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David Harbour says Madonna asked him to audition for her film because she thought he was sexy

David Harbour is still hung up on one pretty unforgettable audition.

The actor, who stars as a slaying Santa in the upcoming action flick Violent Night, revealed that he was invited to a table read for Madonna's 2011 film W.E. because the Material Girl herself thought that he was sexy.

"It was a crazy thing. It was a real cloak and dagger type of experience," Harbour recalled on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday. "I got a call from a casting director that I knew very well saying they're putting together a top secret movie read through, but you just have to show up at the St. Regis and go in this room and all will be revealed. And I was like, 'This is really weird and creepy.'"

When Harbour asked why he had been among those selected for the secret audition, the casting director revealed that the mysterious director had seen him in Sam Mendes' 2008 film Revolutionary Road, telling him: "You have a sex scene in it and they thought you were sexy."

"And so all weekend, I was literally thinking about Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese," Harbour joked. "I show up at the St. Regis and I get in the room and there's a bunch of other New York actors there and in walks Madonna, who's directing this movie. The first thing that flooded over me, I was like, 'Wow, Madonna thinks I'm sexy.'"

The read through, the Stranger Things star said, was a "truly harrowing, exciting experience" in part because he'd been crushing on Madonna since seeing her "Open Your Heart" music video back in 1986. "I was eleven years old when I saw that video and so there I am, in this boardroom of the St. Regis, and it all comes flooding back," he told host Jimmy Kimmel. "And I'm there with a bowler cap like, 'I'm going to run off with you into the distance.'"

The historical drama — which was also co-written and produced by Madonna — told the story of a young American woman (Abbie Cornish) trapped in a loveless marriage who finds a sense of fascination and kinship in Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) and King Edward VIII's (James D'Arcy) relationship.

David Harbour and Madonna
David Harbour and Madonna

Madonna, James D'Arcy, and David Harbour

Despite having such a star-studded cast, the film absolutely tanked at the box office, something that Harbour said he had "some inkling" would happen while they were filming. "She is a genius in many realms," he said. "The film was not a terrific movie."

"But there were moments!" Harbour maintained. "There were dance sequences in the film — of course — they were done by her choreographer. But I remember she'd come in before we started shooting and go like, 'No. This is terrible.' And she'd re-do the whole thing and she was like magic when she got in her dance world and stuff she was incredible. I mean, she's a genius."

The film was definitely worth it, because it led Harbour to being invited to Madonna's birthday party, which he considers "one of the coolest things I've ever done" in his entire life. "She came in and she was in like this gorgeous, emerald dress and then the party started and she put on sweatpants and they just cranked Madonna music," he said. "I danced with Madonna to Madonna music. On my headstone, that is it!"

Watch Harbour discuss W.E. — and texting Arnold Schwarzenegger about Stranger Things — in the clip above.

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