The 2002 movie so terrifying it kept Woody Harrelson up at night: “I was sleepless, man”
Even though he’s a character actor and occasional leading man with a 40-year career behind him that’s encompassed almost every genre under the sun, Woody Harrelson has never been in a horror movie.
For someone with such an eclectic filmography, one that’s covered everything from talking apes and superheroes to effects-laden apocalypses and being a white man who can’t jump, spine-chilling cinema is about the only thing to have eluded the three-time Academy Award nominee so far.
While you could reasonably point to Ruben Fleischer’s two Zombieland flicks, they’re not really horror films, are they? Sure, they’ve got plenty of zombies and blood and guts to spare, but those pictures have less to do with gut-wrenching terror and more to do with generating laughs from the shuffling undead.
Andy Serkis’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage may have tried to present itself as a combination of comic book adaptation and body horror, what with Tom Hardy and Harrelson both being possessed by aliens that turn them into monstrous beasts, but it was a run-of-the-mill superhero smackdown at the end of the day.
Many recognisable actors have ticked the horror box at the very beginning of their careers, long before they became household names, and since Harrelson had been cast in his breakthrough role in Cheers prior to his feature-length debut in 1986’s Wildcats, maybe that’s why the genre has passed him by.
Either that, or he’s a big scaredy cat. He wouldn’t be the first thespian to avoid horror like the plague after operating under the impression that if they can’t hack it as an audience member, there’s no chance they’ll be able to handle being on the set of one. Perhaps it just isn’t his bag, but he did reveal the one that terrified him to the point he couldn’t sleep.
“I personally get freaked out watching horror films,” Harrelson shared, confirming that he is, in fact, a big scaredy cat. “I liked Shaun of the Dead, because I like horror comedies.” That helps explain why he was so drawn to Zombieland, which is also a light-hearted horror comedy, but there are some movies he’d rather not have to watch again.
“But 28 Days Later?” he added. “I was sleepless, man.” One of the most influential horrors of the 21st century, since almost every zombified production to emerge in its wake owes a debt of gratitude in one way or another, Danny Boyle’s classic end-of-the-world nail-biter isn’t for the faint of heart, and Harrelson would appear to be among that number.
He wouldn’t have been the only person left unable to catch a wink after watching Cillian Murphy’s Jim barely eke out his survival, but at least it didn’t put him off zombies to the extent that he turned down Zombieland as a matter of principle, just in case there were any more sleepless nights to come.
