201 / INTERVIEW NEIL PATRICK HARRIS “ITʼS ALMOST WORRYING THAT SO MANY GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING TO ME” 012
Interview / Neil Patrick Harris It’s been a very good year in the life of Neil Patrick Harris, master showman and star of stage and screen. First he released his autobiography, then he married his long-time partner David Burtka in Italy, and in October it was announced that Harris had been chosen to host the Oscar ceremonies next February. On top of all that, he’s been earning rave reviews for his supporting role in Gone Girl, one of the biggest and best lms of the year. That’s the kind of fabulous good fortune that has followed the multi-talented actor throughout his life, and following in the footsteps of legendary Oscar hosts such as Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and Billy Crystal has long been one of his dreams. “I’ve always loved the Oscars and I have great respect for its history... and I want to make sure that it’s a classy event,” Harris says. “It’s the biggest sandbox in the world... and I don’t want it to seem like I’m doing the same award hosting gig that I did on the Tonys. I loved Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal honoring the gravity of it without getting heavy and boring. And I have no idea how to balance that, but that’s going to be the task ahead.” This is the kind of plainspoken wisdom that Harris brings to his work and our world. He’s been the star of two highly successful TV series (Doogie Howser M.D. and How I Met Your Mother), he’s headlined several Broadway productions (most recently Hedwig and the Angry Inch), and he’s hosted both the Emmy and Tony awards. It’s the kind of remarkable career that few performers have achieved, let alone one of the handful of openly gay actors working in the business. But for a child prodigy growing up in New Mexico who went on to become a teen TV star, then a successful Broadway performer, and ultimately a gay icon, Neil Patrick Harris is only just starting to come into his own as one of the most versatile and engaging showbiz stars. The fact that he’s eminently personable and charming has undoubtedly helped ease his acceptance into mainstream pop culture after he came out in 2006 via an interview in People Magazine. Harris recalls: “Your internal fears are that once you make an announcement like that you worry you’ll never work again. But things have progressed since then – now I don’t think the media is on a witch-hunt anymore to out actors. You can have a career and play straight roles without audiences raising much of an eyebrow. It’s becoming more acceptable.” The 41-year-old Harris begins his new memoir, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, with a cheeky warning, that his “self-serving celebrity autobiography is different from other self-serving celebrity autobiographies”. The book allows you to move quickly from one particular area of Harris’ life to another. It’s a very novel approach to the traditional biography format that has helped turn the book into a bestseller. Neil Patrick Harris lives in New York with his long-time companion, chef David Burtka. They were married in Italy on September 6th and are parents to twins named Harper Grace and Gideon Scott, born through a surrogate mother in 2010. Harris is currently starring in David Fincher’s hit lm Gone Girl. Neil, what was your wedding like? “[Laughs] It’s still a bit of a blur. We didn’t want to make a big thing of it and so we decided to have it in Italy [at a castle near Perugia – ed.] where we took our rst trip together. Elton John came over and performed at this castle that a friend of a friend arranged for the ceremony. There were only about fty guests because we wanted it to be a small and intimate gathering. It was important to me to be able to make a declaration of my love and commitment to David in front of our very closest friends as well as share that experience with our kids.” Why now? “I’d been working on How I Met Your Mother for nine years, so that blocks out pretty much nine months of each year and now it felt like the right time and everything fell into place. It doesn’t change anything between David and me. We’ve been together for ten years and he’s still the same wonderful guy as ever.” This is a pretty good year for you. You published your memoir, you hosted the Tonys again, you’re playing in Gone Girl, and now you’re hosting the Oscars? “I’ll admit, it’s almost worrying that so many good things are happening to me. But hosting the Oscars has been a dream of mine and I’ve been able to prepare for this a long time by hosting the Emmys and Tonys, so at least I have a good idea of how to handle it. The preparations are a lot more elaborate, though, and it’s an immense honor and responsibility.” Do you already feel the pressure starting to build as Oscars host? “[Laughs] Not yet. But there’s some nervous tension starting to develop and you actually need that to get you to work at the highest level. At least I’ve done enough awards shows to know how to handle unexpected circumstances or things that go wrong. You need to have this alert sensibility where you need to be ready to comment or deal with the unexpected and that’s part of the expectations that come with the Oscars and the fact that it’s a live event and a billion people are watching you. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’ve never done an awards show of this scale before, so the big challenge will be to come up with great song and dance numbers and make it as entertaining and exciting an experience as possible.” Text Fred Allen / The Interview People 201 013
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