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Playing an intense, raging bigot in “Rampart” was “the best part I’ve ever been offered and definitely a challenge. It made me buckle down and get to work,” said Woody Harrelson.That work included “all the other things you try to do to saturate your brain in the cop culture: reading books, watching documentaries, looking at movies, going to the shooting range.
“But none of that meant anything compared to going on ride-alongs with cops.”
Harrelson calls Dave Brown, his character, “not just a bad guy. He loves his family and that’s what’s interesting about him. It’s a complex character with a problematic dark side but he also loves his kids.”
Where did Harrelson, a self-described “hippie from Hawaii,” channel this latest tour de force?
“I’m definitely, I don’t know,” he answered softly, “an A personality in a B façade.
“I think I’m naturally my best self when I’m really lazy and not doing anything. When I’m working hard, which is what’s required of you these days, I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea. I really don’t like working.”
But he does it often. Next month he’s in the anticipated blockbuster “The Hunger Games.”
“My family and I read all three books. It’s just so cool,” he said of playing “Games” character Haymitch Abernathy.
Initially he rejected the role. “Gary Ross wanted me to play this part and it’s definitely a supporting character, but I didn’t feel I had enough to do so I did turn it down.”
Ross came back and pleaded, telling Harrelson, “I don’t have a second choice.”
“So I said, OK. Now I can’t imagine having missed it.”
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