The movie Woody Harrelson admitted he was wrong to hate: “I kept waiting for the problems”
Everybody has at least one movie they hate with an intense and burning passion, and anyone who says they don’t is a liar. However, it must be even harder for an actor to stomach when the film they despise so deeply is one they starred in, even if Woody Harrelson eventually changed his mind.
Thanks to the laconic, easy-going, and mischievous persona that’s been ingrained in the cultural consciousness since his Cheers days, it’s hard to imagine a guy like Harrelson ever losing his cool. That said, he’s been involved in a few sketchy incidents during his career that chipped away at that Zen-like sheen, even before he went public with his disgust for what was supposed to be a passion project.
Having landed an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in their first film together, it looked as though Harrelson had found a new creative paramour in Oren Moverman. It was the longtime screenwriter’s first time behind the camera, with the screenplay also shortlisted for an Oscar, but he belied his inexperience with an accomplished debut.
Seeking to reunite as quickly as possible, the duo were shooting Rampart together a little over a year after The Messenger had been released in cinemas. This time, playing the lead, Harrelson’s corrupt cop finds himself being pushed closer and closer to the brink when his latest scandal finds a video of the police officer assaulting a suspect being widely circulated by the media.
The star was convinced he was onto another winner with Moverman at the helm, at least until he watched the final cut for the first time. “When I first saw the film, I hated it,” he told The New York Times. “It was very different from the script, and that was a problem for me. As much as I love Oren, we couldn’t see eye to eye over it.”
The studio was pleased enough to book a world premiere for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, which required Harrelson to support Rampart in person, and that didn’t sit well for obvious reasons. “They asked me to come,” he admitted. “And I said, ‘Why would I come to promote a movie I didn’t like?” It was an excellent question, and it was answered during that fateful first screening.
Putting his bad blood to one side to try and enjoy the film as an audience member, Harrelson felt his mind being changed with each passing minute. “The first five minutes are great, then the first 20, and I kept waiting for the problems,” he said. “Well, it takes a man to admit he was wrong. I was really wrong on this one.”
Rampart was a solid crime drama with an excellent performance from Harrelson, begging the question as to why his first reaction was that of utter disgust when it was hardly sent out into the world as a hackneyed, half-hearted, and irredeemable slice of street-level cinema.
