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"FacebookPinterest\n\nI met Woody Harrelson in a windowless room at the SoHo Grand Hotel. He sat on a small couch, wearing baggy jeans and a black suit jacket over a T-shirt. There were fleece-lined slippers on the floor in front of him and he was in stocking feet. On his head there was a hat with an embroidered patch that said California Wildlife Center / Care in Action.\n\nA small coffee table stood between us and bore a pot of green tea and what looked to be a pint of Guinness. Harrelson alternated drinks of the two as we spoke. He also would occasionally bring his legs up into some sort of yoga pose, extending them towards me and holding the soles of his feet with his hands, like he was turning them into some sort of boom mic. Harrelson, 50 years old, was in New York promoting his new movie, Rampart.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWoody Harrelson: You remind me of someone I know.\n\nGQ: Who?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Can't think of it. Some actor.\n\nGQ: Woody Harrelson?\n\n Woody Harrelson: No, no. Hmmm... It'll come to me.\n\nGQ: Can you tell me about when you preached the Gospel as a child? \n\n Woody Harrelson: I was very religious growing up. My mom still is. We went to church all the time, went to Bible study; we even did Bible study at my house. I went to a Presbyterian college, you know, I was in....all the way, and so I remember doing my first sermon when I was 17, I was in high school. It wasn't a full twenty-five minute sermon but for like ten minutes I got up and they let me do that and it was on faith.\n\nGQ: Do you remember what you said?\n\n Woody Harrelson: You know\u2014\"With faith as big as an acorn you can move mountains.\" I can't remember what it says in the Bible. Like you can move mountains with your faith and with your faith you can do amazing things. And that was the thing I was really interested in and fascinated by at that stage. It was thoroughly extemporaneous.\n\nGQ: Do you have a favorite part of the Bible?\n\n Woody Harrelson: The Fall is always interesting in terms of what I think it really meant. And the Gospels are interesting just because of their development, like how long after the death of Christ that they were recorded and carried by word of mouth until they were written down. And you know, like the comparisons between Luke and John and Mark and Matthew, as well. But I look at John, the one written last, and it was just like prior to that everything....I look at Luke as maybe the closest to what was actually said, and I look at Mark and Matthew\u2014you can see where they all intersect with Luke. Luke is probably the purest of what was said, but then in John it goes from saying we are all children of God and we all have the power to perform miracles to... \"I am the way the truth and the light and no one cometh unto the Father except by me,\" and it becomes much more authoritative and you can just see that... you know, I'm just fascinated by all that.\n\nGQ: Do you consider yourself to be a Christian?\n\n Woody Harrelson: No. I have a strong spiritual life. I can't say that I have faith that Jesus is my Savior, but I look at Jesus in the same way that I look at, you know, Mohammed. He was giving everyone the goods. So was Gandhi. And to me I think it's this thing of everyone wanting to make Jesus the Son of God and Jesus the only way to God that is the thing that no longer makes me want to be a Christian.\n\nGQ: You meditate, right?\n\n Woody Harrelson: I'm not always great at doing it, but I did it today.\u00A0 It's hit and miss. Yoga and meditation, I am trying to make sure that I do that every day.\n\nGQ: I talked to Clint Eastwood a couple years ago\u2014he meditates twice a day.\n\n Woody Harrelson: That's good to hear. You know he's... That guy, I'd love to meet him.\n\nGQ: Would you ever want to work with him? \n\n Woody Harrelson: Oh yeah, I'd love to.\n\nGQ: Never had the opportunity?\n\n Woody Harrelson: I did. One time. It was Bridges of Madison County, but it was to be the couple in the present day and it wasn't really a very rewarding role. And I didn't really think that jumping back to the present was necessary. You know how when they say, \"We're going to have Meryl Streep in the past,\" and the boring folks in the future... I didn't want to do that. You see that in a lot of movies where they have people in the present but the stories happen in the past, so why even bother, why not just tell that story from the past and leave out the whole other time period? Because a lot of times its like, \"Fuck, I don't want this, get me back to the other stuff.\"\n\nGQ: You were basically raised without a father, by your mother and your grandmother and your great grandmother, too. How did that shape you?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Well, they were all very good women; all very religious. All very kind hearted, good souls, so I think it really shaped me positively. I think probably, you know, my great grandmother Polly was a real pistol. She could tell a story and everything about her was great. And then my grandmother\u2014I never had a conversation as long as you and I have talked before. She is so stoic and she could talk but she was a woman of few words. Polly... I just wish I'd written down all those stories. She got gobbled up by the Western medical system, but before that happened I wish I'd written down her stories because there were some great stories and she knew all this stuff about her mom and her mom's mom and now that's all gone.\n\nGQ: You said in an interview, I think the line was, \"I grew up more feminine.\" Are you more sensitive?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Yeah, I guess you'd put that quality first on the feminine chart. All of us are yin and yang and ironically now I wish I had more of the yin in my nature. I think I'm too much yang. All I want is balance. It's really about balancing those energies, which I think is what yoga is about. Anything like massage or even tai chi... any of these disciplines that are really about balancing energy and opening the flow of energy and I think at that time I was too... feminine is an interesting choice. I think it's true... I don't know what my mindset was at that time but I think I was also just too soft. I was so sensitive, so vulnerable to getting frazzled by negative energy so naturally I kind of boomeranged. As I got older, I had to get tougher. I was fighting all the time. I was constantly being challenged. And then I became too yang. And now I'm trying to settle in the middle. Nice yin/yang balance.\n\nGQ: What do you think your mother has taught you most?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Compassion. She cares about the world and nature. I think she's invested a little bit of that in me. I really do care about the world and nature and you know, she's got a lot of energy and she really is always doing something. Now, I'm a lollygagger. I'll lollygag 'til the cows come home but I also think she gave me her energy. Like I have a good work ethic even though I have a better play ethic. Is there an ethics to laziness? Cause I got that in spades.\n\nGQ: Is there anything else that a matriarchy does for you? \n\n Woody Harrelson: It's made me love women. I love women. I have a big appreciation for mothers. To me mothers are un-fucking believable. But I don't know if they infused that in me. I didn't really appreciate that until I see what my wife does. How she deals with so much it's so incredible. It's better than being an astrophysicist or you know... It's huge.\n\nGQ: You have three daughters?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Yes.\n\nGQ: And how old are they?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Eighteen, fifteen, and five.\n\nGQ: Hunger Games ages, right?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Yeah, they like those books. And they are psyched to see the movie.\n\nGQ: Are you psyched to be in that, too?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Yeah, I'm excited to see it. I mean, it's just a little part but it's a fun part and I think it's going to be a really strong movie.\n\nGQ: You haven't seen it yet?\n\n Woody Harrelson: No.\n\nGQ: I don't think they could have picked a more unsuitable room today.\n\n Woody Harrelson: Really?\n\nGQ: You want to talk about balance... not good feng shui in this room. It's ugly. No windows. For all we know we could be twelve floors underground right now.\n\n Woody Harrelson: Yeah I don't know why we aren't outside.\n\nGQ: Do you have a least-favorite part of the Bible? Or a least favorite story? \n\n Woody Harrelson: You know, I can't really think of a story that bugs me off the top of my head, but I do really like the story of Jesus throwing the moneylenders out of the temple. Someone's gotta do that now. If Jesus does come back that should be his first move. Get the money thugs out of the church.\n\nGQ: Your co-star in Kingpin, Randy Quaid...what\u00A0 happened to that guy?\n\n Woody Harrelson: I have no idea.\n\nGQ: But that's a pretty crazy story, right? \n\n Woody Harrelson: [pause] I don't know.\n\nGQ: Do you think you and Bill Murray will ever do anything again?\n\n WH: Yeah, I love that guy. He's incredible. And you know, there is a real depth of sensitivity to him. You expect him that he's just going to be \"on\" but he's really sensitive and kind of shy and still pretty sure of himself but he doesn't... Now I've seen him take over a room... but that's when he is in performance mode. Once he gets that going he'll keep it going between takes and engage all kinds of people and do all kinds of antics. He's a true comedic genius but in life he's really much more quiet and sensitive and thoughtful. Great guy. He's a great actor.\n\nGQ: As a father of three daughters what kind of advice do you give them about men?\n\n Woody Harrelson: I don't think I'm the kind of guy that deserves to be giving any advice. And I do think I've been a phenomenal example to the kids about what not to do, but for me to tell them, \"beware of men because of this and this,\" I don't do it. I don't want to infect them with my little blue print. Let them... they're way smarter than me and have a better sense of who they are and are grounded in this world so I'm confident that they will navigate better than I did or anything I could tell them.\n\nGQ: You have any regrets?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Plenty.\n\nGQ: Any you think I could learn from?\n\n Woody Harrelson: One of my biggest regrets was: I was doing a play in L.A. with John Cassavetes. I had a full realization of how amazing this guy was, although I didn't understand in terms of his larger body of work and his influence on independent movies and so forth. But I didn't understand all of that at the time. I was twenty-five or something. I was one of three guys who was being considered for a part for a movie in Rome, and so I left the play and flew over there. I didn't get the part. I could have come back and he would have let me back in the play. I didn't. I regret leaving it. One of the worst decisions of my life. I regret not coming back when I could have. That's one of my biggest regrets. Not just on a professional level because I don't know how much of a difference it would have made, but on a more personal level. I should have stuck by that guy. He took a chance on me. That was a real lack of integrity on my part. I do think that helped me after that. [pause] And I regret the last chance I had to see my great grandmother when my mom said, \"Now you be sure to stop by there on your way to the airport,\" and I was running late and I'm like, \"I'll see her next time,\" and I didn't get a chance to.\n\nGQ: Was she ill?\n\n Woody Harrelson: Not then, but she became ill. I was living in NY trying to make it as an actor and I just came for a visit and I saw her during the visit but it was just a \"Bye, see you next time,\" and I didn't do it. So...[pause] that's a regret. I mean you know, life is full of regrets. There is no point in regrets. It's one of the great wasted emotions... guilt.\n\nGQ: When you talk about balance, all you have is right now. And if you look into the past, you can't fix it, you can only learn from it, you know.\n\nPublicist opens the door, inserts head, says, \"Time's up.\"\n\nWoody Harrelson: Hey man, nice talking to you. It's nice to have a philosophical conversation. You don't get much of that in this area, I can tell you.\n\nGQ: Thanks for your time. Thank you."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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