I’m sad, I’m having a tough time and I’m not looking forward to what’s to come. However there has been one incredible bright spot this week and maybe the protests tomorrow will be another one. Last night I attended a screening of Woody Harrelson’s live movie, the first of its kind, Lost in London, shot and broadcast in real time from a single 4k camera (with one hell of a talented cameraman) to theaters around the world. The movie was written, directed and stars Harrelson and Owen Wilson. It tells the story of one night in Harrelson’s life 15 years ago when he made tabloid headlines in the UK. I don’t want to give away too much about the film but even if I told you the entire plot I couldn’t begin to capture how truly delightful, entertaining and just moving this movie is. Not only is it an stunning accomplishment as it’s the first live movie ever (and it pretty much went off a hitch) when I tell you that it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen I’m not exaggerating. Plus the acting was just phenomenal, with Harrelson blowing me away. Here’s the video of Harrelson announcing this:
I’m actually surprised that Harrelson released/filmed Lost in London at the beginning of the year because it should be a contender for so many awards. One guy on Twitter said it’s everything Birdman aspired to be in that it was a reflection on waning fame, but it was so much more than that. It was a film about a guy not deserving the love of his life, it was a buddy film and it was a film about facing your ego and coming out the other side. Here are some reviews from social media. They’re overwhelmingly positive. The Guardian also raved about it.
What Birdman won an academy award for pretending to do, #LostinLondon just actually did. Eat your heart out.
— Jeff Miller (@jefe_miller) January 20, 2017
Well done @WoodyHarrelson! Fab feat #LostInLondon was, and great performances all around as well. Bravo! #OwenWilson #WillieNelson
— Eileen Chang (@see_me_eileen) January 20, 2017
Just saw #lostinlondon live. Such cool & impressive filmmaking by the very talented @WoodyHarrelson. And it's hilarious! @fathomevents
— Dan Farah (@Dan_Farah) January 20, 2017
1 camera 1 take #lostinlondon cast & crew killed it! Definitely a new gold standard…so inspiring. TOP shelf! Congrats!
— Redd No. 7 Studio (@Redd7studio) January 20, 2017
Congratulations @woodyharelson that was an amazing feat of filmmaking and a joy to witness #lostinlondon @JoshTwain @ClemensBros pic.twitter.com/NOkfRAkiwU
— George Clemens (@teamgeorge) January 20, 2017
It’s unclear how much of the actual movie mirrored Harrelson’s own life, at the beginning there’s text that says “too much of this is true.” Harrelson said in the Q&A afterwards that it’s better for people just to use their imagination. There’s a scene with Harrelsons BFF Owen Wilson in a club that was inserted for plot reasons. Harrison explained that he actually met up with Leonardo DiCaprio randomly that night but that he couldn’t make that part funny so he wrote in Wilson instead. When he called Wilson to tell him about the movie, Willie Nelson, who is a buddy of Harrelson and Wilson’s and lives near them in Maui, was over Wilson’s house and asked to be in the film. There are also cameos from Bono and Daniel Radcliffe.
As for the technical details, I barely noticed any issues and forgot that I was watching an actual live performance. There were SO MANY sets, in fact there were 24 locations (including Waterloo Bridge which almost put a spanner in the works by getting shut down after a WW2 bomb was found in the Thames just before production), 300 crew and countless extras. I noticed some minor sound issues that lasted less than half a minute. While some scenes were dark and could have been better lit that really didn’t take away from the film. Harrelson admitted in the Q&A that one actor missed his cue and that he had to ad lib to fill time, but I had no idea that was happening and he pulled it off like a pro. The film was 100 minutes long and they rehearsed for four weeks ahead of time.
When Lost is London is available to stream next month I’ll buy it. This is the kind of movie that you watch over and over and quote with your friends. Harrelson accomplished so many things with Lost in London and has set the bar impossibly high – not only for any film maker who wants to livestream, but for the semi-autobiographical film in general.
Photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet
For me, Woody Harrelson is that kind of actor that I will watch in anything. I even watched that Mila/Justin movie because he was in it. He’s certainly my favorite.
Same here. He’s done SO many different movies and he’s just so much fun to watch. He doesn’t take himself too seriously either.
I’m glad this got such rave reviews…I was intrigued by the announcement and how it would work out. I can’t wait to watch
This sounds really interesting and now I’ve got to see it.I have always found Woody to be so mysterious. I also loved the part where he said the scene in the bar was actually with Leo but he “couldn’t make that funny” LOL. Yes, I am going to see this film.
I laughed a lot with the clip Woody shared on facebook a couple days before the screening, in which several actors/friends (jokingly) told him what a bad idea it was and begged him, by all means, not to do it. It made me really curious about the whole thing. I’m so glad it was a success, and I wish I could have seen it!
Woody is such a question mark to me. Is he a hippy, crazy, I don’t know, but he does seem brilliant. Can’t wait to see this!
I love him!!! He can do no wrong in my eyes
I’m going to buy it, too. I’m so glad you loved it, Celebitchy. I think it’s such an exciting project and I really have been hoping that it would live up to its promise.
Sounds very, very interesting, thanks for letting us know about this
Exciting
Love Woody of course
And yeah
I’m all about Owen Wilson
YES!!! So glad you loved it!
Did he ever alluded to the fact that the love of his life and him have an open marriage?
Edit: rereading my question comes out as judgemental but it’s not: more power to open marriages if that’s what makes them happy, not for me to judge them. I’m just genuinely curious if the topic has been mentioned in the film.
You just have to see it really it was more about how he cheated on her, got caught and realizes she’s the best thing in his life and he doesn’t deserve her. If they have an open marriage it wasn’t alluded to at all. I am personally judgmental about open marriages because I have friends who do this who never told me and then the husband was overly friendly and the wife seemed kind of jealous and I didn’t get it until the poly thing came up like months later. I was like OOH. In theory I’m ok with it, but in practice it confuses me and has put me in uncomfortable positions with people.
Courtney Love “outed” him about it. And I quote outed because is a well known thing that he and his wife have this arrangement, like say is well known that most celebs with civilian wives have this kind of agreement stored out: Ethan Hawke, ewan MacGregor, Christina Bale. Dunno about Damon but I can just imagine that something similar must be for him as well. I should have quoted “open” as well because is open just for them, the male celeb: I doubt Woody’s wife is sleeping around with hot men, I don’t even think Woody would accept it so freely, or any of the other celebs mentioned for that matter. Long story short Courtney described how Woody seduced a NYC ballerina basically by promising her tantric sex and telling her that he has an open marriage. It worked.
please remind us when it comes out!!