Gay&Night-ZiZo December 2014

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INTERVIEW
Interview / Neil Patrick Harris
“I never tried to affect any kind of masculine
posture or try to present myself in an overtly
straight way so that I could hide behind that.”
You’ve played a wide variety of characters
in your career. Is there any one in
particular that resonates with you most?
“I would have to say Barney Stinson [Harris’
character in How I Met Your Mother – ed.]. Some
people might nd that strange because I’m not
really like his brand of alpha-male guy. But Barney
was an adventurous and daring kind of guy –
someone who led an exciting life and was always
ready to buy the next round of drinks. He had an
attitude towards life that I can identify with and appreciate.
I like to think that I have an enterprising
nature! [Laughs]”
How did it feel to wrap up your work on
HIMYM after nine seasons as one of the
most popular shows on TV?
“I am very proud of the work we did on the
show and Barney was one of the best roles you
could ever get to play on TV. He was such an
overpowering character, but someone who was
also very stylish and smart even though he’s also
kind of damaged. It’s sad to walk away from that
kind of job but when you have that kind of success
and recognition, you should consider yourself very
lucky. It was also great to have worked with such
a brilliant cast and especially Cobie Smulders
[Robin, Barney’s ancée in the series – ed.], who
has been such a beautiful part of my world during
our time on the show together.”
Gone Girl is a huge hit. How do you feel
about that lm and your work in it?
“David Fincher is super good at making things
creepy through being so quiet and ponderous and
kind of beautiful. I’m just a big fan of him as a director,
as an artist. He’s really skilled at everything,
and he sees everything, and he’s just kind of a
master. So to be a piece of that puzzle is incredibly
humbling. I’m grateful and I’m pinching myself.”
Were you warned before shooting Gone
Girl about David Fincher’s preference for
shooting 30, 40, or even 50 takes of a
scene?
“You know who I asked about that before going
in? I reached out to Kevin Spacey: ‘What’s up with
David’s work ethic? What’s with all the takes?’ And
he said while some might nd it maddening to do
the same thing, the whole scene, take after take,
he appreciated that what David was after was the
idea of distilling all of the other little things, making
everything else less random. He distills it down to
the core intentions of the scene and the moment
and what he’s trying to convey. So often when you
really nish the scene, you feel like you got what
it meant and you understand the base ideas behind
it. I loved hearing that, and it made me more
comfortable with it, so I wasn’t thinking: what am I
doing wrong? Why can’t we get it right? It helped
me to stay in the ow of the scene. And you don’t
often to get to feel that in movies... I learned to just
listen to the master and do what he says. [Laughs]”
You are a very famous actor in your own
right and also one of the most well-known
performers who is openly gay. What led to
your decision to come out?
“Some websites had been blogging about me
and there was a statement attributed to my publicist
that denied I was gay. But my publicist never made
that statement and neither did I. However, there
was momentum building around the story [Perez
Hilton was one of the bloggers trying to out Harris
at the time – ed.] and I didn’t want to be forced
into a situation where I was denying my sexuality
or appearing to be concocting a story which would
make it appear that I was ashamed of who I am.
I was also receiving a lot of emails and calls from
people who knew that I was gay, wondering why
I would make that statement and I had to keep
explaining that I had never made that statement.
That’s when I decided to sit down with my agent
and closest advisers and prepare a statement that
I hope would be honest and dignied. A statement
that would hopefully encourage or empower others
who are faced with a similar situation, or who are
looking for support from people whose message
might carry some weight and make it easier for
others to be open about their life.”
Before you came out, was it hard to live
publicly as a straight man or at least as
someone who would not try to draw attention
to being gay or otherwise?
“I never tried to affect any kind of masculine posture
or try to present myself in an overtly straight
way so that I could hide behind that. But I’ve never
felt that comfortable in my skin in general. I think I
move in a funny way sometimes and I’m not that
elegant in the way I walk or stand. My attitude
when it comes to that is that you should always act
in such a way as to help you achieve your goals in
life. That can be behaving in a way to attract certain
kinds of roles as an actor, or taking your boss
to a strip club if you want to ingratiate yourself with
him. You should carry yourself the way you would
like to be perceived by the world. That applies just
as much to how you walk, how you talk, and how
you dress. It’s all part of the same process of projecting
yourself to others.”
Did playing Barney, a notorious womanizer,
make it easier in a sense for
you?
“The fact that audiences responded to the show
and to Barney so positively shows you that it
doesn’t matter what the actor is really like in terms
of his personality or lifestyle. You want the freedom
to play all kinds of roles and a character’s sexuality
is only one aspect that may be relevant, or it may
not be in terms of the lm or TV show you’re doing.
The audience is always anxious to lose itself
in the dramatic work itself and they’re not going to
be put off by anything they might know about your
personal life.”
Your autobiography is a very eclectic
experience in that you let the reader pick
his own highlights or way of reading it.
“I didn’t want to write a linear autobiography, because
looking back on my life I saw that so many
things happened to me which were so random
and weird that nothing t into any natural evolution
or pattern. There were a lot of memorable and
life-altering events, though, that I thought could be
turned into different paths for the reader. There are
so many events that changed me and led me to
the point where I was able to stand tall and evolve
as an individual and performer. If you only want
to read hard-core, frat guy stories, you can take
that path. If you’d rather learn about my interests
growing up and how I came to be, you can follow
that path. If you’d really just rather learn how to
make pasta and Bolognese sauce and a nice cocktail
and have a lovely evening by yourself, you can
do that too.”
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