oody Harrelson's filmography is packed with movies to come and damn near all of them touch on a different genre. The man who became known round the world as the goofy bartender on the hit television show "Cheers" has since proved that comedy is not his only talent. Performances in such films as Indecent Proposal, Natural Born Killers and The People vs. Larry Flynt showed he had more to offer than just laughs. Now with North Country and the upcoming DreamWorks drama The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio Woody is showing his range.

With three movies due out in 2005 and another five already in his future there is a lot of Woody Harrelson to come and he took the time to sit down and talk with us about the past, present and what the future holds.

I should warn you, Woody is not always inclined to finish his thoughts. So if the interview seems to be choppy I apologize it was the best I could get.

Question: What made you want to do North Country?

Woody: The great script by Michael Seitzman and working with Niki, Charlize, Sissy and Frances; those were among the reasons I thought it was a really good idea. Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees and I was not inclined to do it and then fortunately Niki talked me into it.

Question: Why were you not thinking of doing it?

Woody: I thought it was a terrific script and I just was like, I can't see really what I can bring to this to make it special. There were things that were written after that made it look a little more exciting.

Question: What about Prize Winner?

Woody: That was another movie that I was like, "I don't want to play that guy. I have no desire." Then Jane Anderson flew out to Hawaii and we hung out and went up to these great falls and talked and talked and I was like, "Yeah, I think it would be a good idea to do this."

You hate this guy so much, you're wondering why does he stay with him, none of it really makes sense. I thought Jane [Anderson] addressed it in a way that I thought she tread the line really well so that you could kind of see how she could stay with him.

He's an alcoholic, abusive father and husband, not physically so much, he would just go into these tirades. I just wasn't really excited about getting into that headspace, but then having done it I am really glad I did.

Question: Your filmography has piled up lately, are things starting to click?

Woody: Well, you know I took five years off, so I do have to make up for lost time, and even though I have done five films that haven't been released I think that each one of them is really special.

Everything's going in the right direction. Ultimately I want to direct, I wrote a screenplay that I really like. Where I got started in this whole thing is in comedy and I want to be able to put forth my vision of what is genuinely funny, so ultimately I hope I am going to do that. That's where I'm heading.

Question: Was the five year hiatus worth it?

Woody: It was the best thing I ever did without question. It was around '97 or '98. I had done all these movies and there were many disappointments. You do a movie, even as an actor who maybe sometimes influences the blocking or the script, in some ways you're still basically a pawn or like a bishop in someone's vision, which you hope is a good vision. You hope you work with Milos Foreman and it's just a great vision. But sometimes you are like, "Oh, I put my heart into this and I am so sad about how it turned out." That coupled with the backlash against the Larry Flynt thing, also coupled with the fact that I was just really needing to hang with my family.

Question: Are you glad you did Larry Flynt?

Woody: Of course I am glad I did it, I think it is a great movie. I was upset at the fought out campaign against it. Gloria Steinam (New York Times columnist) and whoever the money interests that were supporting her, went on like a nationwide regional tour. I can't tell you how many guys came up to me and said, "Man I'd love to see your movie, but my wife won't let me."

Question: Was your hiatus due to the fact that you were burned out?

Woody: I was kind of burned out. I was tired of working movie after movie, working 14 hour days, not hanging with my family, and then I was just like hold it, I am just going to live this life that I have taken the time to create and in my mind I kind of retired.

Question: What did you do?

Woody: I hung with my family in Costa Rica, Hawaii, living just the greatest life imaginable with not a lot of cares, but also I did one thing, which I was determined to do each of the last five/six years, which was to do a play.

Question: You just finished A Prairie Home Companion, the film based on Garrison Keillor.

Woody: John C. Reilly and I play the singing cowboys, it's so funny, it comes out good. John has a hell of a voice.

Question: How was it working with Garrison?

Woody: He was good, he's an interesting guy, because I have never met a person who will not look in your eyes. He will not look in your eyes.

I don't think he's ever been in quite this situation with all these different people around him who are pretty forthright. So the whole thing came up, and he said that is how he was raised. He actually became very forthcoming about this thing of his and by the end of it, I got to say he was really kind of melting into this wonderful little kid who was playing with the other kids and looking in the eye. There really was a shift that I thought took place.

Question: After the five year break was After the Sunset the comeback movie?

Woody: Yes, which was huge! [laughing]

Question: So you aren't burnt out anymore and you have made peace with yourself and with Hollywood?

Woody: Made peace with Hollywood? I don't know about that, Hollywood has a lot of components to it. I got to a point where I was thinking I didn't like the studios and now I look at Warner Bros. and I say, "That's a great studio. These guys are doing movies that matter."

Question: Is it different now when you're not necessarily the star of the film?

Woody: I don't feel like I need to be the lead, I don't feel like I need to be this or that, all I feel like I need to be is involved with something that's gonna be special, a really special project.

Question: You have a book.

Woody: Yeah, it's called ‘How to Go Further," it's based on my friends and I who did a trip down the coast from Seattle to Santa Barbara, 1500 miles, on bicycles and stopped to talk to people about what we cared about and went to colleges and stuff. It's really mostly about walking with a lighter footprint, simple organic living, call it the "Soul Tour." And although that seems like a heavy message the documentary really turned out funny and entertaining. Like one of the most entertaining movies I think I have been involved with, and I am not the lead in, but I loved it.

Since then Warwick Press put out a book ‘How to Go Further' and its several of the characters in the film have little chapters in the book and that turned out great too.

Question: People tried to pin you down as a loopy pothead did that bother you?

Woody: That was a media driven campaign so yeah, I was bothered by that because I do think hemp should be legal in this country, the same way I think marijuana should be legal. In other words, in a free country you should be able to do what you want to do as long as you don't hurt someone else or their property. So really the issue is about freedom and the focus on the marijuana thing is absurd because then it becomes a thing and I get characterized as someone who you think you never see me when I'm not stoned.

The reality is I never do an interview stoned, I never present myself publicly stoned, I never work stoned, so most people have never seen me stoned. Unfortunately, just the way it has been characterized, you would find that hard to believe. The problem was that I never even smoked a joint until I was 21 years-old, but prior to then people would think I was stoned just because of the way I act, so it's kind of a double-edged sword to get characterized that way. Granted some of it was my own doing, admittedly, but it's also kind of unfair and I am a guy that takes my work seriously even though I seem to be carefree and insouciant most of the time. I really have a big respect for my work and the people I am working with, so as long as it doesn't taint those people and they don't think ill of me I guess I will keep opening my big mouth.