Actor David Harbour To Star In Danbury Trashers Film: Report

DANBURY, CT — Award-winning actor David Harbour, of TV series "Stranger Things" and film "Black Widow," will be starring in a movie about the Danbury Trashers' rise and fall.

According to entertainment industry trade Deadline, Harbour will portray the Trashers' colorful owner and waste management mogul James Galante, a reputed associate of the Genovese crime family. Director Cooper Raiff will begin production this fall.

Harbour's stint in the alternate dimensions of "Stranger Things" may have been the perfect prep work for the Danbury hockey team's rags-to-rumpus story.

The United Hockey League expansion team was the pride and joy of area hockey fans for a brief but shining two seasons, from 2004 to 2006. Galante named his 17-year-old son, A.J., as team president and General Manager. A.J. had his friends design the team logo, which resembled a particularly irate garbage can, reflecting his father's business interests.

The elder Galante made a point of hiring the league's leaders in penalty minutes, hoping to craft a team with a "bad boy" image, with aspirations of becoming "The Evil Empire of the UHL." He succeeded in spades: For the two season they were on the ice, the Danbury Trashers were regarded as the most violent team in professional sports. It all came crashing down in June 2006 when Galante pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, and the team disbanded.

It was Galante's money — an additional $1.5 million above the half-million franchise fee — that transformed the Danbury Ice Arena from a 750 seat local rink into a 3,000 seat professional hockey facility.

Harbour has won Screen Actors Guild and Critics' Choice awards for his portrayal of police chief Jim Hopper in the science fiction series "Stranger Things," about to drop its fourth season on Netflix.