Every time David Harbour got a new script for “DTF St. Louis,” he couldn’t wait to dig in.
“It would be like Christmas morning, and you’d be unwrapping a present,” he says. Because the limited series morphed throughout its four-year gestation, he was constantly surprised. “I wish I could show you versions of this story that went in other directions, but we honed it down to this really incredible thing I’m very proud of.”
In the seven-part series, Harbour plays Floyd Smernitch, a sign language interpreter who befriends Clark Forrest, a meteorologist played by Jason Bateman. At a gathering, Forrest tells Smernitch about an app, “DTF,” that connects couples who are interested in “refreshing” their sex lives. The two investigate and become part of a dark world that results in death.
“Right from early discussions with Jason, I felt a camaraderie,” Harbour says. “I started to really let my guard down and make a new friend. It’s hard as a 50-year-old heterosexual male. I think the chemistry was very organic and I’m very pleased to see that it translates on screen.”
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Bateman agrees. “It’s simply people skills,” he says. “When you’ve got people that aren’t jerks, it’s not tough.” Writer/director Steven Conrad, he adds, “provided an environment where it was safe to explore all those things.”
Conrad says he and Harbour were looking for a story that was suspenseful and involved a “middle-age desperation.”
When they couldn’t find one, the two decided to write it themselves and use flashbacks to fill in the details. St. Louis was chosen to reinforce the middle America concept.
Just when audiences think they know whodunnit, “DTF” twists and becomes something else.
What Smernitch doesn’t realize is that his wife (played by Linda Cardellini) is having an affair with Forrest. That switches the action to the bedroom.
Jason Bateman, from left, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour arrive at the premiere of "DTF St. Louis" on Feb. 24 at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles.
“I haven’t done a ton of intimate scenes in my career, so I was definitely a little apprehensive about it all,” Bateman says. “The superpower of this show is that Steve constructed these characters that are at varying levels of emotional, spiritual nudity and it’s infectious to watch because it’s something every human goes through. It’s awkward and ugly and not sexy. It’s not a titillating show, but it’s equal parts tragic and humorous. That’s what compels you to keep watching it because these people are just so bravely diving off into the void.”
Harbour sees parallels with “The Sopranos.”
“Steve is working on a level where he really wants to surprise you, but in a very grounded way that sort of opens up the story,” he says.
Richard Jenkins, who plays a detective investigating the death, says he didn’t know anything about his character’s life. “Everything you learn about him comes from him working on the case,” he says. “You don’t go to his house. You don’t go to flashbacks of him and his wife. The only thing you know is he held hands with her years ago.”
Those unspoken moments support Harbour’s and Conrad’s original desire: to showcase middle-aged desperation.
“The minute I start to feel like something’s an investigation, I’m out,” Harbour says. “This is always turning on its head, and I’m never settled as a viewer. It allowed us as actors to embrace the things that were weird about these people because we felt taken care of by a script that wanted to embrace that as well in life.”
