Woody Harrelson will be on the streets of London tonight, shooting a film that will be broadcast live around the world. But why is he doing it and what's it about?
Lost in London is a writing and directorial debut for Harrelson. It is inspired by an incident from 2002, when Harrelson ended up in a police cell following a wild night at the Chinawhite nightclub, during which he got drunk, damaged a taxi and then tried to escape in another cab.
It looks to be a "a bizarre mix of autobiography, live theatre and film", says The Guardian.
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In a trailer for the project, Harrelson says: "No one has ever shot a movie and live-broadcast it in cinemas at the same time. No one's ever been that stupid, until now."
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Rehearsals have been taking place since December and have moved to the streets around Holborn, Bloomsbury Square and Waterloo Bridge, where filming will take place in the early hours of Friday. The whole 100-minute feature, which will also star Owen Wilson, Eleanor Matsuura and Willie Nelson, will be shot in real-time on one camera and in one take and broadcast live in more than 550 cinemas in the US, as well as the Picturehouse Central in London's Soho.
Harrelson says he conceived the project because he thought it would make great material for a comedy - and has threatened to jump off Waterloo Bridge if he fails.
However, the True Detective star seems to have been having second thoughts about the whole project recently. Speaking to fans during a Mashable Facebook Live forum, he admitted: "God, I rue the day I had that thought. Sitting here now, a week to go, I rue the day."
He also revealed a range of concerns about the logistics of a live shoot, from drunk passers-by to rain and wind, which could knock over an antenna.
Matsuura, who plays Harrelson's wife Laura, told the London Evening Standard: "When I first read the script I thought it was hilarious. [Harrelson] is obviously an incredibly experienced comedian."
But she added not all the laughs may be in the script: "We have to improvise and fill the time in if anything goes wrong. We had one scene where traffic caused a delay of ten to 15 minutes and the actors had to improvise for that long."
She also hoped viewers would be understanding of any such events, given the film is live.
"Because it's live, I think people will be coming to watch in the spirit of that. Rather than looking out for mistakes, I think they will be looking to see how we react to them," she said.
Lost in London will broadcast from 1.30am on Friday 20 January at the Picturehouse Central, London
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