Neil Patrick Harris may make audiences laugh, but at home, he and his daughter are solidly in the horror camp. During an appearance with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, the Uncoupled actor revealed that he lets his 11-year-old, Harper, watch scary movies with him and said she’s been thus far slightly unimpressed.
Harris chatted with Fallon about his kids, telling the host he and his husband, David Burka, support their twin’s passions. While son Gideon is more of a gamer, sister Harper prefers the dark side. Harris admitted she’s already binge-watched Stranger Things and has even seen It, which is both impressive and horrifying in and of itself.
“What do you say to a girl who wants to watch horror movies?” Harris asked. “Do you say ‘Absolutely not?’ Because then she wants to watch them more.” Harris said he then doubled down, letting Harper watch the “scariest movie he’s ever seen,” the 1980 psychological thriller, The Shining.
“I don’t know if it was a good call,” Harris said, smiling. “It is still really scary. Like, Jack Nicholson, super freaky, bloody elevator… the girls staring. Scary.”
Unfortunately for him, dad didn’t quite hit it out of the park as far as his daughter was concerned. She said the film was “mildly disappointing.” Spoken like a true tween.
“She said, ‘That was the scariest movie that you’ve ever seen?!’ And I was like, ‘Well, it’s not scary like 2022 scary—it’s a different style of scary,’” Harris explained, laughing. “And she’s slept in our bed for like the last four nights.”
Given the family’s epic Halloween costumes over the years, it’s easy to see why she may have an interest in the horror genre.
The couple, who have been together since 2004 and married in 2014, welcomed their twins via surrogate in 2010. Harris told E! earlier this summer that they will be full tween come fall. “They will be 12 years old in October, which will be their golden birthday,” he said, “which means they’ll want some big-ass party.”
He also said his advice for his kids as they enter as teenage years is simple: Treat others as you would want to be treated.
“I tell my kids a lot, ‘You have opportunities to make good or not-so-good choices. Hold the door open for someone, not because you want something good to happen to you, but because the person has bags in their hands, and you want to be a nice person.’”
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