Harrelson to re-enact rampage in ambitious live film
What could possibly go wrong? A 100-minute film, done in one take, streamed live to hundreds of cinemas and shot on the streets of London after midnight. In January.
Woody Harrelson has admitted that the film he will embark on next week in the British capital will be a cinematic first, because ‘‘noone has ever been so stupid’’.
The Hollywood actor has assembled an all-star cast to dramatise an earlier moment of madness in London, when he spent a night in a police cell after damaging a taxi.
Next Saturday, the ‘‘lights, camera, action’’ will presage, hopefully, a romp around London that will become a landmark in broadcasting history.
Simultaneously, audiences in 500 cinemas in the United States will settle down with their popcorn to watch Lost In London, starring 30 actors including Harrelson, Owen Wilson and country music legend Willie Nelson.
Harrelson, who is best known for his role in Cheers and Natural Born Killers, acknowledged that people might go to the cinema only because they ‘‘want to watch a car wreck’’.
Noting the renowned curiosity and friendliness of those still out on London’s streets after a night in the city’s watering holes, Harrelson told news website Mashable that filming could be disrupted by members of the public.
‘‘That’s very possible,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s outside our control. We do have some people, spotters, trying to hopefully be prepared for that stuff, but especially shooting at 2 o’clock in the morning, people do tend to have had a little bit to drink so they might ignore the signals of ‘No, no’.’’
Choosing a night in January, which has the highest number of wet days for any month in London, could also be disastrous, he said.
‘‘It’s bad if it rains. That’s going to be pretty bad for sound – I don’t know how body mics and things like that are going to fare in terms of getting sopping wet, because there’s quite a bit of stuff outdoors.
‘‘I don’t know how that’s going to play out, but we’ll roll with it, whatever happens.’’
Among other potential problems, ‘‘the wind could be
Especially shooting at 2 o’clock in the morning, people do tend to have had a little bit to drink . . . I don’t know how that’s going to play out. Woody Harrelson
crazy and knock down an antenna’’ or ‘‘you lose the live feed . . . one of the worst possible things’’, Harrelson said.
‘‘There’s so many things that can go wrong,’’ he said, after comparing the complexity of the project to a Rubik’s Cube.
‘‘The other day, the van door just wouldn’t open,’’ he continued. ‘‘If this happens on the night, we’re just ruined.’’
Harrelson, who is to appear in a Star Wars spinoff film in which he plays a mentor to the space pirate Han Solo, has rehearsed his cast of 30 for five weeks.
The story will recall his brush with the law when he attempted to travel to his hotel from China White, a nightclub in central London, in 2002.
Harrelson tore off an ashtray in the back of a taxi and smashed a door lock before jumping out and hailing a second cab to flee the scene. The first taxi gave chase, and the pursuit ended in Sloane Square, where Harrelson unsuccessfully attempted to evade police on foot. ‘‘It’s a very heavy thing,’’ he said. ‘‘It happened with me and my wife. That’s the starting point of the story. The rest unfolds out of this intense experience.
‘‘All of these things are standing in the way of me getting home, including the English jurisprudence system. I didn’t have a great time that night, but reflecting, there were so many elements, it was entertaining.’’
He said the situation lent itself to comedy, although he was at a loss to explain why he wanted to transmit the film live.
‘‘God, I rue the day I had that thought. Sitting here now, a week to go, I rue the day.’’
The legal case against Harrelson was dismissed after he agreed to pay the taxi driver £550.