Woody Harrelson talks 'Star Wars,' 'Zombieland 2' at University of Iowa

Just two days after earning his third Academy Award nomination, actor Woody Harrelson hosted a movie screening, talked "Star Wars" and made audiences laugh in a packed Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City.

The event Thursday night happened just over 48 hours after Harrelson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as cancer-stricken chief of police Bill Willoughby in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." The movie earned seven nominations, including one for Best Picture.

As part of the University of Iowa's Lecture Series, Harrelson screened "Lost in London," a movie he wrote, directed and starred in for more than a thousand in attendance. The event was produced in collaboration with FilmScene.

Not only did Harrelson create the film, it was shot and broadcast live to 550 theaters across the world in early 2017. The screening in Iowa City was the first time since the initial broadcast that it was screened in the U.S., Harrelson said.

"I wanted to merge theater and film," Harrelson said during a question and answer session with Iowa Public Radio's Charity Nebbe.

Though he's proud of the film, and plans to hold screenings of it throughout the country, Harrelson said making a movie with Owen Wilson and Willie Nelson that was being broadcast live was a bit of a hassle. "I don't know what I was thinking making a movie this way, I honestly don't."

The comedic drama film follows Harreslon as he re-creates an evening in London that features him being arrested, being bailed out of jail by Wilson and getting into a fight with a beggar in a wheelchair.

After the screening, Harrelson broke some Hollywood news to the Iowa City audience. An audience member asked him about the 2009 movie "Zombieland," a post-apocalyptic horror-comedy that featured Harrelson as cowboy hat-wearing zombie-slayer named Tallahassee, he let a fact fly about the well-received 2009 movie.

"I think you're the first people to hear this: We will be making another one," Harrelson said.

On the topic of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," the upcoming movie spin-off about iconic Star Wars character Han Solo, Harrelson was not as forthcoming. Though he's finished filming on the project said, Harrelson said "it's the most secretive set I've ever been on."

"I'm telling you, there's stormtroopers just behind the door. They're so secretive, you can't say anything."

Nebbe reminded Harrelson of a connection he had to Iowa. In the 1996 cult classic comedy film "Kingpin," Harrelson played a one-handed bowler named Roy who was the Iowa state champion.

"I actually forgot that," Harrelson said after Nebbe mentioned the Iowa connection. "It feels like home, but I've sprouted a hand."

Harrelson spoke frankly about his varied Hollywood career, which was started with a role on the revered NBC sitcom "Cheers" in 1985. Since then, he's appeared in nearly 100 films. "A lot of them were flops," Harrelson said.

A lot were not, though. He's received two other Oscar nominations for performances in "The Messenger" and "The People vs. Larry Flynt." He's acted in "No Country for Old Men," which won four Oscars, including Best Picture. He's performed in groundbreaking television shows like HBO's "True Detective" and starred in one of the most scandalous, controversial and edgy movies, "Natural Born Killers."

Still, he told the audience that he never knows how a film will turn out until he actually sees it. He didn't know "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was good until he watched a cut of the film with its writer and director Martin McDonagh.

"In the end, you make your movie and all you can hope for is it's good or hopefully it's great, but you have no control over any other aspect of it," Harrelson said. "Something like 'Billboards' is a bizarre phenomenon, from the beginning you're just like 'Wow, we're just going to have to hang on and take this ride.'"

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.