Stranger Things star David Harbour has revealed to The Wrap that he auditioned for the role of Fred Dukes – a.k.a. The Blob – in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, only to be told by the casting directors that he was too fat for the role!
“I auditioned for one of the ‘Wolverine’ movies and I bumped into one of the casting directors on the lot, and she was really sweet and she was like — I’m never in town, I’m always in New York — ‘oh my god, David Harbour, you’re in town! I have the perfect role for you.’ I was like, ‘great, I need to work, what do you got?’ She’s like ‘THE BLOB!’ ‘The Blob?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, it’s like an X-Men, he’s like big, fat and controls gravity’ and I was like ‘Okay, wow, that’s flattering.’ And she was like, ‘no, no, it’s not that you’re fat, it’s just that we need a big guy to wear the suit.”
Harbour revealed that during the audition he lifted up his shirt and joked “I got your Blob right here!, only for it to backfire: “I just made a stupid joke and then they called me and the director, we met at like a hotel, and he was like, ‘David, look, you’re wonderful, we really think you’re just a great actor, we’re just concerned… we’re really concerned.’ I was like, ‘Why, what’s your concern? I’m good to go. I’m available, let’s do this!’ And they were like, ‘no, it’s just, you lifted up your shirt and we saw the… we’re just a little worried about your health.’ I was like, ‘Wait a minute, dude, pause for one second. You are telling me I’m too fat to play The Blob? That’s awesome, I have to get the fuck back to New York.’ That’s my audition — so I didn’t get The Blob.”
The role of The Blob ultimately went to Kevin Durand. Harbour meanwhile went on to make a brief appearance in the DCEU with a supporting role in last year’s Suicide Squad, and will soon be taking on the title role in the Dark Horse adaptation Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen.
Originally published June 10, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
