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First up, why don't you introduce yourself to those of us who don't
already know you?
I am first and foremost a character actor, a chameleon-like creature
who changes to blend into his environment, reflecting all that surrounds
him. I've been acting since 1968, it is my art , my craft, and my life. Unlike
many actors, I try to NOT brand myself, playing a wide variety of
characters who bear no resemblence to each other, whereas John Wayne and
Clint Eastwood are always the same character, I try to never be the same.
Let me (rather randomly) pick a
handful of films from your filmography, and maybe you could talk about
them, your roles in them and your on-set experiences for a bit: Sickle? Sickle
is one of my favorites, I play Boris, the Russian gangster. The title of
the film directed and written by Robert Conway is based on the character
Kane Hodder (Jason
of Friday
the 13th fame) plays, Sherriff Slade Sickle, who along with his wife and son
keep the town crime-free by cannabalizing offenders - like Tiffany Shepis [Tiffany
Shepis interview - click here] renownd scream queen, Taryn Maximillian Dafoe and Rina Riffel It was a
great set to work on! This is Robert's second film, and he is just an
amazingly talented man, who is writing another horror film in LA. I honestly
think he could be the Tarantino of horror, he writes great dialogue and
creates rich characters.
The
49th Line?
In The 49th Line, I play a redneck sherriff who runs
his small town with his psycho brothers who brutally kill off any
strangers. The 49th Line refers to the name of a gold mine that
struck gold on the 49th attempt. The 49th Line was written and directed by
Drew O'Kane, it was his first film and filmed on location in Silverton,
Colorado, using all his own money. We lived in an old miners' boarding
house, and we, the cast, were brought in from Phoenix. After 30 days we
became, as often happens, a Tribe or family, bonding every night by a huge
bonfire, and filming every day with little rest in between. Making the film
was like a never ending party, resulting in friendships that continue on to
this day - Kimber Leigh, Klor Rowland, Danae Mckillop, Jose Rosete - are people
I love and admire and have done several films with since, Kimber, Jose and
I did Blocked together, Kimber, Klor and I did several shorts as well as
Bloody Mother Trucker together, Jose and I did Angels, Devils and
Men, Running on Empty Dreams, Sickle, and Blocked,
also with Tiffany Shepis, and Kimber
and I did Yesterday's Tommorow, Angels, Devils and
Men, Asylum, All In, and we are
filming Vrooom with Klor this fall. Cathedral Canyon? Loved
doing Cathedral Canyon, about mormon polygamy in modern day
Phoenix. I play
Mr Valesquez, a dirty money go-between. Again with Jose Rosete, Kimber
Leigh and the usual suspects, written by Paul Davis, produced by Diana
Davis, directed by Lorenzo Lamas, DP was Paul Hudson. Blocked? Ahhhhh,
more a Labor of Love, Classic Film Noir, Starring Tiffany Shepis, Jose
Rosete, Mario Guzman Kimber Leigh, intersting twists of plot. And Directed
By James Arnett. Tiffany is Amazing in this, she has all the 1940s glamour
of a Linda Darnell, just Amazing, and it's not the typical scream queen role,
she is quite the Femme Fatale of that bygone era. Leeann Dearing does a
great job too, she is also the new Go Daddy Girl, and is remenicent of a
young Lana Turner.
Match.Dead?
Absolutely one of my favorite roles, Grandpa Smith, and the best review
I've ever gotten:
"Now, this
is a really good movie to see what your imagination hopes the characters
will do next.
James Ray is ... Incredible, mean & lean and willing to have you hate him in the next
scene too.
Kathleen Benner ... Was perfect and truly STOLE the last minutes of film and deserved a
standing ovation at the Redbox kiosk as rented.
Michael Harrelson ... Reminded me so much of The Duke in John Wayne and The Cowboys, I just cant
give away why.
This was a total package of freakin' good movie making! Think they all three are some that can act better than most!" Don't get me
wrong it also had its share of haters, but on a personal level, it's some of
my best work my pals James Ray, Kathleen Benner and Greg Joseph really
turned in incredible performances little known fact Kathleen was expecting
at the time and was such a trouper letting us toss her all over the place,
she really is an excellent stunt woman. Jon Bonnell directed it Webb,
Peckersgill was DP, and my friend Catherine Everheart is the dead naked
girl, aka Penelope Jones, young Valora was played by Ashley Francis, best
kid actor I know, watch for her in the future huge talent in a little girl.
Probed?
... was a short and a web series, won a Rocky Mountain Emmy, Kevin Hermann
wrote and played the lead, my character Mr Saver is based on the smoking
man in X Files,
and this really was an homage to Chris Columbo. The series has great SFX, Joel
Cranson directed, Webb Pickersgill DP. Fun Set to work on. www.probedsignals.com
Genital
Genocide? David C. Hayes [David
C.Hayes interview - click here] is amazing in this, it's about a
condemed serial killer being put to death. I play the Warden. Great supporting
cast, Debbie Oversbey, Bartley Oversbey, Liana Hubbard ,Christine
Rose in her debut, I made her do it, lol, Rob Douglas, Rick Dyer. Lots of
gore, lots of fun.
Room 602?
Another fun project with Jon Bonnell and Infinite Spectrum. I play Harry
Dunn, an inept wiseguy/hitman, Aaron Ginn-Forsberg plays my partner Jimmy.
Shot at the Hotel San Carlos in the Ingrid Bergman Suite, it's a short from
the feature length script Jon Bonnell wrote that I hope gets made into a
feature one day, very funny film, Brian Ronalds from the Ronalds Brothers
production team plays our hapless victim. Yesterday's
Tomorrow, on which you also had quite a few behind-the-camera duties,
right? Yup, lol. I often refer to this as the worst film ever
made, and I was co-producer. It's hard to explain, because the script is
good, the actors Claudia Vargas, Seth Gandrud, Andy Rose, Jimmy Flowers and
Gil Andrews are great, the DP Vincent Pascoe was great - but it just is
awful, something got lost somewhere, it started going wrong when the
original director had to go to rehab, it was his vision, his story and his
baby, IK think if he had made it it would have been a good film. In
hindsight we should have waited til he got out, still it was fun.
You
have also been in veteran director Lindsay Shonteff's Angels, Devils
and Men. You just have to talk about that movie and the good Mr
Shonteff for a bit! Very surreal film! Loved working with
Lyndsay on his last film. I play Flash the Angel From Hell. It was an Honor
Working with him, he was the most no nonsense organized director I've ever
worked with. Anthony Myles was the DP, Jimmy Flowers was the Gay Angel,
and
Jose Rosete was the soul we fought over. A couple of interesting side
notes: First lol I was fired from this film and replaced by a female Flash, but
I hold no grudge, Lynsday died two weeks after the wrap in London, England,and much to the dismay of his wife,
his other wife from America
showed up at the funeral, and the film was tied up in court for a few
years When it was settled I got a call asking if I would let them use the
footage I'd shot. I agreed it was the least I could do, so Flash became the
crossdressing angel from hell as I morph from male to female throughout
the film. God rest his Soul, I admire, respect and treasure the Genius that
was Lyndsay Shonteff Any other films of yours you'd like
to talk about? Oh i just did a quirky little film called The
Big Something, a mystery/comedy directed by Travis Mills, starring
Mina Mirkhah.
One can't help but notice that many of
your films are of the horror or science fiction variety. A coincidence, or
are these genres dear to you? I love the both genres as i
grew up on B Movie Double Features, of course I love all film, but horror and
sci-fi hold that place I first discovered as a kid, that opens
the imagination.
Before you acted in
movies, you did a lot of commercials and voicework, right?
I still do, they pay the bills. I love working, period! It's my life,
my passion. What made you
take the step into the movie world? Actually, I saw an ad for crew and my
son wanted to direct and my advice was to crew up, get first-hand
experience - so I called to set him up with an appointment, Drew O'Kane liked my voice and invited me to audition,
I got
the role and my son got on the crew, and off we went to film in Colorado. I'm very proud of my son, Conan Harrelson, and hope to work for him
someday Can you still
remember your first on-camera experience? Not
really, lol, I was stoned and nervous and have completely blocked it out. As far as I know (and
I might be wrong), you didn't get into acting until relatively late in
life. How come, and what did you do before that? And did you receive any
formal education on the subject? What
a checkered past I have. Well I've been a Stevedore, Merchant Seaman, or
Able-bodied Seaman, Real Estate Broker, Bouncer, Barker, Strike Breaker/Goon,
TV-host on cable, Used Car Salesman, Fortune Teller, Hypnotist.
Your approach to acting?
Basically there are two styles and I use them both, internal and external.
Examples would be Marlon Brando used internal, Laurence Olivier used
external - meaning Brando started inside himself and worked outwards,
Olivier started by dressing the character and working inward. Both work,
to me it depends on the role, if the character is very emotionally taught
I work internally, if he's very boisterous and outgoing I use external, but
in all cases the key to me is "the walk" - once I've got the guy's
walk I've got him. Roles
you'd like to play (no matter how impossible)? Oddly
enough, Hitler!
How complex must that character be? And my ongoing project
for an old black bluesman, who I call JazzBeaux Dupree - this character is a
combonation of Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Fred Sanford {Redd Foxx}, and my
real life mentor Jim Green, who gave me my first harmonica. Just need
someone to write the script, Salpie Tatka, my favorite make up artist says
she can transform this old blued blonde guy into the perfect Black
Bluesman, we shall see, it's certainly a challange Actors
(or indeed actresses) who inspire you? So many... Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Sir Ben Kingsley, Ben
Johnson, Michael Parks, Billy Connely would top the list - Tim Scott, great
Character actor, played Pea Eye in Lonesome Dove, and was in many
films like Electric Horseman.
Your favourite
movies?
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LOL! Of course I love all of mine. But my list of GREAT movies would be
Subject Zero, Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast, again Sir Ben, Assassination Tango and
Tender Mercies, and The Apostle, Robert
Duvall, all the John Ford Westerns and a short film I did, Alfred, which is going
to Sundance. ... and of course, films you really deplore? LOL,
none, I love all movies, even BAD ones, I'm a huge Ed Wood- [Ed
Wood bio - click here] and Fred Olen Ray-fan, face it, I'm an addict, and lol an enabler too. Your
website, Facebook, whatever else?
http://www.facebook.com/michael.harrelson
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2204540/
Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Well,
I'm hopefully doing Bikers vs Zombies for Robert Conway, with Kane Hodder
and hopefully Lance Henricksen, Vroooom 123, and I'm working on
producing
a TV-pilot Celebrity Ghost Hunts, with my favorite psychic/medium Carrie
Shubert, Mike Lynch, and hopefully Kane Hodder, Dawna Lee Heising, Claudia
Guzman,and several celebrities I can't name yet, but they are huge! Thanks
for the interview!
Thank you!!! See You In The Movies...
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find Michael Harrelson at adultvideouniverse.com
