Stranger Things and Hellboy star David Harbour seems like a pretty cool guy; he does funny commercials, he helps kids take senior photos, he’s apparently happy to let Twitter retweets dictate every aspect of his day-to-day life. But a dark question lurks beneath all of Harbour’s charming antics: Does he act handsome enough?
It’s something that’s haunted Harbour before, apparently; that’s per a recent Variety “Actors On Actors” interview he did with fellow small-town-with-a-big-secret authority figure Kyle MacLachlan. The two men were discussing the sorts of notes they’ve gotten from directors over the years—David Lynch apparently likes to tell people to act more “wind” or “Elvis,” because David Lynch is great—and Harbour talked about something Ang Lee once told him on the set of Brokeback Mountain. (Harbour has a small role in the 2005 Oscar winner, playing a potential lover of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack.)
“That was one of the worst notes I think I’ve ever received,” Harbour said of the moment. “I had one scene, and I came in on coverage, and he was like, “More…handsome.’ And I was like, ‘Wow.’” Laughing with MacLachlan, Harbour implies that he did his best to “handsome up” for the celebrated director, but still noted that, “I do remember feeling like that was a note for the casting director as opposed to me.”
You can watch the full half-hour interview—which is, unsurprisingly, a pretty charming way to spend a Friday afternoon—right here.