Neil Patrick Harris

Interview By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

It's often said that very few child or teen performers can make a successful transition into careers as adults. Most of them either quietly have their careers shift into lower gear or become plagued with all sorts of personal and professional problems as adults.

The former almost seemed to be the case for Neil Patrick Harris, until just a few years ago. Proving himself a fairly gifted child star, he soon propelled himself into major TV stardom and teen idol status as the title character on the ABC dramedy Doogie Howser, M.D..

However, after four years on the show and receiving a Golden Globe nod for Best Comedy TV Acting Performance, Harris mostly retreated into theater on Broadway, where he continued to receive critical acclaim.

After a most unlikely cameo role playing a drug-addled, nymphomaniac parody of himself in the stoner comedy Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, the now 34 year old Harris has enjoyed an immense career revival on TV. He has received enormous popularity, acclaim, and even his first Emmy nomination with his role as notorious ladies man Barney Stinson on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

It would only be fitting that Neil's distorted, screen version of himself would return in the new sequel Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. However, when asked about how he was first approached to do the first Harold and Kumar, Harris claims he was almost talked out of it because it painted him in such a bizarre manner.

'I was tickled pink by the whole notion of it,' he claims, 'I had first heard about it and was told it was a bad idea by a friend. He had read this script and he said that I was in it and that he knew about it and was 'very concerned' about it for me. I was hilarious. The idea that the private life that we all try to maintain is posed in such an absolute fabricated way that makes me look super awesome is rare, so I jumped at the opportunity.'

The actor also said he was impressed by how unlike most traditionally lazy and exploitative stoner films like Up In Smoke, Half-Baked, and The Wash, Harold and Kumar manages to transcend the subgenre's limitations by using its dimwitted pot humor as a mere springboard for racially and politically-conscious subtext reflecting on the stereotyping of its main characters, who both happen to be Asian.

'It's an impressive feat and I think the fact that they are the protagonists, but it's a comedy, so it's not heavy-handed,' Neil claims, 'You're able to parody the intensity of those situations in a unique way and you have two actors that are so talented at what they do. That they are able to take something that could be taken too far and they know to pull back. They know how to do it offhanded as opposed to heavy-handed.'

'So I think John Cho and Kal Penn have a lot to do with the palatability of the protagonists of this movie,' he adds, 'I don't really think of them that way. I don't think of the movie that way. It's funny, when the first one came out, a lot of the critical acclaim for it was geared towards that. It was a racial and political commentary and I guess the second one is more of the same, but I know John and Kal as amazing guys and actors first and I appreciate that element of their lives on a sort of secondary level.'

Most actors are typically reluctant to do sequels as they often feel the character becomes repetitious. However, Neil says for this particular kind of movie and character, that's something he doesn't mind at all.

'Second time around at it, more of the same,' he explains, 'We didn't want to have it be a totally different guy. The sequel takes place an hour after the first movie and so, it's not 'redemption' on my part. There's repetition, a different dealer, I think, this time, different drugs, equal horniness, same level of nonsense.'

'I really had no say at all,' Harris continues, 'I read what happens to my character and thought, that's perfect, that's hilarious. And I just encourage anyone who watches the film to not get up and split right away, but to sit and watch through the whole credits. Watch the whole movie, because all will be explained.'

The actor said he felt added confidence in doing the sequel when it was learned that Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg would also be producing and directing Escape From Guantanamo Bay.

'Jon and Hayden, who wrote and directed the first one are directing the second one and wrote it as well, so you eliminate a middle man, which is nice, because they were right there all the time,' Neil notes, 'Normally, in a movie, the writers are second-class, it's the director's medium at this point, when the movie's being filmed.'

'I think all writers will tell you that,' he adds, 'As you're making the movie, very important that the writers, as you're making the movie, the writer's sort of standing in the back, 'Hello!' So in this interest, they were directing it, so they were there, so you get to ask them, what do you mean by this or give me a line reading of this. They were very supportive and great guys as well.'

Another inquiry to touch on, of course, was the $64,000 question, how did Neil feel to play such an over-the-top wild and crazy version of what is supposed to be his real self on screen.

'It's surreal, because I'm playing myself, but I'm not playing myself,' Harris claims, 'And people are cheering as I turn back, I don't know what one makes of that. You can't really own that when you look like an egotistical nut and you can't really distance yourself because you filmed it, so it's a strange thing, but I'm thrilled I wasn't on the cutting room floor.'

According to Neil, the film proved to be very instrumental in attaining his role on How I Met Your Mother that has brought him renewed success on TV.

'Doing the first film definitely helped me get the sitcom,' he says, '(The creators) Carter [Bays] and Craig [Thomas] had said as much. They had seen Harold and Kumar and they never expected that I'd be able to do that and have that skill set to be able to be (pauses) intense alpha-male guy. So I think without the one I wouldn't have gotten the other. And Barney Stinson's one of those dream jobs, so I'm grateful for this all the time while I'm doing that.'

Of course, as revealed through his role as himself in the first film, the actor continues to have an almost inescapable connection with his coveted role as Doogie Howser, M.D.. The show is still fondly remembered and continues to enjoy immense popularity in syndication despite having been unceremoniously cancelled by ABC after only four years. Harris says he enjoyed doing the series, despite being rather perplexed by the cult popularity it continues to give him.

'I was thrilled when I found out I had South Asian fans,' Neil says, 'I didn't even know that was the thing. I wonder if it's from the Doogie Howser thing, do you think' How funny. This archetype, this crazy achiever, they'll hate me after seeing this movie! I'm the opposite of that guy in this film!'

'It's nice to reflect back on that chapter in my life and hear people say that they all gathered as a family and watched that show together,' he continues, 'And that was one of the few times that they were all together every week when they would watch that show. When we were filming it, we didn't know the repercussions of it would be that lasting.'

We also asked Neil how he felt being in the rather unusual position of Doogie Howser, M.D. proving to partially benefit his TV revival today on How I Met Your Mother, despite his immense critical acclaim on film, TV, and stage.

'It's more amazing, because while I'm working on another show, I didn't want that thing to be the only thing people latched onto for the rest of my days,' he believes, 'But it's really nice in hindsight now, with more chapters in between, to know that I'm proud of that, but there's also How I Met Your Mother and Barney Stinson is becoming his own weird, fun character and sort of 'NPH' in this world. It's nice.'

'On set once, on Charlie Rose, Kate Mulgrew was talking about a career as a book and that you hope to have as many chapters as you can,' Neil adds, 'And even if you look at someone like Sally Field, who I'm fascinated by her career, because she's went from The Flying Nun to Gidget to Mrs. Doubtfire and now she is looking amazing doing Brothers and Sisters. She does phenomenal work. One could only hope to have a career filled with chapters and lots and lots and lots of them. I was lucky to have a really pretty substantial chapter really early and I'm happy to see that the chapters keep coming.'

Finally, we asked the much-venerated theater actor if he misses being on stage and whether or not he's considered ever returning to theater one day.

'I do miss being on stage,' Neil replies, 'It's a discipline that's so full-bodied, if you're doing a play. As much as I love the theater, it's grueling work. And musicals, don't get me started on musicals. Because you're dancing and you're singing, so you have to be good and in good voice and you have to be well-hydrated all the time and your knees are hurting. These are not complaints. It's the realities of it.'

'I give great respect to the Sutton Fosters who do Throughly Modern Millie and rarely miss a show a week for 2 ' years,' he continues, 'And that's just crazy work. The movie took four to six weeks. The sitcom we film three days a week. Those theater kids work really hard, so I would love to do it again, but I don't have the time at the moment, because How I Met Your Mother takes more than half the year and you have to commit at least a year to do a show nowadays. But I hear about them.'