Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg on 'Zombieland
Columbia PicturesJesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson are shown in a scene from "Zombieland."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- "I think we all know where we’re headed as a society. We can see the future. The writing’s on the wall."
The actor Woody Harrelson, star of the new movie "Zombieland," has been asked if he sees a world populated by zombies as a real possibility.
It’s a silly question, like most of the questions peppering Harrelson and his co-star Jesse Eisenberg at a recent press conference to promote the movie, opening Oct. 2, at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
And judging from the answers they gave, the two actors weren’t in a mood to take the event seriously. After all, "Zombieland" IS a comedy.
Harrelson, a liberal activist when it comes to the environment and, most famously, marijuana legalization, at least attempted to give his answer to the question about a possible zombie future a political slant.
"I feel a little hope with Obama just because he feels like a man with integrity," he said. "Whether or not he’s going to be able to get out from under the push and pull of corporate America remains to be seen."
Said Eisenberg, "The entire delegation from South Carolina must leave office, and I say that as an actor in a horror comedy, with the greatest credibility, at the Waldorf-Astoria getting paid to sit here."
"You getting paid?" asked Harrelson. "They’re not paying me. I just did it gratis, how you’re supposed to do it."
The nonchalant actors then tossed off another question about how they prepared for their roles as zombie killers.
"We didn’t really do any stunts. There was nothing taxing," said Harrelson.
"I didn’t even read the script," said Eisenberg.
"Was there a script?"
"Well, that’s what I’m saying. I don’t know."
Truth be told, there WAS a script, and Eisenberg at least read it, although he let it sit unopened for a week when he saw what the title was. Then he took a chance.
"When I opened it I knew from the first page that it was great. You know that the characters are respected by the writers, you know that each character is well-rounded, that the comedy is witty and the drama is legitimate," said Eisenberg.
"There are so many moments in great independent dramas that feel phony, and with this movie, which is a zombie comedy, I don’t feel that there’s one moment that feels forced or fake or not earned, or a joke that feels like it’s patronizing or pandering to a lower common denominator."
No, the actors left that for the press conference. Asked to name his favorite horror movie, Eisenberg responded, in a joke that fell utterly flat, "Maybe Woody Allen’s ‘September’? It takes place at a country house and then Louise Lasser does something." (Actually, it’s Mia Farrow, but who’s keeping track?)
Eisenberg admitted to never having seen a zombie movie, while Harrelson at least said he watched, and enjoyed, the 2004 British zombie comedy "Shaun of the Dead," which he struggled to differentiate from "Zombieland."
"I think it’s a great, funny movie, ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ but I think the similarities are that it’s a world with zombies and I don’t really see any others — besides it also being a comedy," he said.
Harrelson saw nothing in common between himself and the character he plays in "Zombieland," a man calling himself Tallahassee who travels the country with Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as they fight for their lives among the marauding undead.
"I’m a pacifist. I really don’t like killing, even zombies," said Harrelson.
"I just hang out in my bathing suit in Maui (the actor makes his home in Hawaii) and spend a lot of time in the ocean with my kids and stuff."
And while Tallahassee maintains an intense craving for Twinkies throughout the film, that’s so not Harrelson.
"I don’t take sugar, I don’t take dairy, so that pretty much eliminates all Hostess products from my diet regimen," he said.
So what about the Twinkie he eats in the movie? "That was a fake, looked just like a Twinkie," he said. "It was mostly cornmeal and they had some other yummy stuff in there."
Following that behind-the-scenes insight, the inane questions resumed. The actors were asked what activities they would engage in if they lived in a zombified world in which no one was accountable for their actions.
"You could probably get into that necrophilia thing you were thinking about," Harrelson said to Eisenberg.
"And also I have an Oedipal complex," replied Eisenberg.
"Something with your mom?" asked Harrelson. The roomful of journalists fell silent.
When Harrelson was asked if there would be a sequel to "Zombieland" the actor did his best with the question.
"I think one key thing for when they want to do a sequel is that the movie is successful," he said. "Since this one hasn’t even opened yet I don’t know if they’re even going to talk about sequel."
"And if the press junket is any indication I would say this is the last one," said Eisenberg.
"This is it, man," said Harrelson.
