FilmWebYou are quite well known as a political activist:

Woody Harrelson: I spent a lot of time in the jungle and the degree I like clean air, clean water, clean surf, is the degree to which I feel obligated to protect it or to do something about it. What's that saying, To whom much is given, much is required. I feel that, once upon a time I wanted to be rich and famous just for the sake of it and getting a nice table at a restaurant, but ultimately I realised it's got to be for something more. There's nothing I feel more passionate about than Mother Nature, particularly when I see ancient trees being cut down for lawn furniture. That just blows my mind. This is the last stand, somebody's got to do something about it. There's a lot of people more active than I am, I'm just more high profile. I'm prepared to go to jail, it still might happen. It's a fight we're going to keep fighting.

FilmWebWere you surprised by Gloria Steinem's tirade?

Milos Forman: I was expecting criticism from the extreme right, I didn't expect it would come from the extreme left.




FilmWebRun us through some of the problems in playing a real person


Woody Harrelson: I was not looking forward to sitting at a screening with Larry and him turning around and saying 'You sucked'. I'd just watched Nixon before we started working and I thought Anthony Hopkins was brilliant, so I wanted to do him justice and be just like him. Then I realised that there was no way I could be Larry, so once I'd left go of that, it gave me more freedom. At first I was too stiff because I had the accent and certain mannerisms, so I had to let some of that go.
FilmWebDo you ever wish you were back working in TV?

Woody Harrelson: The thing that I like about Cheers was that it was filmed in front of a live audience. You actually slack off a little in rehearsal so you're semi-under prepared on the day so it gets you a little more nervous. With film, it's a little bigger. With my movies, sometimes I'm a little over the top, so I'm trying to be subtler.

FilmWeb What's next?


Woody Harrelson: I did a little part in a really cool movie called Wag The Dog. Barry Levinson directed it, De Niro and Hoffman are in it, David Mamet wrote the script. I'm next going to work with Volkor Schlondorf, and I think Elisabeth Shue and Cuba Gooding [jr] are going to be in it, and that's called Palmetto.