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If Winfrey and Walters get Oscar specials, why not AICN? Here's Capone with Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Okay, so maybe Oprah and Barbara get to spend a little more time than 12 minutes with their subjects, but I'm pretty sure this is my first time interviewing someone who was actively an Oscar nominee when I spoke to them. I've talked to plenty of people who went on to become nominees and several former nominees and winners, but this might the first time I've gotten to someone in that golden zone between their nomination announcement and the actual ceremony (happening this Sunday). And I couldn't be happier with the subject, Woody Harrelson, who received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor nom for THE MESSENGER.
Last October, I had a long chat with the film's writer-director Oren Moverman and the film's star Ben Foster about THE MESSENGER while it was still on the festival circuit (and you can see Mr. Beaks talk with Moverman and co-screenwriter Alessandro Camon, who are nominated for Best Original Screenplay). In truth, this interview with Harrelson was set up to talk about his current limited-release project DEFENDOR (yes, that's how it's spelled), about a mentally challenged man who dresses up like a superhero to fight crime. His mental pain goes deep, and Harrelson does his usual astonishing job putting us right in the character's confusion and sorrow. The film also feature Kat Dennings as a crack whore, so how can you not be at least curious. The film had a very limited release this past Friday, and I hope it gets at least an art-house run across the country. It's worth checking out, if only for Harrelson's performance, alternating between pent-up and explosive.
In just the 16 months, Harrelson has been a machine, turning out memorable performances in SEVEN POUNDS, MANAGEMENT, 2012, and, of course, the fantabulous ZOMBIELAND. He's always been an actor you can count on to make a movie a little bit better. He's gifted like that. Anyway, please enjoy Woody Harrelson.
Woody Harrelson: Hi, man!
Capone: Hey Woody, how are you doing?
WH: Good, how are you?
Capone: Excellent. I think you talked to a couple of our guys in Austin when you were down there for Fantastic Fest last year with ZOMBIELAND.
WH: Actually, they were fantastic. I really did like them. Wait, were you one of the guys?
Capone: No, no. I was in town too, but I wasn’t in the room with you guys. I would have loved to have been because I loved ZOMBIELAND, but we had to split up our duties somehow.
WH: [laughs] Okay, I get it.
Capone: First of all, congratulations on your Oscar nomination.
WH: Thank you.
Capone: That’s pretty exciting. I was lucky enough when THE MESSENGER was still on the festival circuit to have a really long talk with Oren [Moverman]. I made the point to him that I hadn’t ever remembered seeing you cry in a film before, and he was positive it was the first time that you had ever done it. Is that true or not?
WH: I might have a little bit in [THE PEOPLE VS.] LARRY FLYNT, but I’m going to do it more now, because I guess if you cry you get nominated.
Capone: There you go, you’ve found the secret.
[Both Laugh]
WH: I was just faking in LARRY FLYNT. In this was I was actually crying.
Capone: It was pretty difficult to watch. That had to be one of the most difficult roles you’ve ever played.
WH: It was challenging you know, I really wanted it to be true and I didn’t know… I wanted it to be a thing where a soldier could watch it and say “Yeah,” where he buys it. It was hard. I guess I felt like two of the hardest roles that I could try would be like a soldier or a cop. For some reason, those just… It’s those professions, I guess I can’t get my head around. Eventually, you know when I was doing THE MESSENGER I got so into it where I really felt like [the character] for a while.
Capone: It’s nice to see people recognize the work. So, let’s talk a little bit about DEFENDOR here. In the wake of so many superhero films, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there is now this sort of almost secondary wave of films about people that are, in a lot of ways, desperate to be superheroes, whether they just want to feel like they are something special, or in the case of your character Arthur that there’s something else going on there. How did you view him when you first read the script? What was your take on what he was going through?
WH: First of all, I thought it was one of the most interesting and unusual scripts I had read in a while. Peter Stebbings, who wrote it and directed it, I thought he just made something totally unique, and my agent really liked it a lot too and thought I should do it, even though there was no money and there was no [Laughs] probably no chance of anyone seeing it. So you know I don’t let that stop me, the fact that no one’s going to see. I figured “Fuck it, do it anyway." I just thought he was such an interesting character, Arthur Poppington, you know, a little bit mentally challenged guy who thinks he’s a superhero, but gets beat up. He’s a superhero, minus the powers. I just thought it was an interesting and compelling thing, so I was psyched to be in it.
Capone: Did you have any input into the design of his costume or maybe some of his choices of weapons? I think the weapons are a great touch, like the club and the wasps and the marbles. Did you have any say into the way he looked or the actions that he took?
WH: In terms of the weapons, no, that’s all in the script, which I thought was really cool, but as for the look, yeah little things here and there, but mostly that was also just a really good designer came up with that. I guess my influence was more in just trying to decide how to play this guy.
Capone: Did seeing yourself in the mirror with the costume and the painted on mask get you in Arthur’s mind and see yourself as this hero, at least in his eyes?
WH: Hey look, they would say, “Cut,” I’d go out and stop crimes in the street.
[Both Laugh]
WH: I couldn’t get out of it. I couldn’t get out of character!
Capone: It’s addictive it sounds like.
WH: It was really a lot of fun.
Capone: There’s a film coming out in April called KICK-ASS that also plays with this sort of homegrown superhero theme, but it does it for laughs and obviously DEFENDOR is going for something more on the tragic side.
WH: I think there’s a real equal amount of humor and drama.
Capone: It is, you’re right. That doesn't make watching Arthur get his ass kicked repeatedly any easier. Do you judge your comedy roles any differently than when you are considering doing something like THE MESSENGER? Do you have criteria that the different types of films need to meet?
WH: No, I mean there’s no kind of specific set criteria, it’s just whatever resonates. I really grew up just doing tons of reading and still do a lot of reading, so if I read something I can feel it right away usually, and if I don’t and I end up saying “Yes,” it’s just because I’ve lost my frickin' mind, you know?
[Both Laugh]
Capone: Right. You are definitely one of the few actors working today that has avoided being pigeonholed into certain types of roles. Do you make a point not to repeat yourself and try to go out of your way to mix it up a little bit in terms of the kind of roles you play?
WH: Yeah. I like to try all kinds of different roles. It’s ironic, because for six years when I was on "Cheers" and I couldn’t get another job, I really felt like “Oh my God, I’m completely pigeonholed and stereotyped. I don’t think I’m ever going to get another job, besides Woody Boyd. It’s a good job, but still…” So it’s great to be able to do different things.
Capone: That does seem to be something that TV actors have the hardest time overcoming, but it didn’t seem to take you as long as some others.
WH: It turned out good.
Capone: I’ve got to ask, certainly the idea of ZOMBIELAND 2 has been discussed. Is that something that is happening, or do we know yet, or has someone approached you with a basic idea of what the story would be if they did it?
WH: Yeah. I mean, I’ve never done a sequel before partly because the first movie had to be successful.
[Both Laugh]
WH: This one, I really loved the experience. I really think it’s one of the most quirky, funny movies that I’ve been a part of, so I’d love to do another one if everything is right and comes together. That would mean the script would have to be again phenomenal like the last one, and then Ruben Fleischer would have to direct it, which he would, and then it would have to be all the same actors. I wouldn’t want to just take a chance on… I hate going to see… You go see sequels, and they are almost never as good as the original. Maybe the BABE sequel… and then the one with the little mouse.
Capone: Which one? The cartoon one or the CGI one?
WH: The one with the mouse that Michael J. Fox played.
Capone: Oh yeah, STUART LITTLE.
WH: That to me, the sequel was just as great as the original, but that’s so rare you know. Sequels are almost always just trying to be what the first one was. If we can get around that, then they are talking about doing a new one and in 3D.
Capone: That’s what I heard. I was going to ask you about that. That's still what they are going forward with?
WH: It’s going to be 3D, if it happens.
Capone: Wow. How does that strike you? You haven’t been a part of a 3D film before have you?
WH: I don’t know how that portends to the actor you know, how that shifts things, but I’m psyched to try it.
Capone: What else do you have coming up in the near future? Anything you can talk about?
WH: Just this other movie, BUNRAKU, this fight movie. I might do another project with Oren Moverman this year, the director of THE MESSENGER.
Capone: Right.
WH: That’s right, you talked with him. So yeah, you know that’s all that I’m thinking about, well actually one other thing is I’m wanting to direct a play that I co-wrote with a buddy of mine, so maybe that as well.
Capone: Will that be something regionally or is that something you are going to try to take to Broadway?
WH: I was going to try to start it in Toronto and then eventually get to Broadway, or off-Broadway, or off-, off-, off-, off-Broadway, but try to work out all of the kinks first and make sure it’s top notch. It’s pretty funny now, actually it’s extremely funny, but I just want to make it better.
Capone: You said this is something you would direct. Are you in it as well or just directing?
WH: I would just direct it and I co-wrote it with Frankie Hyman.
Capone: I want to bounce back to DEFENDOR for a second and ask about Kat Dennings, because I’m a huge fan of hers and I’ve never seen her play a part like this. Can you talk a little bit about working with her, and how did you sort of view it as idealization of her role in his life?
WH: I think Kat Dennings is just one of the finest young actresses around. She is incredible and to pull off being a crack whore, she couldn’t even be… There is just no way you could imagine this girl as a crack whore if you meet her in life, yet she is absolutely believable and so well done. I was just privileged to work with her. She came in and the first day that she did a monologue that just… I saw the dailies luckily right after, like that night. It really set the bar for the movie, because it’s that scene where we are in the hospital and I’m unconscious.
Capone: She’s just talking to you, yeah.
WH: She’s all sad, and it’s just so beautiful the performance and seeing that really made me like “Okay, I’ve got to really get it together and put this game face on,” because I realized the level of what she was doing. I think that helped the movie all the way around just with her dedication and performance, and she’s just brilliant.
Capone: Right and she really uses her abilities as a comic actress in a very different way in this movie, because she is often giving some very funny lines, but in the context of her character they are a little tragic too.
WH: Yeah, that’s the wonderful thing about the way she plays it you know. She rides a fine line and the movie rides between comedy and drama, which I love that line, and inside there are some things that are really tragic, she just had some golden comedic touches.
Capone: Woody, well thank you so much for spending the time and talking to us.
WH: Tell your buddies I said “Hey!” Are you in Austin?
Capone: No, actually I’m the editor in Chicago, but I’m going down to Austin in like two weeks.
WH: Well, tell those guys hi for me. I really did enjoy them.
Capone: I will. I know they really loved talking to you, so I will definitely do that.
WH: Okay, great.
Capone: Take it easy. Good luck at the Oscars.
WH: Oh, thank you!
Capone: See you later.
WH: Okay, bye.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcool.com
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stoner!!
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..the details are pretty cool..
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He should replace walters annual oscar special, be a lot funnier than walters prudish oscar special.
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Feb 28, 2010 11:15:26 PM CST
If Winfrey and Walters get Oscar Specials, why not AICN?
by ihaveseeneveryepisodeofprisonbreak
Is that a serious question? I am not a big Oprah or Barbara fan, but they at least do some actual work and are respected in their industry. When was the last time this site did anything relevant? You do not report major entertainment news stories (Ian McShane as Blackbeard). Reviews are bought and paid for (Do I really need to list them? Godzilla, Phantom Menace, Blah, Blah). This site cannot even get a weekly DVD column out on time. That would be understandable if you had stories flowing on the main page, but when you are not competent enough to report news stories that Aint It Bale News has even reported, then no, you are nowhere near the league of Oprah or Barbara, and Woody should be ashamed of himself for reducing himself to this.
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Great in Kingpin.
"It's not boy, it's Roy. Roy Munson." -
talk about an ugly, thankless role. you're opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro, and you have to play this horrendous character for laughs. but he pulled it off!Woody's always been underrated, both for comedy and drama, but it's nice to see his career is getting a nice little boost from Zombieland and his Oscar nomination. he seems like the guy in Hollywood that deserves it the most.
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I hope they don't fuck the new one up.
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superhero films. There truly is a wave of real world superhero flicks happening.
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Oh that's right, Bruce is an official AICN butt-buddy, and Harry Knowles is a fucking pussy.
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Kevin Smith is a favorite of this site too, so I doubt Harry would pan a film directed by Smith and starring Willis. But Harry might prove us wrong.
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I predict no review at all. At this point, the movies been out for 3 days so most people don't even care anymore. Plus we all know what a "dedicated and hard worker" Harry is (see the DVD column)
Maybe we'll get a review by the time the DVD comes out. -
Does anyone else have this problem?
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Yes I do!
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Opt Out. It's the worst film put on celluloid since Jersey Girl.
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I love Woody...first saw him on Cheers (like I assume most of the older readers of AICN did).
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He identified "Babe in the City" as a sequel better than or equal to its predecesor. Go Woody!
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Actually - there was no local press screening of Kevin's COP OUT. I didn't like the trailers, so I didn't run out to see it this weekend. I will eventually, you'll probably see my thoughts on that title via a DVD column eventually.
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um...that doesn't fit in with the retarded conspiracy theories that everyone has been forwarding...therefore, I assume they will insult you some more and call you some more names.
just FYI -
... NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Two wildly divergent roles. And once again I implore people to check out the original - post Miller and Moore - superheroes in the real world masterpiece: BRATPACK. It's a comic book by the way.
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coz its the OSCARS...Meryl Streep is a great actress but it was fucking criminal them giving her best actress for a career low like Doubt...some of the shittiest hammy face pulling ever.
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who was the one thing worth watching in that bucket of try hard shit Inglorious Basterds
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For Batman 3 in Chicago this morning........
Harry? -
without him IB would be just a mediocre Tarantino flick.he is the soul of the movie.
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He was on the outs for a while, but he's ALWAYS been a likable screen presence.I love the movies he chooses. And for making White Men Can't Jump and Natural Born Killers(and Flynt), he will ALWAYS have my box office dollars.
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because the anwser just gives it more credit. Saving it for the DVDs just proves that you don't have the coin purse to call a shit movie shit.
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Are you serious?
So much for "movie news".
"Well, the trailer didn't grab my attention so we'll just skip this one."
What a pro. -
Talking bout Smith.i THINK cop-out LOOKS LIKE A flaming turd, and I'm glad its "time" is coming and passing, so let's read bout how bad it is in a few weeks(when it hits dvd)-till then, let's keep it classy for Woody.I'd love a PLOT review just to further trash the film myself....but not on woody's watch
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They did screen it here in Chicago, but the one and only screening conflicted with our BROOKLYN'S FINEST event, and I'll take Wesley Snipes in person over just about anything any day of the week. I did see it over the weekend, but I don't tend to review things after they've been released. But I'll change my policy just for you guys. Here's my review of COP OUT, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, directed by Kevin Smith: Unfunny shit. Satisfied? Please print that on the poster in big red letters.
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If only you gave us a similar review for Avatar. Something like "shiny 3D shit". That would have been great.
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wave bye-bye to good ol' Capone!
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"Here's my review of COP OUT, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, directed by Kevin Smith: Unfunny shit. Satisfied?"
AICN: The mark of quality! And now a 50,000 word obituary for a 1921 silent film star nobody gives a shit about. -
Quick! Everyone freak out and call me a Troll!
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He needs to move to Vancouver and become a permanent citizen and him and Michael J. can smoke some J's, and get all krunked and shit. He can take some yoga classes with the flaky white chicks who have rejected Catholicism in favor of new age Oprah enlightenment and namaste's in between their Starbucks and herpes blisters from shagging the guy they met at Dunkin' Donuts because he told her that she has a nice aura. That's what Woody, needs to do like now. Like now and shit. I'm talking like...now.
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Not Dunkin Donuts. THat's the American one with that chubster Rachael Ray who once had to remove her ad campaign because middle America said that the scarf she was wearing in a poster supported Al Qaeda because they don't read books and shit, and they bended at the knees because middle America runs the country and shit.
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Woody is one of my favorites, but Defendor is not an original concept. If it's a comedy, then it's a respin of Blankman. If it's a drama, then it's a respin of Special.
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I can see that on the DVD Cover already.
I can't blame Shitty_O_ I got banned for calling Eli Roth homosexual...thanx Beaks. -
Mar 01, 2010 12:27:33 PM CST
Woody Harrelson loves Babe: Pig in the City and Stuart Little 2
by mr_bellamy
I can't quite decide if this man is officially the coolest man alive or the gayest.
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Mar 01, 2010 12:59:07 PM CST
Woody Harrelson should have played Lt. Aldo Raine.
by the_genteel_gentile
I saw him in the role whilst reading the Inglorious Basterds script. Maybe Tarantino still harbors resentments over Oliver Stone turning his empty headed script for Natural Born Killers into a brilliantly satirical indictment of the media-age obsession with violence and celebrity instead of a superfluous exploitational hee haw parade (like Inglourious Basterds was...not that I didn't dig mind you). But then again, Tarantino did work with Juliette Lewis on From Dusk 'Till Dawn...probably thought he was gonna get some...probably DID get some. But then how to explain Robert Richardson? Oh that's right Tarantino is HIS bitch just as Stone and Scorsese are. Rightfully so.
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...the Oscar should be Woody's..Basturds remains an unfunny, tenion-less mastubatory bore.
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obviously..
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Honestly, if they ran this site like you want, it would be worthless. It would be like all the other crap entertainment site, where you can count on a review of each week's three top releases.
This site is MUCH better when the contributors write about whatever catches their fancy. I would MUCH rather read a review about a great film from six decades ago that Harry just caught on cable than a ho-hum review of a mediocre new release, that Harry wrote just to be 'professional'. -
...possibly Woody's best. As an actor I can't think of anyone else in his league right now. Five great performances in a year?! Incredible (he actually looks like a live action 'Mr.Incredible' as 'Defendor').
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