Defamer
In just the latest example of mounting tensions between stars and the auteurs who cast them, director Paul Schrader wasn't one to mince words when a reporter asked why he thought Woody Harrelson, who plays a gay D.C. escort to older society women in his film The Walker, refused to put in his requisite junket time promoting the film. From the NY Observer:
"As a person, he's a nice guy, and as an actor, he's very talented, but as a professional, he's a shit," said Mr. Schrader, who theorized that Mr. Harrelson didn't like his performance in the movie.
(Mr. Harrelson's publicist said simply, "Woody is taking some time to spend with his family.") "Usually, even if an actor has a problem, they suck it up and do some work but. ... Woody has not. That, to me, is pretty unprofessional."
As is too often the case with creative visionary types, we think an oversensitive Schrader is perhaps reading way more than necessary into Harrelson's press-tour absence, equating the actor's refusal to subject himself to 12 hours' worth of foreign entertainment reporters' repetitive, clumsily phrased questions along the lines of, "So tell me Woody: Do you see any similarities between, say, yourself, the moron from that Cheers bar, and this gay hooker with the silly moustache?" to a rejection of the project outright.
- A Raging Bull Revisited [NY Observer]
Comments
Does Schrader think Woody's hemp just farms itself? Priorities, auteur. Priorities.
There's shit, and then there's good shit.
I think "taking time to spend with family" = getting high on a beach with Owen Wilson, but I could be wrong.
I love me some Woody Harrelson.
Woody's Harrelson's character in 'No Country For Old Men was the only one I really regretted being killed off and not because the character was so interesting.
For my money, Paul Schrader has been living off the huge karmic account he accrued by being the writer of 'Taxi Driver', which is one of the greatest American movies EVER. He should be glad that a Woody Harrelson even wants to work with his tired old Dutch Reformed Church renegade ass.
And PS is going back to the male prostitution well again?
Face it, 'American Gigolo' was just a two-hour episode of 'Kojak' with full frontal male nudity and a great Blondie song during the opening credits.
And absolutely no eroticism decernible in all that nudity...
Paul - face it - Woody is possibly more professional by passing up the bullshit that passes for the publicity trail nowdays...
That, and the man needs to decompress with some fine sticky little buds...
Fish emulsion plus a lotta love = female bud o flower. Woody power. Got me some Woody power.
O S I do.
I worked with Woody Harrelson on an Altman film 3 summers ago, and he was by far the coolest and most down-to-earth person there. He hung out with the stagehands and extras more than the famous people, playing chess and eating raw food. If he doesn't want to do a retarded press junket of lies and ass-kissing, that makes him more professional than any of those other fame whores. Team Woody.
@gwendolyn: Spoiler alert? Some of us can only watch beautifully crafted yet nihilistic films on DVD, when we can pause to weep for humanity.
WHAT is with the story of Woody and Owen in Peru? They kidnapped a reporter?!? Yikes. Supposedly, they were there to visit an orphanage they sponsor with a side-trip to an herbalist who was going to try to cure Owen's depression (I AM NOT making this shit up.) The paparazzi got a little aggressive and Owen went a little loco and Owen and Woody wound up arrested, detained, whatever. Jesus, Owen - I love you, but you've got your head pretty far up your ass. Stop looking for easy answers in other people and bullshit cures, commit to the hard work and get your pretty blonde self into a STRICT long-term rehab program...
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