Entertainment
‘DTF St. Louis’ Star David Harbour Reveals Which Part of Episode 4’s Beastie Boys-Style Rap Wasn’t Originally Scripted
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of DTF St. Louis.]
Summary
From creator Steven Conrad, the seven-episode HBO limited series DTF St. Louis follows what happens when local weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman) starts an affair with Carol Smernitch (Linda Cardellini) and her husband Floyd (David Harbour), Clark’s on-air ASL interpreter and friend, ends up dead. As Clark and Floyd start to spend time together, Clark finds himself drawn to Carol and wants to spend more time with her, even if it’s right under Floyd’s nose. So, when Floyd ends up dead, and either one of them could be a suspect, detectives are brought in to unravel the clues, put together all the strange pieces, and solve the mystery.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Bateman, Harbour and Cardellini discussed Floyd’s Playgirl past and the role it still plays in his life, Bateman and Harbour’s Beastie Boys inspired episode four rap, the love triangle that makes you keep guessing about who could have committed murder, how the meeting between Floyd and Modern Love ended up in a kiss, and what Harbour loved about working with Peter Sarsgaard.
Floyd’s Playgirl Past Plays a Big Role in What He Thinks of Himself Now in ‘DTF St. Louis’
“It’s core to what he struggles with.”
Collider: I’m so intrigued by the character study of these three people. David, much is made of the fact that Floyd was in Playgirl. It’s certainly an unexpected detail about the character, and it seems very specific to him. What was your reaction to that aspect of his story? How do you think he feels about that detail from his past?
DAVID HARBOUR: I think it’s core to what he struggles with nowadays. He, at one point and very physically, thought himself quite something. Now, he’s in decline and feels like he doesn’t have the same sort of potency that he used to have as a young man. I think that’s part of the reason why he carries that thing around, and he has it in the closet, and it’s so integral. You’ll see, as we get to the final episodes, it plays a big part, before his death, in what he wants and what he thinks of himself and what’s important to him. It’s an incredible detail, right from the weird, wonderful brain of Steve Conrad. This poor overweight guy with heart problems and Peyronies disease used to be a Playgirl model when he was 23 or 24. I love it.
In the heart of suburbia, three lives intertwine through a dating app, but one death throws the town into chaos.
I loved it because it was so unexpected. Jason and David, I never imagined that I would hear the two of you rapping a song about acing a life insurance physical. How did that rap come about? Were you intentionally referencing the Beastie Boys because it so sounded very Beastie Boys to me?
JASON BATEMAN: We just followed our leader. Steve Conrad wrote those lyrics and came up with the beat and the style of shooting it. That’s a great example of what this show is, which is that these real spicy meatballs can exist in this world, and it doesn’t bump you out of the show. There’s some great counterbalance in these other scenes that have all this raw vulnerability and emotion that allow for these big swings on this side, and somehow it ends up balancing. It’s such a fun watch, this show.
Jason Bateman and David Harbour Shared a Beastie Boys Moment in ‘DTF St. Louis’
“We were talking about the life insurance policy, but it was also kind of written like a rap.”
Did you guys immediately lock in on getting that timing right with the two of you doing it, or did that take some time?
HARBOUR: We had versions of it. We were three weeks into shooting, and in the script, there was this thing where it was written that we were talking about the life insurance policy, but it was also kind of written like a rap. I was like, “Do you want us to sing this at all?” You can’t say things like that to Steve because his mind will go, “Yeah, maybe you should. Let’s do that.” And then, he wrote the whole thing and recorded a version of it. And you’re right, it’s very Beastie Boys. As opposed to professional, amateur means doing it for the love of it, and I do think there’s a wonderful amateur quality of Steve, in some ways, where he’ll just go, “Yeah, I don’t know, in the middle of this episode, I just want to see these guys rap,” or “I want to see Floyd on a pommel horse.”
I find, as a viewer, when I sit around watching Game of Thrones or whatever, I do wish I could have these little breakout moments where you can just be like, “Okay, now you guys are doing something else,” and just allows the audience that pleasurable moment of, “You’re watching TV, so here’s this little bit of strangeness and a bit of weirdness for you.” It’s calibrated with a very dark, contemplative show about relationships and marriage and normalcy, and all these things. But they are these little bonbons that are just lovely. But yes, it’s very Beastie Boys inspired, for sure.
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The series also stars David Harbour and Linda Cardellini.
There’s something that feels awful and sad about Clark and Carol taking advantage of the fact that Floyd got them concert tickets and they’re continuing their affair in front of him. How did all of that work? How did you guys feel about that? And David, what was it like to put your whole body into that moment?
BATEMAN: That was the very last shot I had. That was another balance of being with his wife and sweetly offering to get us water, and I’m like, “Yeah, sure, go get us some water,” and I immediately grab her hand. There’s just something so untoward about the whole thing. Carol is having this moment of recognition with Floyd about how incredible he is. It brings on tears. That’s also a moment for Clark to maybe flash being threatened by him, that maybe she’s falling back in love with him. Now, you’ve got another moment for the audience to go, “Oh, maybe she didn’t kill him. Maybe Clark killed him.” There’s all this stuff that’s going on.
It’s just another great example of a scene that’s got a bunch of different stuff going on. Linda [Cardellini] did such a great job performing that scene. She had to speak up and pretend the music was going on and that the crowd was cheering, and yet the crowd, when we were shooting it, was completely silent to protect the dialogue, and she had to get into this emotion. I just remember being so impressed that she was able to make herself cry and be very lovely while screaming, and saying these very sweet, soft things that you would whisper. I don’t know how she did that, but it was very impressive.
LINDA CARDELLINI: Thank you. That scene, watching him up there and that music was so infectious. We did it a couple of times with just the music, and he didn’t have to go full-on. It was so much fun to be there. When you come back to that moment after knowing more things that will come about, there’s more in there than we all realize at that moment. I love those moments.
Floyd Just Wants To Make a Connection With Modern Love in ‘DTF St. Louis’
“He wants to protect him and take care of him.”
David, the relationship between Floyd and Modern Love is an interesting one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dynamic where somebody just agrees to kiss someone to be polite and not upset them. What was it like to find that relationship, figure that dynamic out, and figure that kiss out? It feels like we couldn’t have had that moment without the things that we learned about Floyd before then.
HARBOUR: Yeah, for sure. You’ll see things, further on, about sign language. You’ve started to see the beginning of how his Peyronies disease got started, but you haven’t gotten to the end of that story, which is another big moment in Floyd’s life that relates to this as well. I think it is a show about true love. Floyd really does love people, and I think he really tries, really hard. He fails, and he doesn’t communicate well, and he’s got a lot of problems. It’s a weird thing that you just have to give over to it. There’s a version of that scene with Modern Love where he comes back, and he’s like, “Sorry, man, I thought you were a girl. This is a mistake.” But he doesn’t. He really wants to make this guy comfortable. He sees the guy’s vulnerability around the Solid Gold dancers and how he felt alone, and he wants to protect him and take care of him.
I think that he’s caught off guard, certainly, by the kiss idea. I don’t think it’s his first impulse, but he’s like, “Why not?” And then, he gets confused about it and has a nice little scene with Jason [Bateman], trying to figure out what he is doing. One of the fun things about the arc of this character, and you’ll see as we go into [episodes] five, six and seven, what it is that Floyd is looking for in DTF, and it’s not really sex, it’s something else. He even changes the word, at one point. The DTF doesn’t have to mean fuck? It can mean “feels good together.” He has a new phrase for that. He’s looking for a certain connection and a certain potency in life, and he’s making attempts. That scene is one of my favorites. We’re so lucky to have gotten Peter Sarsgaard to do that for us. He’s so extraordinary in the whole thing, with the eyeliner and the roller skates. He’s just the best. It was so fun.
- Release Date
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2026 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Steve Conrad
- Directors
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Steven Conrad
- Writers
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Steven Conrad
DTF St. Louis airs on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
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