Neil Patrick Harris: Blurring the Lines in Harold & Kumar
Neil Patrick Harris by Jaimie Trueblood/New Line Cinema
What would be a
Harold & Kumar movie without Doogie Howser, M.D. - aka
Neil Patrick Harris, aka NPH? We last saw Harris playing his alter-ego in
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, hitchhiking, high on ecstasy and heartily engaged in the joke on himself and his child stardom.
Four years later, Harris' days as Doogie (and his TV medical career) is a distant memory, supplanted by his renewed stardom as Barney in
How I Met Your Mother, in addition to his various guest roles. With his increased fame and high public profile, Harris' self-parody in the new installment,
Harold & Kumar 2: Escape from Guantanamo Bay, is even more outrageous. As
Guantanamo Bay makes its debut Friday, Harris offered some insights into his approach to
Kumar and its relationship to his career.
In the new film, Harris is still the same wild, drug-loving, womanizing bad-boy, but this time, he finds himself in situations that include a check point with
Rob Corddry - in which Harris' mushroom-addled state conjures imaginary images - and a whorehouse in Texas, in which we see his affinity for branding his favorite ladies. Commenting on the alter-ego role, Harris said he didn't fear what people would think of the contrast with his real persona. "I'm playing a part, but it's me but it's clearly not me. But it might be me. I like blurring those lines very much."
He continued, "I think the goal of a good actor is to maintain a level of privacy that allows people to not know much about them and who they are as real people. If there is too much revealed about you, then people think they know you... so then when you try to play opposite type, people tend to not buy it. You want to be a little vague with who you are. So [
Harold & Kumar] is crazy because it blurs the lines."
While the unbelievable things that come out of the Harris character in the
Kumar movies are sometimes - actually, always - over-the-top, the real-life Harris relishes the comedy of it. The movie's writers, he says, have "created a Neil Patrick Harris that they know all about, and why he has a jar of hair in his bag and why he got kicked out of the car tripping on ecstasy in the first movie." He added, "This is [the writers'] world and I am happy to play this part in their world."
Harris also credits the over-the-top nature of his
Kumar role for landing him a role on
Mother. "I would say
White Castle affected the creation of
Barney, or me getting the part," he said. "Probably before the first film came out, I wouldn't have been thought of as such a blatant alpha male." And it's not just the viewers who love Barney. Harris admitted, "I could be on some one-hour forensic show where I am constantly saying, 'Wait a second, isn't that a red hair on the floor?' What I get to do week in and week out is an actor's dream."
And since the dream started, Harris' fame has led to what all famous people get, eventually: an acronym for his name. NPH has started to stick, but Harris digs it. "It's kinda cool," he said. "I am 'initial guy' now. I'm an acronym."
Whether you call him by his full name or NPH, are you a fanatic for Harris, Harold and Kumar? Are you planning to line up for this one? (Note to Harris fans: Stay through the end credits. You won't regret it.)
- Anna Dimond, with reporting by Carrie Bell
Use our Online Video Guide to see more of NPH as Barney in
How I Met Your Mother.
Related:
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Barney's TV Guide blog
