Woody Harrelson As The Boxer

It's been years since Woody Harrelson charmed viewers with his Emmy award-winning role in Cheers, but the actor has been putting his time to good use.

His latest project, a movie also starring Antonio Banderas, opened in theaters last week. The Early Show's Mark McEwen reports.

The film is directed by Ron Shelton, who also worked with the actor in his big
breakthrough film role in White Men Can't Jump.

And so now Harrelson moves from performing on the basketball court to being in the ring, even though he admits having once thought of the boxing sport as barbaric.

"Then I started studying boxing, and I really have become quite enamored of it now. I really see it as more of an art form. I don't look at it as barbaric any more. I actually look forward to watching a fight," he explains.

In the movie, as in real life, Harrelson shows great friendship with Banderas, who is playing Cesar Dominguez. "I think the world of Antonio. And as an actor he impressed me a lot. I just think he is a terrific actor," says Harrelson.

But there were times where the film plot got in the way of their personal lives.

"At first, when me and Antonio were boxing, of course, there was no chance that we could really get mad at each other," the actor says.

"Then, after we tagged each other a few times, things started to shift dramatically. It got to the point, between me and Antonio, where we were really fighting,...and Ron had to yell, 'Cut, cut!This is not what I intended,'" recalls Harrelson.

Now that the film has been released, Broadway is Harrelson's next venue. He is now starring in a revival of The Rainmaker. Yet there are some things that he misses from the big screen.

Recalling a time when John Malkovich was interviewed about the distinction between theater and movies, he remembers Malkovich saying: "People say the camera never lies, and he believes that that's precisely what it's there for."

"The best thing about a movie is you can do eight takes, and you can be terrible on seven of them, and just hopefully the editor will give the one that was good. So, you can get away with a lot more doing a movie than you can onstage," he says.

"On a stage, it's your first take. Me, I like the seventh, eighth take better than I like the first take," explains Harrelson.

The actor was almost on Broadway once before. When Harrelson was 23, he served as an understudy for an actor in a Neil Simon play. But just when he received word to take over the role, he was diverted to work as part of the cast of a new TV show called Chees. The rest is history.

Other films by Harrelson, according to Hollywood.com, include:

For more film information, visit the Play It to the Bone Web site.

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