The actor Woody Harrelson called one of the all-time greats: “He’s desperately wrong”
Woody Harrelson remains something of a cinematic enigma. Despite being one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors, he has always defied easy categorisation, rebuking any notion to label him and keep him in a cage. While he’s found mainstream success in projects like the sitcom Cheers and the violent adventure of The Hunger Games franchise, he has also delivered some of the finest character performances of the modern era.
For every performance in movies like Zombieland, which sees Harrelson’s natural charm exude through his portrayal, there is the cultish vision of Captain Thomas Smith in 2022’s A Triangle of Sadness. Add to this roles in classic movies like Seven Psychopaths, Natural Born Killers, No Country for Old Men, and, lest we forget, White Men Can’t Jump, and you have a unique career.
A career like this means that Harrelson has worked with some of the very best actors of all time. His co-star in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Frances McDormand, grabbed an Oscar when she starred opposite him. Sam Rockwell, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, and Juliette Lewis have all given wondrous performances next to him, too.
It might suggest that Harrelson is one of the best wingmen in the industry, endlessly setting up alley-oops for his co-stars to dunk. Matthew McConaughey is probably one star who was best served by Harrelson, with the latter acting as Michael Jordan while Harrelson delivered on the Scotty Pippen role. Add to this the talent of Kate Winslet, Robert Downey Jr and Wesley Snipes, and you have a list of collaborators that is impressive by anybody’s standards. However, none of them were picked out by Harrelson as one of the greats.
It was in the 2013 picture Out of the Furnace, directed by Scott Cooper, that Harrelson worked with someone he thought of as one of the best: Christian Bale. Harrelson plays violent backwoods criminal Harlan DeGroat while Bale plays Russell Baze, who is trying to find out DeGroat’s involvement in his brother’s disappearance.
While the movie doesn’t exactly set the world alight, the duo shared an intensity that was hard to ignore, showcasing Harrelson’s ability to play deeply unsettling characters opposite Bale’s emotionally grounded performance. The former was a huge admirer of Bale, sharing: “Christian, one of the greatest actors who ever lived….there’s a level of confidence in the actor. You’re working with that, that helps a lot. It makes all the difference”.
Ever humble, Bale refuted the claims, saying with a knowing sense of humour: “I respect Woody greatly, but he’s desperately wrong with what he just said, with the utmost respect”.
The truth is, actors like Bale, McDorman and Lewis are simply unable to give their mind-blowing performances without the kind of actor Woody Harrelson is. So while he might not be categorised as a leading man, he certainly is one of the greats.
