Actor and director Woody Harrelson learned how challenging making a movie can be when production on his film in London was delayed after the discovery of a suspected World War Two bomb.
Only hours before filming at the Waterloo Bridge, where the closing scene of Lost in London takes place, work was suspended, and the bridge closed for a few hours but reopened in time for the live filming to go ahead as scheduled.
Speaking after the filming stopped in the early morning, Harrelson was amazed at the coincidental timing of the ‘bomb’ discovery.
“That bomb has been there for 70 years, and tonight it’s discovered? That isn’t possible,” he exclaimed.
Lost in London, a groundbreaking first in cinema, was shot in multiple locations in the capital with a single camera in the early hours of the morning in a 100-minute single take and broadcast live to 550 US cinemas and one in the UK. The filming involved a crew of 325 and 300 extras who had been rehearsing for a month.
Harrelson was adamant he would never do that again. It’s similar to walking on a high wire, he said afterward.
The film was shown in only one cinema in the UK, London’s Picturehouse Central, where it was warmly received.
The inspiration for the film originated from a real-life night out Harrelson had in London in 2002 when wound up getting arrested and spent some hours in a police cell.
The film opens humorously with: ‘Too much of this is true.’
Harrelson, portraying a model of himself, is viewed exiting a stage in the West End to discover he’s the center of a sex scandal gone public just before meeting his spouse in a restaurant. The movie includes an altercation in a nightclub and chase sequences by car and on foot.
Most of the humor is due to co-star Owen Wilson, and the script makes references to Harrelson’s past work, including Cheers and Natural Born Killers.
Wilson admits to having experienced anxious moments a few weeks before filming but they practiced, and he was pleased to have been able to participate, adding that maybe he should consider doing theater.
He was asked if he thought Hollywood would ever adopt the spontaneous style of the movie, BBC News reported.
If someone was considering it, Harrelson replied with a laugh, all they need do is talk to him, and he’d dissuade them.