(Imagine Martin ScorsesesAfter Hoursmeshed withRussian Ark.)
The movie will shoot in London in the middle of the night local time.
Its live theatrical broadcast will begin in at 6:00 p.m. PT/9:00 p.m.
ET and will be broadcast in more than 550 theaters.
(More information can be found at Fathom Eventswebsite.)
He adds, with that Woody Harrelson wink, No ones ever been that stupid until now.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So theres this 2002 incident in London where you broke an ashtray in a cab.
That night is the basis forLost in London?
WOODY HARRELSON:Well, if that hadnt happened I never would have thought to do this.
That was when I spent a night in jail here in London.
But in this film, the whole night starts bad and keeps getting progressively worse.
At the time, in real life, it was completely unfunny.
But then later I thought about it later and I said, Theres comedy in this.
The teaser has a loose, fun vibe.
It doesnt make it seem like a deep, soul-searching drama.
Id say its a deep, soul-searching comedy.
Its about a guy who has it all and runs the risk of losing it all.
And then hopefully ends up with this shot at redemption.
I dont wanna give away too much of what goes on in the plot.
When did you start thinking about this in terms of a film?
I had this idea 10 or more years ago.
But is that different from filmed theater?
This isnt a stagebound production?
Not stagebound at all.
There are similarities to theater, since were doing it all in one long take.
But then I realized that it lacks that most important element, which is an audience.
That was a broadcast idea comes in.
But were gonna try it.
Whats the closest comparison between this and something else youve done?
Holy moly, Ive never done anything where I felt like this.
I guess a comparison might beSaturday Night Live.
Thats like doing live theater, though you have commercial breaks.
But to do it 100 minutes in a row with no break?
Yeah, it might be accurate to call this insanity.
Who is your cinematographer?
His name is Nigel Willoughby.
I called him up and said, Dude youre incredible.
Im blown away by the texture of your images and the lighting.
Hes gone on to doDownton AbbeyandPenny Dreadfuland a number of films.
But literally the first person I called in terms of crew was him.
And what have the two of you talked about in terms of taking this on?
Well, sometimes youll see comedies that are shot kind of cheaply.
But we want this to have a cinematic feel.
Yeah, being a single camera deal is quite worrisome to me.
Nigel and I were both quite taken with the German filmVictoria, which is filmed in one take.
And Nigel really became attached to that idea.
He talked me back into the idea three or four times.
Now were gonna do it.
One camera, one take.
Youre probably aware thatLost in Londonwill be playing in theaters on the night before Donald Trumps presidential inauguration.
Yeah, that is interesting.
Its just the way that all the schedules work out.
Its wild that this is coming on the last night of Obamas presidency and on the eve of Trump.
I dont know if theres any meaning behind it, but its a strange coincidence.
Maybe its about escaping to another country.
Yeah [laughs].
But I have to fly back to America the next day because we haveWilsonat the Sundance Film Festival.
I guess thats on the day of the inauguration, so maybe Ill watch that on the plane.
Have you given a lot of thought to the weather?
London has a famously high percentage of rain.
Oh, man, every night I wake up in the middle of the night and completely freak out.
Rain is one of the things that freaks me out the most.
But if it happens, it happens.
Yeah, if you could predict weather, this wouldnt be the same challenge, right?
What Ive realized during the course of this journey so far is that there are a lot of obstacles.
Its never been done before and there are probably ample reasons for that.
Its probably inevitable that there will be accidents.
Which is hopefully what intrigues people to come see it.
Is it going to be a disaster?
I cant say for sure.
