismo sounds unbelievable, you aren’t alone. The star power behind Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9) underdog film, David Harbour, is right there with you. In fact, while talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, the Stranger Things alum said, “If it wasn’t a true story, it would be the dumbest movie of the year.” Fortunately, the Archie Madekwe-led adventure did really happen, and Blomkamp’s approach to filming puts audiences directly on the track.

Gran Turismo is titled after the video game that inspired a Nissan marketing executive (Orlando Bloom) to dream up a partnership with Nissan and PlayStation. The idea—GT Academy—would offer the best of the best Gran Turismo players a shot at becoming professional race car drivers. When Mardenborough (portrayed in the film by Madekwe) earns the top spot, retired race car driver Jack Salter (Harbour) takes the boy under his wing to prepare him for the dangerous tracks ahead. The movie also features Takehiro Hira as Gran Turismo video game designer Kazunori Yamauchi, Djimon Hounsou as Jann’s father and former professional soccer player Steve Mardenborough, and the Spice Girls’ Geri Horner as Lesley Mardenborough.

During this one-on-one interview, Harbour discusses Blomkamp’s “genius” on set and how the director achieved his vision using Sony’s new VENICE 2 cameras, allowing Harbour a certain “liberation” during scenes. He says he knew Gran Turismo would be “a movie that we could be proud of,” as it all came together, and also talks about Violent Night 2, his character in James Gunn’s DC Universe series Creature Commandos, and the joy of teaming up with DC for however long his role requires. For all of this and more, check out the full interview in the video or transcript below.

This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

COLLIDER: This is one of those stories where, if a screenwriter pitches it, every person in the room would say, “Get the F out of the room. This is beyond unreal. This could never happen.” This story’s insane.

DAVID HARBOUR: If it wasn’t a true story, it would be the dumbest movie of the year. People would be like, “This is a stupid wish-fulfillment story that Sony cooked up to entice all you gamers.” But yeah, the fact that it really happened grounds it in this true wish-fulfillment story. It's an incredible true story.

One of the things, though, that is cool is that Neil [Blomkamp] used that new Sony VENICE 2 camera, and he got to create really cool angles and really put you there. What was your reaction when you saw the camera work and what he was going for?

HARBOUR: He's really a master. He was doing stuff early on, and I realized what a genius he was by simply this one thing – he was using lenses, and I kept saying to him, “When are you coming in for the close-up?” Because he would have cameras that were like a football field away, and I was like, “When are you coming in?” He was like, “I'm in for the close-up right now.” I was like, “What?” [Laughs] He said he's shooting on really long lenses, from really far away, so he could get in real close, but have the camera be really far away because he wanted to feel both close and far away like you're observing, but you're also up close. There was just an aesthetic to that that was quite genius. So I was like, “Oh, you're working on a level that is very subtle.”

Then he also was doing this crazy stuff with drone cameras where they had all these guys with [FPV] drones going 160 miles an hour, weaving in and out of these cars, and they were just crashing them all over the tracks. I mean, it was nuts what they were doing. And I was like, “This film…he's taking risks.” He was doing his work, he's an artist. And I knew he would fight the right battles, and I knew he would make a movie that we could be proud of.

I don't know how it is for you, but when you find out that the cameras are all the way away, but he's going in for a close-up, does that all of a sudden change your performance? Because I would imagine if you know the camera's right here and you know that it's the close-up, maybe that changes what you're doing a little bit.

HARBOUR: I mean, you think that you're gonna get better if you know that, and actually, you generally get worse because you're more self-conscious. So the fact that you didn't even know the cameras were there, you kind of thought you were doing a wide shot, and he's in tight, was liberating because you never really knew what he was shooting. He'd also set up like 10 or 12 cameras, and we would just do stuff in real time, like cars would pull into the pit lane, we would do a full change, I would talk to a stunt driver who was meant to be Jann [Archie Madekwe] outside, and the car would just take off. He would have like 10 cameras, and some of the close-ups that were in there I didn't even know. Just stuff I would improv would be pivotal in the movie, and he was just capturing stuff, and he watches all of it really closely and cobbles together this great film.

So, in that way, when I think that I can control things, I'm usually worse. When I just let him do his thing, if I'm in the hands of a good director and I'm just sort of in it, living, he showed me that it's better that he controls that.

One of the things that's cool is that sometimes—you know the way it is—you might be on a green screen, and you don't know how you're gonna actually make a movie. So what was your reaction, and what was it like when it's actual cars, actual race tracks, everything being practical?

HARBOUR: It's great. It's just really liberating. Sometimes it's a nightmare for sound because you try to do a scene and those cars are so loud, you can't even believe it. [Laughs] But it feels like you're galvanizing a team of people. It has even ramifications that aren't just the specifics of the car. It feels like there's a group of people that know how to do actual things in the actual world, and ADs are getting people together, drivers. So it feels like an event, and it feels on set like you're making something as opposed to just like, “Yeah, we can do it again because it's green screen.” It's like, “We gotta get this because we only have a certain amount of time with these drivers and these cars and the way they're moving. So we gotta get it.” And there's something about that event nature to it that makes us all sort of stand taller and do better.

You also know you're gonna be doing a lot of ADR down the road. I only have a little bit of time left with you, so, you know, Violent Night did very well. When do you think you're playing Santa again?

HARBOUR: [Laughs] Before the writers' strike there was, you know, maybe something that came in. We'll have to see where it fits if they can resolve all these labor issues. If the studios would please go to the table and end these labor issues, we could shoot all kinds of things I'd love to give to the people! But yes, we're in process.

Good, I would like to see you play that role again. You're also gonna be one of the few people that gets to play in both the DC and Marvel sandbox, which is amazing and has to be really cool for you. Have you started recording anything for Creature Commandos? Where are you in that process?

HARBOUR: Yeah, we recorded a bunch of stuff. I mean, not only do I get to play in the DC Universe, I get to play in the James Gunn DC Universe, which is a whole new exciting thing. I didn't know what it was when it was sent to me; I met with James, and he sort of laid out a lot of stuff. It's really exciting. He considers it some of the best stuff he's ever written. It's hilarious, and the character is great. I think it's been announced that it's Frankenstein, and it's a very colorful, terrific character. So, yeah, we've started to shoot stuff. I'm not one to really break, but during this, it is wildly funny stuff. So, yeah, we're shooting. It's hilarious and I can't wait for people to see it.

The thing about signing on for this project is that James has said the people that sign on are gonna be doing the animation, the video games, the live action – it's everything. So what was it like to sign on to something that you might be doing for the next eight to 10 years?

HARBOUR: Well, I talked to him about that. There also is this feeling of like, “Well, is this the right one?” Or, “What are you getting yourself into? Blah, blah, and this character is so good. I wasn't really aware of this character in the Creature Commandos thing. I wasn't even really aware of the Creature Commandos. Then I started reading up on it, and this character is so rich and hilarious and layered that it was exciting. Again, it feels like it's this new world where they don't lock you in anymore. I feel like Marvel learned that lesson as well. If you don't want to do it, I don't think they're gonna make you do 20 movies. But I think it's something where I just love these worlds so much that it's a joy to do and a joy to work with someone so creative. So, if they want me to do eight to 10 years of this, I feel like I'll check my schedule, but I'll try to free up some time.

Gran Turismo is now in theaters.

Steven Weintraub launched Collider in the summer of 2005. As Editor-in-chief, he has taken the site from a small bedroom operation to having millions of readers around the world. If you’d like to follow Steven on Twitter or Instagram, you can expect plenty of breaking news, exclusive interviews, and pictures of cats doing stupid things.

Tamera Jones is an Authority Editor for Collider. When she isn't writing, she's watching cooking videos and devoting her free time to consuming and fangirling over horror movies.