Last week The Hollywood Reporter ran an interview with actor Woody Harrelson in which he candidly described his first, negative reaction to seeing his new film with director Oren Moverman, titled Rampart. The first time was a version that was still being edited, and he had a pretty strong reaction to it.
“But it devastated me because I knew when I was shooting it that it was going to be a great movie, for sure. [Seeing it] was probably one of the worst periods in my professional life — the depression over it. I was so depressed over it and didn’t know how to deal with it.”
Then he saw the finished product right before the Toronto International Film Festival: “And after the first 10 minutes I go, ‘Whoa, this is good!’ And it just kept being amazing. I was really wrong. The movie did change for sure; it got tighter and better. But it was also the fact that I didn’t have the same expectations going in. That freed me. We hugged and cried and were just so happy to be on the same page.”
Yesterday I had an opportunity to talk with Moverman over the phone, so I took some time to ask him his side of things and how it was to go through that, having your film’s lead actor be so vocal with the media about his initial dislike of the film.
Oren Moverman: Oh yeah, yeah. [Laughs]. Woody [Harrelson] is not someone to filter himself. That’s one of the beauties of Woody. He says what he thinks. He’s not going to make things pretty if they’re not in his mind. First thing I would say is that this happens a lot more than you realize. And actors don’t usually talk about it. So I applaud Woody for talking about it. But I know plenty of stories of actors who saw their movie and hated it. And even ended up supporting it in the press.
But it’s a very, very fragile thing to appear in a movie and then watch yourself. It’s complicated. It’s hard. And on a movie like this, where Woody is in every scene of the movie and almost every frame of the movie, he is the movie, as I said. So, I think it was overwhelming. But also, and there’s a lesson here, it’s very dangerous to showa film that’s not finished…to anyone. Especially to your lead actor. And let the record show that I thought it was a bad idea. [Laughs]
I didn’t think he should see the movie before it was finished. He thought he should. And I defer to him because I respect him, so I showed him the movie and clearly he was not happy with it. He didn’t like it at all. It was very different from what he had in his mind. It was very different from the script, which he knew to expect, but still it’s overwhelming when you’re in it. And you know, it happens. The director goes off and spends a few months with the editor in a room and comes back and everyone’s still, in their head, they’re still shooting the movie.
So it was a rough time, but you know, to his credit, we talked about it. We promised each other that this would not hurt our friendship if he never came around to liking the movie. I love the guy and I respect him and I respected his opinion, but I said, ‘Just watch it one more time. When it’s finished.’ And he agreed to. And when he did, he was amazing because he came to me and said, ‘I made a mistake. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me? I was wrong.’ And it takes a big man to say that and he’s that kind of guy.
Beyond that I also got a quick update on two projects we reported about, but have heard little about the filmmaker: Terrorist Search Engine and Queer.
Moverman said he still currently writing Terrorist Search Engine and when it comes to Queer, he said, they are “trying to put the money together to shoot it this year. Steve [Buscemi]’s directing. It’s a project that’s been taking a long time to come together and one of my favorite scripts I’ve ever worked on and hopefully we’ll shoot it after he finishes the next season of Boardwalk Empire.”
Queer is adapted from William S. Burroughs and the reported cast includes Guy Pearce, Ben Foster, and Buscemi’s Boardwalk Empire co-star, Kelly Macdonald, while Terrorist Search Engine has Jesse Eisenberg atttached and follows a 31-year-old freelance terrorism consultant and expert witness who helped to find terrorist threats by using the internet.
My full interview with Moverman will be posted in the second week of February to coincide with the film’s limited release.