Woody Harrelson Pays Tribute to “Brilliant” Rob Reiner at Lively Sarajevo Masterclass

A soccer penalty shootout, an (impressive) Elvis Presley impersonation and a bottle of Bushmills Irish whiskey were all on the agenda at Woody Harrelson ‘s Sarajevo masterclass on Tuesday afternoon.

The three-time Oscar nominee graced the stage at the Bosnian film festival for a conversation with film critic Neil Young, hours before Harrelson’s Honorary Heart of Sarajevo ceremony, set to celebrate his decades-spanning contributions to cinema.

At the top of the conversation, Young asked the Natural Born Killers (1994), No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Hunger Games (2012) star about playing 36th U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson in Rob Reiner ‘s 2016 film LBJ . The screened clip showed Harrelson, in character, talking on the phone in the White House. He explains to the Haggar Clothing Co. representative on the line that he is “well-endowed” and needs his pants tailoring. Related Stories Movies Oldenburg Names First Titles for 2026 Selection TV 'How to Change the World,' Exec Produced by Mark Cuban, Puts Spotlight on Social Entrepreneurs (Exclusive)

“By the way, that was verbatim,” said Harrelson as the clip finished. “The call was recorded, so that’s exactly what he said.” When Young probed him on why he opted for an LBJ biopic, the actor replied: “I wanted to do it because Rob Reiner asked me to do it, and I really wanted to work with Rob. I just love working with Rob Reiner. I think he was absolutely brilliant, and I think he made a wonderful film.”

As Young took Harrelson — and a feverish audience — through the defining features of his early career, including White Men Can’t Jump (1992) and The People vs Larry Flynt (1996), the pair entertained by coaxing Harrelson into his famed Elvis Presley impersonation, the same bit that prompted the star’s High School crush to persuade him into trying out for the school play. “So yeah, I tried out for a play because Robin Rogers wanted me to.”

Harrelson even regaled attendees with the story of how he landed the role of Woody Boyd on NBC’s Cheers in the 1980s. He had been set for a starring role in the Broadway production of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues , but he suddenly found himself in the audition room in front of Cheers co-creators Glen and Les Charles and the “possibly the greatest sitcom director in history,” Jimmy Burrows. “Just as she’s opening the door, I blow my nose. I walk in the room, ‘Honk!’ and the entire room burst out laughing. Jimmy Burrows told me later, ‘I knew you had it right then,'” he said.

“I asked everybody,” Harrelson continued about weighing up Broadway and TV. “‘Should I stay true and go back and do Broadway, or should I kind of sell out and do television?’ They said, ‘Do the television show.