The movie that forced Woody Harrelson into Hollywood exile: “I was not enjoying it”
You never know how well a movie is going to perform, even if it is tipped for success. You could have a legendary director at the helm, a star-studded cast, and a budget large enough to end nationwide poverty, but sometimes that’s just not enough to cut it. Other times, movies that seem destined to fail actually turn out really well, becoming proof that good filmmaking isn’t all about money and status.
Woody Harrelson has starred in his fair share of acclaimed movies, ranging from Natural Born Killers and No Country For Old Men to Zombieland and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. He has enjoyed a successful career that has earned him three Oscar nominations, but that doesn’t mean he has been fully satisfied.
After rising to prominence for his performance in the sitcom Cheers in the 1980s, Harrelson was on fire in the 1990s, appearing in many popular shows and movies. However, he was soon hit with the realisation that some films aren’t going to perform in the way you’d hope. Harrelson eventually took several years off from acting in movies during the late 1990s and the early 2000s, with his only credit being seven episodes of Will & Grace in 2001 and 2002.
It seemed as though the actor had just vanished from the big screen, and people didn’t know why. Yet, Harrelson revealed in an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air that he simply needed a break after a certain film left him experiencing a “devastating” feeling. The actor had appeared in The People vs. Larry Flynt in 1996, playing the titular character, a pornographic producer and businessman. Despite the fact he earned an Oscar nomination for his performance and critics seemed to love the film, the movie only grossed an $8million profit.
Harrelson explained, “Well, I mean a part of it was – it was after Larry Flynt and this whole debacle where the movie was kind of destined to do quite well. And then whole campaign against it destroyed any chance of that. And the studio at the time didn’t really fight it. They just of kind of let it go.”
The actor hoped the movie would have been more successful since he had dedicated himself to it intensely. “And it was really devastating because that movie meant a lot. And myself and Ed Norton and Courtney Love and Milos, we – I mean we put tons of work into that and tons of ourselves into that. And that was kind of a devastating blow,” he admitted.
In the end, Harrelson realised that he was not happy, and what he needed was to step back for a moment and enjoy his life. Thus, he exiled himself from Hollywood for a few years, telling NPR, “I was not enjoying it. Like, this is a job you should be enjoying. So, it was a good opportunity to do another important thing, which was – and the most important of all of it – which was to hang more with my family. And, so that’s what I did.”
He added, “You know, we moved off-grid and out of sight and just had a ball together. So, one of my better decisions. I didn’t think it was going to be five years, but I thought it would [a] be couple – three years. And then it was just fun.”
Sometimes, you just need a good break to feel reinvigorated again, and it certainly helped Harrelson get back on track. “And, you know, I’ll say this, I’m a good worker and a hard worker, but I’m a world-class vacationer.”
