Woody Harrelson's Back in a Big Way

In recent years, it's been Woody's free-spirited behavior and pot penchant that's earned him press. Anyone recall the time he had charges dismissed by a Kentucky jury for planting four symbolic hemp seeds in 1996 as part of a crusade to legalize hemp? Or, a personal fave, when he was involved in a 2002 late-night chase involving two London taxis after he allegedly broke an ashtray and a door handle in one cab. "''I turned round and he was kicking the inside of my taxi. He had suddenly gone completely bonkers,'' driver Les Dartnell told London newspaper The Sun at the time.

All of the other stuff will fade away like so many marijuana, er, I mean, hemp clouds -- as Harrelson the actor is back to full form in a string of hit and future hit movies. Esquire magazine has certainly taken note, calling Harrelson the "suddenly ubiquitous actor," asking him if this is something of a comeback. "Don't call it a comeback!" Harrelson responded. "Nah, I don't know. The tide comes in, the tide goes out."

Harrelson's autumn is off to a good start thanks to the box-office hit Zombieland, where he plays the baddest Zombie killer perhaps in the history of film. The Los Angeles Times raved that as gun-slinging Tallahassee, Harrelson is " in a role that seems written for him...and it's just plain fun to see him do it." Movie-goers have flocked to the hit which has earned an impressive $48 million dollar box-office.

Not to say that Harrelson didn't take the movie's catch-phrase "nut up or shut up" entirely to heart. In April he blamed a photographer tussle at a NY airport on his zombie-killing mindset. "With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie," he said in a statement released to CNN after the incident. Fortunately, he left his shotgun at home.



The hair is a lot longer, the catch-phrase is different ("always remember you heard it here first"), but that insane edge continues with Harrelson's role in "2012" where he plays the part of Charlie Frost, a sloppy prophet predicting the end of the world (with a hysterical viral video campaign). From the looks of total annihilation seen in the movie clips, he seems to have a point. Harrelson is featured in the viral marketing scheme as Frost predicting the end of days.

But the end of world carping is trumped by the Harrelson's performance buzz in "The Messenger" where he plays a soldier tasked with breaking the bad news to wives of fallen servicemen. The scenes of official Army heartbreak -- all unrehearsed -- have critics rediscovering Harrelson's acting chops. "Does Woody Harrelson get the credit he deserves for the range he shows on film?" Entertainment Weekly asks. "'The Messenger' looks like it will be a solid reminder."

Indeed, there is even a growing notion that we'll be hearing his name come Oscar nomination time, the first time since his nomination for 'Flynt.' It should be noted that a Harrelson's 1997 nod remains the only Oscar nomination for any of the regulars on the star-studded cast of 'Cheers,' where the world first met Harrelson as the naive Woody Boyd. Congrats Woody, and while the tide is in, welcome back.