Woody Harrelson on his Lost in London experiment

Last night saw Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson debut his one-of-a-kind film Lost In London to film fans across both the US and the UK. The experiment, which saw Harrelson write and direct the meticulously crafted “live film” debuted to favourable reviews but the star said he would never do such a thing again.

Speaking after the film was shown live across both sides of the Atlantic, the star told the Evening Standard that while the film went off without too many hitches, that he would not undertake such a thing again, saying:

“If someone was thinking of doing it then all they would need to do is talk to me and I would talk them out of it. Unless I didn’t like them.”

The project was shot with one camera across 24 locations in Central London and saw Harrelson portray a version of himself alongside Owen Wilson (Zoolander 2) and legendary musician Willie Nelson. The film told of a night in London that the Cheers star had himself which began in the Chinawhite nightclub and finished in a police cell, all while he was in London performing in On An Average Day, his West End debut.

Speaking about “one of the worst days of his life”, Harrelson nevertheless saw potential in telling the story on film, saying: “They say that tragedy plus time equals comedy, and even though it was a night I really didn’t enjoy, I thought ‘this could be funny’.”

The film, which had been planned to the nth degree since December, was nearly derailed before it even began with parts of London shut down due to the discovery of an unexploded WWII bomb found around Victoria and Embankment. It was reportedly “touch and go” if the project would have to be postponed, with Director of Photography Nigel Willoughby saying: “Woody said, ‘how much would it take to pay the Royal Navy to get rid of that bomb?’.”

Whether Lost In London will be screened again or indeed see a release on DVD or Blu-ray remains to be seen but such was the interest in the project that it probably won’t be too long until those things happen.