Keiran said

I don't believe I've moaned about anyone's opinion.

I've commented on them and I'm interested in them. Most of them differ considerably from mine and while I know how and why I have the opinion I have I'm trying to understand how and why other Café members posting here have the opinions they have especially as the same source material seems to be giving rise to what appears to be almost diametrically opposing views.

I find that interesting and fascinating.

And as you said, everyone is entitled to have their opinion.

In the world of the Café, some people are more equally entitled to their opinion than others.

And it begins, I love all my Café guys but it seems like every thread after a while goes ooooffff topic, so to try to get this back Woody did a great performance of it. Who has ogne back to this since then and what variations do you like better. I re read the Hoy manuscript and thought I saw that Woody didn't complete the first part(BOLD PART) at least not on camera so that is where he lost me.

Who did you get the word from, since Keith Barry's (Woody Harrelson's mentor)
Andrew Gerard, said this was a last minute idea, or did David Letterman tell you?
Unreal!!!

A short but interesting exchange of PM's with gabelson about how and why he and I came to our vastly differing opinions about Woody Harrelson's showing has made me reassess Steven Keyl's comment about the environment of the Letterman show being the crux of the matter regarding any critical appraisal.

I was choosing to acknowledge the difficulties of the performing environment and then look at the performers efforts, that came from such an environment, in isolation from it... assessing it in against an arbitrarily chosen absolute background.

Such a basis allows for comparative assessments to be made between different environments and for most environments this is generally helpful... but for certain extreme conditions, and performing on The Letterman Show would qualify, it might not be so helpful.

So with that it mind, I'm sure Woody Harrelson will be hugely relieved to hear that, rather than being poor and ok-ish at best, I now concede and believe that as an actor and under the circumstances, as a 'mentalist' he actually did rather well.

Knowing this I suspect Woody will at last be able to get a good nights sleep.

Thanks to gabelson for taking the time to exchange thoughts and ideas. (And I'm enjoying the grapes )

Im glad Woody and his movie are bringing some light to the art......

Really do we need light to the art? but yes indeed! Woody is awesome actor! and I'm glad2 he represents

I guess what I meant to say was it helps my business.

I read the original script and had a conversation with the writer.
In the original script the mentalist is much more like us and less superhuman.
Its a shame they changed it.

Nimrod , Israel

In what ways?

Is there a larger focus on his work?

Hi guys, was wondering if anybody could give me some more information for when he goes through the vowels of the alphabet in the clip? he does a similar thing in the film in order to guess someones name. just wondering if it was actually possible to do that alone, without the book test (like in the film)

I'm a bit biased but I will watch anything this fantastic performer and man produces. And I believe in the case of NYSM he was the best thing in the film. His hypno bit at the very beginning was fantastic.

I have a fun personal tidbit about Woody Harrelson. It's a bit long and, truly nothing earth shattering happens in this story, but its one of my favorite.

In around 2002 I was working as a bartender in NYC in a lounge bar with a boudoir ambiance and lots of couches. The bar was a bit slow on a Sunday night. Pretty much everyone there was a friend of mine or a bar regular. Woody Harrelson and Edward Norton came in with a man who was in a bright orange suit. Coat Trousers and Hat. I was beside myself star struck for a few moments, but I tried not to react, I finished pouring the drink I was in the middle of and they ponied up to the bar. Woody had one of those giant plastic jugs you can buy for orange or cranberry juice filled with water, and he was drinking it off an on slung over his elbow. Norton looked a bit like he was out of his element and not sure what to do with himself. I walked over to them and said, "I guess its my lucky day to have both Woody and Edward come into my bar," (I was only twenty two or three at the time,) Norton smiled and woody gave me a half awkward, but forgiving look, smiled and said "and this is John" referring to the orange man. I said "Sorry, Hi John, I'm Stuart, and we all shook hands. Woody began befriending people around him because pretty much the whole bar had frozen mid drink and were starring at that moment. If it had been one A list movie star, new York Keeps it cool, but Two, and add in some odd guy in Orange and its a bit shocking. The crowd was generally respectful although one lady did ask if she could take a picture with him.

Woody came back over to me and said, "Listen, we are looking for a place to smoke a little herb, do you think that would be alright?" And I had to take a second to consider this. It was a slow night and I knew everyone there, but really, I couldn't exactly just allow them to light up in the middle of the bar. I noticed just as he asked that he was leaning half way on the bar, sort of blocking the orange man. Another glance and I realized that the orange man was rolling a joint on the bar between Woody and Edward. They were very good at hiding the sightlines from the other customers and I wanted to be cool, so I let it slide. The bar I worked at had been a bistro recently and was in the middle of converting the kitchen into a billiards room as there just wasn't enough food business to employ a full time chef. The nice part about this was that the kitchen had two swinging doors that separated it from the rest of the bar, and a large ventilation system that was still in working order. So I said, "Well, I'm sorry I can't just let you smoke here at the bar, but you are welcome to use the former kitchen space. We will just call it the VIP room if anyone asks, and there is a large fan vent system so nobody will be the wiser." They smiled in thanks and I showed them to the "VIP room," and turned on the vent. I went back to making drinks and a few moments later I saw the big face of Woody Harrelson and his hand waving towards me in the little square window on the kitchen door. I raised my eyebrows, and he made a gesture that meant, "You are welcome to join us." So, I turned the bar over to my bar back and stood in the kitchen for a bit with two movie stars who I greatly respected and the man in the orange suit. Woody was engaging, funny and possibly the most charismatic person I had met. Ed Norton was oddly geeky, and would though in misplaced quips and jokes that didn't really work, but it just made him that much more endearing. I don't remember the man in orange saying anything.

After the odd smoking circle with discussions of what the room looked like when it had been a kitchen and what we were planning to do to it, they came back in the bar and ordered drinks. Woody said he wanted something light, something not to strong, but then ordered a cognac. While Edward ordered an Irish cream on the rocks "For the Irish in me" he said, with silly Irish accent, to which Woody threw him a sideways look. There was an awkward moment where I wasn't sure if I should charge them, but in the end I just charged them for one drink. "Wow, Cognac got expensive!" Woody said, (I think it was $9.) "Hey Ed, got any cash” While Norton stumbled to find his cash, Woody said, "Oh Wait..." and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. He paid for the drink and left a very nice tip and hung out for a bit. It was truly great to work in a bar in NYC, I was able to have many experiences meeting all sorts of amazing people, and also developed my skills through this environment. I didn’t perform anything for these guys, as at the time it didn’t seem appropriate, and I don’t know if I would have been able to pull anything off under that pressure those days.

Around a year later I was fortunate enough to go see R.E.M. at the garden and attend the after party. Woody Harrelson happened to be there as well. To the mans credit, he remembered me and we had a very pleasant conversation about music. He is very real and genuine.

Watching the clip I love the line “It's a little pre heckle, there.”

Now here is my question to the forum. Do you think it would have been a good idea for him to have confirmed with Letterman that they didn’t set anything up before hand?

This is "John" the Man in Orange - http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=640

I think keith barry done a brill job with woody on the "film now you see me" and woodys performance both on the film and show was very well done , if this was done by anyone else as in non actor it still would have been an great effect and lay would still enjoy the performance


just my two cents worth

My Man in Orange was a white guy. Pretty much the same cour though, perhaps their is a gang of the orange clad.

I am not sure if the acting from wh makes the believe that mentalism could be real get stronger in public.. anyhow: nice perfomance from him..