Black Widow: David Harbour Inspired American Pie Scene With Florence Pugh

Black Widow‘s David Harbour had the idea for the emotional scene with Florence Pugh. He talked to Insider about how the creative team settled on “American Pie” by Don McLean as the heartfelt soundtrack choice. According to the Red Guardian actor, his moment with Yelena was supposed to end a little differently. After she storms off angry with her family, the father figure was supposed to try and fail to reach her. Instead of ending on a silent note, Harbour suggested that they go with the song as an emotional callback to their time in Ohio. That choice seems to have worked out because audiences responded to the swap with positive posts on social media. A lot of the family dynamic in the movie shines, but Alexi brings the heart in a big way throughout Black Widow. Check out what the star had to say down below.

“My character is fumbling trying to be a father and in the end he fails. She tells him to get out. In the script, he says something and leaves,” Harbour said. “I felt, there’s gotta be something a little more profound.”

“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if back in America when [Belova] was little and was terrified having been taken from her family the Red Guardian would put her in the car and drive around and play ‘American Pie’?” he added. “So from then on she tells daddy to put in the tape.”

In a previous conversation with Variety, the actor rallied for another stint as The Red Guardian somewhere. He sees so much potential for the lovable lug in the MCU.

“They don’t let you say these things. I would love for there to be more Red Guardian, and I would love for you guys to love for there to be more Red Guardian because that always helps the cause,” Harbour explained. “I love the character, there’s so many things you could do with him. There’s this gap of 25 years where we don’t know who was he, what is his version of events as opposed to the actual version of events?”

What was your favorite moment from Black Widow? Let us know down in the comments!