Woody Harrelson Is Thankful His Director Didn't Let Him Make This Iconic Character More 'Drunk and Debauched'
Woody Harrelson enjoys swagger and levity for his characters, but he can go overboard — and in this case, the actor’s thankful to his billion-dollar franchise’s director for stopping him.
For decades, Woody Harrelson has been one of the most popular actors in Hollywood.
His track record is extensive and incredibly diverse, but the one role that made Harrelson popular among the younger generations was his part of Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games where he co-starred with then-aspiring J-Law.
Haymitch Abernathy was definitely quite a unique character in Woody Harrelson’s career, and he had quite some fun portraying this jaded and gloomy man with a golden heart.
However, admittedly, the actor almost went way overboard with his idea of adding more swagger and levity to Haymitch — luckily, director Ross stopped him.
“I always wanted to make Haymitch more drunk and debauched, but Gary wanted to keep a rein on it so that it wasn't too much like that. <...> Me, I am always in general ready to go over the top with it, so it is helpful to have a director like Gary bringing me back,” the actor admitted when speaking to The Huffington Post.
Despite not being able to make Haymitch as debauched as he’d wished to, Harrelson eventually came to realize it was for the better. Regardless of those creative debates, the actor tremendously enjoyed being part of the Hunger Games trilogy and grew really close to the character of Haymitch Abernathy.
“I think he is a pretty fine character. I can't think of any other character I have played like him. He is quite a unique character. Also, he's interesting because he's one thing on the surface but then you find he is a little bit different, further down the road. He has that thing of people not being able to quantify him,” the actor explained.
One way or another, Woody Harrelson did a fantastic job of portraying Katniss Everdeen’s mentor who became one of the most fan-favorite characters in the entire trilogy. Actually, we’re still hopelessly hoping for a spin-off about Haymitch’s experience with Hunger Games. Get Woody back in the game, finally!
Source: The Huffington Post