When Woody Harrelson shot up the country in Natural Born Killers, it was controversial. Now everyone will be rooting for him. In Zombieland, Harrelson takes to the apocalypse killing the undead. We got a little preview of the latest take on zombie apocalypse when we caught up with Harrelson at San Diego Comic Con.
Crave Online: Who’s your character in Zombieland?
Woody Harrelson: I play Tallahassee, who’s a fellow who’s probably gone through a little heartbreak in life, and is a bit of a loner, but then fortunately runs into Jesse Eisenberg’s character and we become an unlikely duo and we do a lot of zombie killing together.
Crave Online: I’m always fascinated in these movies how the survivors rummage through the leftovers and find stuff they can use. What are some of the cool supplies or tools or impromptu weapons you guys find to handle yourselves in this world?
Woody Harrelson: Chainsaws, skillet, toaster, baseball bat, but you know, my character is really obsessed with Twinkies, so I’m rummaging around for Twinkies.
Crave Online: Did you have to eat any real Twinkies? Aren’t you all organic?
Woody Harrelson: They did make up some good cornmeal Twinkies.
Crave Online: What’s your favorite zombie kill in the movie.
Woody Harrelson: I like this skillet, just the thud of it.
Crave Online: Did you really enjoy the kick ass action scenes that you were involved in? Is that something that you got a kick out of?
Woody Harrelson: Yes. It’s cathartic.
Crave Online: Do you have a reluctant partnership with Jesse Eisenberg’s character?
Woody Harrelson: Well, yes it kind of overlaps. That foil thing we do overlap on. My character is very much a loner and really believes that to survive, you have to be alone, but I run into his character and we have kind of a tense moment where we don’t know what’s going to happen and then fortunately we end up becoming buddies.
Crave Online: Have you been looking for another action hero roles since Money Train?
Woody Harrelson: Yes, I always fancy myself an action hero actor, and then I didn’t actually get the parts to prove it out, but no, it was cool. It is a very cathartic thing to be able to kick ass and not really hurt anybody.
Crave Online: We’ve heard great things about your performance in The Messenger also. Is it nice to have a big silly movie and then a small serious one like that?
Woody Harrelson: It’s great to be able to be a part of this movie, because I think it’s going to be, I mean I haven’t seen it yet, but I think it’s going to be really funny and hopefully a little bit horrifying as well. But I guess my heart is in the indie world in a way, because some of those movies they’re just not going to be big, studio blockbuster type of movies, but they’re great to be a part of, like The Messenger.
Crave Online: Was The Messenger a tough film to do?
Woody Harrelson: It was very intense, very intense. I know we’re not supposed to be talking about The Messenger. Ben Foster and I played Casualty Notification Officers, so you can imagine it’s pretty intense.
Crave Online: What are you doing in the world of environmental activism these days?
Woody Harrelson: Well, I’m really focused right now on mountain top removal and I think that’s one of the most egregious acts that’s going on ecologically now, where they blow the tops off of mountains to access the coal. And I’m just kind of focused on that right now.
Crave Online: Are you finding the new administration is more receptive to these environmental concerns than the old?
Woody Harrelson: Well, unfortunately, I don’t think they’re really stepping up right now. I hope that it does happen, but in terms of what’s going on with mountain top removal, they’re letting more, another 42 more permits just went through and they’re backing off of sensitive oil leases and they’re letting those go through, so I hope it improves.
Crave Online: Woody, are you doing anything next, or are you just going back to Hawaii and finding sanctuary in a treehouse?
Woody Harrelson: No, I’m unemployed and I’ll probably be spending some time on Maui just coping with the unemployment. That’s where I live so I’ll probably get some time in the water and just try to move through it.
Crave Online: Do you think there’s room for more adventures in Zombieland?
Woody Harrelson: Yeah, this might be the time to announce that we’re going to do Zombieland 2.
