Woody Harrelson

Well, I identified with the violence in him in the sense that I've had a lot of violence in my own life, yeah. So I guess to some degree there's comparisons. Certainly times in my life I've been angry enough to kill. Thank God I didn't have like a gun in my hand. But I think we've all been angry enough to kill. I think there's a killer inside all of us. I think there's a demon inside all of us.

How did you prepare yourself for this special part, serial killer?

Oh, I would watch, you know, countless videotapes of different interviews, serial killers, read about it. I'd just kind of steep my mind in it for a while. Read Manson's autobiography. I found that kind of interesting. I find fascinating the fact that some of these mass murderers are, you know, like warped people, serial killers. I mean they are certainly, like, about the most warped you could think of any, you know, person ever becoming.

And yet, you'd watch the interview and you'd find that they'd be speaking rationally, coherently. So, these irrational acts from a seemingly perfectly rational mind. I found that fascinating.

Did you think of other well-known examples of killers? You spoke about Manson. Other killers you studied?

Oh, yeah. You know, Ted Bundy, for example. I mean, here's a guy who you sit and you can't help but be enchanted by the guy. I think that's what's so frightening about it. You know, they had to put him in the chair because he was just too damn intelligent and likable. You didn't even want to you didn't want to look at that. Don't want to find yourself liking a mass murderer.

Do you think there is a danger that this film makes the serial killer to a kind of cult figure?

Well, I think the thing that this film is satirizing is the fact that that's being done in society. So, I mean, in American society particularly. But I mean, if you, you know, you can look at it one way is that it's guilty of what it's satirizing, or, you know, you can just say, hey, it's a satire. But what I think is really important about the movie is it holds a mirror up to the American landscape and says, hey, look at this, this is where we're at, this is the madness. And you have to look into it, you know.

People come away from this film deeply affected. And I think that they're, you know, affected in ways maybe they aren't even aware of, you know, because there's a lot of very primal images, but you leave the film thinking. Impacted.

Before you spoke about fascination, why do you think the serial killer has such a high reputation in our Christian society?

Well, I think precisely because we're in this Christian society that has drawn a very distinct line between good and evil, you know.

And so, all of us want to be good, and yet we look at that person who's bad with a great deal of interest, because certainly there's a part of us that's bad, you know? There's a part of us that we keep locked away, you know, that Jung called the shadow. And it has all the aspects of ourselves, our violence and sexuality, aspects that we want to suppress, you know, that we don't want other people to see. And so, I think that's a part of the fascination.

Did you analyze yourself to prepare this part, your person, your private history, your biography?

Well, I definitely had to come to terms with my own shadow. I mean, I'm not saying I've come to terms with it, but I had to open up the door to it. It's more of a Pandora's box than a simple door, you know. But there's a lot of darkness in me, you know. There's a lot of violence in me, and I've experienced a lot of violent episodes in my life. And so, for me, the process of this film was also a process of examining myself, no question.

Has the film changed you in any way, the work in this film?

Well, I think that, you know, it opened the door to my rage, which I'd been suppressing for years. And so, in a sense, yeah, I'm probably much more volatile than I ever was, you know? Like in the last two weeks I've had three near fights, you know? And I don't want to fight, you know? I can rationally say that I think it's horrible and I have no desire to fight. But at the same time, I think part of this process just opened that door, you know? Like I said, all right, I'm a violent human being and I'm not going to simply suppress it, you know? I have to express my rage some way.

Otherwise I have to address my rage. I mean, ultimately the important thing is to address the rage. And that requires looking at what hurt generated the rage, because obviously it comes from hurt and fear.

My last question. Your film has caused many discussions and also protests. Do you think people have misunderstood your film? This film?

Well, I think inevitably a film like this is going to generate a lot of discussion and a lot of anger, you know? I mean, you can't walk out of that theater without being deeply affected. Otherwise you weren't looking at the film. I mean, it stirs a lot of very primal images. You dive into the belly of the beast. You have to walk out of that theater hopefully examining something within yourself. So, yeah, I think it got people upset, and, you know, a lot of people like the film a lot, and a lot of people hate it.

But to quote Edward Albee, if you're not offending somebody, then it isn't art.

So, I think we can definitely say this film constitutes art.