{"id":2343992,"date":"2026-03-24T19:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2343992"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:39:39","slug":"jason-bateman-linda-cardellini-david-harbour-talk-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jason-bateman-linda-cardellini-david-harbour-talk-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, David Harbour Talk Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

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IF YOU’VE BEEN<\/strong> watching HBO for the last decade or so, you’ve seen some really good television. You’ve seen dark, gothic mysteries<\/a>. You’ve seen hilarious, absurd comedies<\/a>. You’ve seen subversive fantasy lands<\/a> and speculative science fiction<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And yet you’ve almost certainly never seen anything like DTF St. Louis<\/a>, <\/em>the network’s newest star-studded limited series from creator Steven Conrad, centering on the star-studded trio of Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini. The three, respectively, play a weatherman, his on-air ASL interpreter, and the interpreter’s wife, who wind up in a love triangle that would make Sigmund Freud and all of his acolytes tremble. At its core, DTF St. Louis <\/em>is about relationships\u2014marriage, male friendship, illicit affairs, et cetera\u2014with a bit of intrigue and mystery sprinkled in when someone winds up dead at the end of the first episode. <\/p>\n

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Tina Rowden\/HBO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Every time you think you know the direction things are going, you will quickly be proven wrong. When you’re expecting a dark twist, you’ll actually start to laugh. When you’re expecting to laugh, you’ll suddenly gasp. When you think a major breakthrough is just around the corner, you might wind up in tears. For the three leads\u2014all of whom have starred in hit<\/a>, beloved<\/a> television shows<\/a> before\u2014that’s the whole point. <\/p>\n

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“I\u2019m always a fan of subverting genre,” Harbour tells Men’s Health<\/em>. “When I see somebody with a sniper rifle, and it says, like ‘Agent Number\u2026’<\/em> I\u2019m like, Oh no.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Bateman jumps in with an idea. “Make it a musical!” he says, as the the trio all laugh. <\/p>\n

“Well, yeah, make that guy do something stupid! Otherwise I\u2019m going to know,” Harbour continues, explaining why the unique nature of DTF St. Louis <\/em>inspired him. “We set it up like a murder-mystery or a noir, and then we have all this intimate, weird, male friendship, and color, and emotion, and inappropriateness. I keep watching as a result of that.”<\/p>\n

Feeding into that noir nature, Cardellini’s character, Carol, initially serves as something of the show’s take on the femme fatale<\/a>. When the deadly nature of the show becomes clear, her intimate positioning between the two male leads make her a certain suspect. But as with the rest of DTF St. Louis, <\/em>there’s more to it than that.<\/p>\n

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Tina Rowden\/HBO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

For Cardellini, who’s well-known for playing good-hearted characters in shows like Freaks and Geeks <\/em>and Dead to Me, <\/em>this marked yet another fun subversion of expectation (something she’ll continue later this year with her role as Mrs. Voorhees<\/a> in Peacock’s upcoming Friday the 13th <\/em>prequel series, Crystal Lake<\/em>). “I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d call it a ‘girl next door,’ but I had this nice<\/em> thing going on for a while,” she says. “Carol is more complicated than you believe she is in the beginning. When I got to episodes five, six, and seven, I thought Oh. Why did I have those feelings about her? What made me have those feelings about her? Why did I assume these things about her?<\/em>“<\/p>\n

As DTF St. Louis <\/em>approaches its final few episodes, Men’s Health <\/em>sat down with Bateman, Harbour, and Cardellini to talk about the show, its exploration and subversion of modern relationships, and what it all means at the end of the day. <\/p>\n

MEN’S HEALTH: David, DTF St. Louis<\/em> was originally a different concept you were working on with Pedro Pascal<\/a><\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>Can you explain how it evolved from one thing into another? <\/strong><\/p>\n

DAVID HARBOUR: <\/strong>It\u2019s been four years in the making. Steve and Pedro and I had talked about various ideas around relationships, and with the hook of a crime story, a murder, and the way these structures might play out. We developed it for a long time, and we went through many different phases of development on it, and then Pedro left years ago. Luckily, we still worked on it, we changed it around, and Jason came on, and then Linda came on, and then it was time to go. It all came together. <\/p>\n

I have been with this for a long time, and the thing that\u2019s remained very consistent about it has been [Creator Steven Conrad’s] peculiar, and particularly enjoyable, vision of people. And I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying this as I\u2019m promoting my own HBO show, but I love White Lotus<\/a>. <\/em>I love shows like White Lotus, <\/em>and want to make television that has these strong hooks, but with lots of colorful characters, lots of fun details about life, and lots of humor. That\u2019s remained consistent, and the iterations of that have gone all over the place. But I think we ended up with the best version possible. Jason and Linda are phenomenal, and it couldn\u2019t possibly be a better project because <\/em>they\u2019re in it. <\/p>\n

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MH: We have this affair at the center of everything, and it gets pretty raunchy. Jason and Linda, how did you approach that aspect of the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JASON BATEMAN: <\/strong>I remember reading in the script\u2014Steve very clearly wrote in the script, for some odd reason\u2014and I\u2019m paraphrasing a little bit, \u201cThey are totally nude.\u201d [David and Linda laugh<\/em>.] He wrote that repeatedly in those scenes. So one of my first conversations with him was like, \u201cHey, guy, how are you planning on doing this level of nudity and sex in this thing?\u201d Because I\u2019m a shy guy! And he said \u201cOh, disregard that,\u201d as if someone else had written it. He was very fair and easy and put no pressure on anything, and he didn\u2019t have any sort of nudity or exploitative agenda at all. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s maybe going to be disappointing for some folks tuning into this thinking it\u2019s going to be some sort of sexcapade, because there\u2019s hardly any nudity in it. There\u2019s some photographic stuff, but it\u2019s not really a show about sex. There\u2019s not that much in it! That was a bit of a relief, because I\u2019m not a rom-com star. I haven\u2019t had a lot of love scenes, so that was a potential discomfort for me, but it didn\u2019t end up being [a concern]. <\/p>\n

LINDA CARDELLINI: <\/strong>It was really handled with care all the time, and really well plotted out. He would show you storyboards of what you would see, what part you would see, when you would see it, why you would see it. You never felt like it was gratuitous or a free-for-all. We all trusted each other, too, and so we agreed to speak up if we didn\u2019t like what we were feeling or doing. It was a lot easier than when you first read it. I had the same thought as Jason\u2014I was like, Oh god, What do they see, what do they do. <\/em>Like, Do I have to work out tonight?<\/em><\/p>\n

JB: <\/strong>Usually in sex scenes, it\u2019s all about the physical expression of two characters really<\/em> coming together, and there\u2019s a great deal of passion in that. That can be a bit daunting, thinking about OK, they\u2019re going to show this passion with this person who I don\u2019t even really know, and we\u2019re going to have to fake that, and <\/em>act,’<\/em> and that\u2019s a whole different kind of acting. With this, the characters are very uncomfortable with having this sex with one another, and you can use that. <\/p>\n

DH: <\/strong>That being said, the actual encounter might be uncomfortable, but there are some really sweet, enjoyable moments of the two of you in that hotel room just looking at each other. Like, just scantily clad and gazing at each other. That is sort of sexy and sweet, in a nice way. <\/p>\n

LC: <\/strong>Aside from with her son, it\u2019s some of the freest you get to see Carol, too. It was fun to have those be her freedom scenes. That was different. <\/p>\n

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MH: David, you kind of got at something interesting within the show\u2014Clark and Carol\u2019s affair is, yes, illicit, but it also kind of feels like a healthy relationship. Did you see it the same way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DH:<\/strong> It\u2019s funny, one of our executives at HBO, the extraordinary Franny Orsi, she was congratulating us on the show, and she said \u201cYou made a show about true love.\u201d And I was like, that\u2019s so brilliant that she puts it that way. Floyd really loves both of them. Floyd was constantly a welcome surprise. He would just constantly react to things in the weirdest, sweetest ways, and I really deeply love him for that. It was just a joy to play that kind of free, unfettered love of your friends and your spouse.<\/p>\n

MH: David, earlier you talked about the running theme of male friendship, and there\u2019s so much of that throughout the show. But I wanted to specifically ask about the scenes with the two of you and that bicycle<\/a>. I\u2019ve never seen a bicycle like that before. <\/strong><\/p>\n

DH: <\/strong>[Pointing to Jason<\/em>] You ride it a lot more than I do. <\/p>\n

LC: <\/strong>He was the best at it, I feel. <\/p>\n

JB: <\/strong>There was a camera rig they would put on it often\u2014that was kind of challenging. Because that kind of screwed up the balance, because that thing is barely <\/em>balanced. It\u2019s so perfectly made, any little bit off-center messes up the genius of that thing. <\/p>\n

DH: <\/strong>[Laughing<\/em>] Genius\u2026 <\/p>\n

JB: <\/strong>It\u2019s a cool little character piece for my guy. That\u2019s his mode of transport, and it\u2019s the first image that we get in the show, and certainly of Clark. It does send a signal\u2014you almost think that this might be a bit of a farcical show. A bit broad. And then it\u2019s not. It kind of signals, well, be careful what you assume on this show. <\/p>\n

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DH: <\/strong>Riding a bicycle should have a handlebar that goes like this [motions hands in front of him<\/em>], but unfortunately these things have, like, two little joysticks on the sides of them that do the wheels like this [Grabs at his sides<\/em>]. Your brain never gets used to it. It\u2019s just constant terror. <\/p>\n

LC: <\/strong>There is more visibility, as Clark likes to say. [All laugh<\/em>] <\/p>\n

JB: <\/strong>Oh my god. I love how earnestly my character pitches it. <\/p>\n

LC: <\/strong>He loves it! It\u2019s so obvious that Clark loves it. <\/p>\n

JB: <\/strong>He\u2019s so serious about it. <\/p>\n

LC:<\/strong> He wants everyone to try it!<\/p>\n

MH: David, Floyd\u2019s career is as an ASL interpreter. How did you prepare for that broadly, and then later when he provides the ASL interpretation while dancing on stage at a music festival?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DH: <\/strong>I had an ASL coach. I had a couple of ASL coaches\u2014one basic ASL, normal sign language, and another who does that work at concerts, or big events, or newscasts or things like that, which you can be a little freer with. I worked with her as best as I could for a couple weeks, and he literally had Todrick Hall come on and just do that song, and I was just up there and got to do it twice, maybe. Just do the full number twice, and that was it. It was very nerve-wracking, because I\u2019m not a professional ASL person. But it was exciting.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Watch DTF St. Louis <\/em>Here<\/a>
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