It's making a point about the American landscape, which is in many ways comparable to the English landscape. We have a stand-off with Korea, and what do we do at the end of it? We say, `OK, we'll come and advise you on how to build the best nuclear reactors, and we'll loan you the money, to be repaid, of course, at high interest." The whole system kind of boggles my mind."What I think NBK is, is a wake-up call. Mickey Knox and his accomplice Mallory (played in the film by Juliette Lewis) stood accused of becoming sexy folk heroes, in life as in the movie. Could it be that Mr Simpatico had done his job too well?Harrelson gives short shrift to the anti-violence lobby. "The American government is up in arms about the violence in movies, and at the same time it's exporting weapons of mass destruction to Third World dictators. Then the film became linked to a wave of copycat murders and a jumpy BBFC withheld a censor's rating (see `What the Papers Said', right). He was one of the most vilified of the killers, I think for that reason."At that time, back last autumn, NBK was to arrive in the UK just after its Paris opening.

You can play a character like him and make him extremely hateable, easy. What scares me most is that if you watch Ted Bundy talk, you find yourself compelled He's intelligent, good-looking, he's making a point. I can see myself playing stuff for comedy and it really pisses me off at times. There were certain things I would definitely chastise myself for."And then there is that likeability factor. "I watched a lot of videotapes of serial killers: Bundy, Gacy, the Iceman and Manson, whom I found particularly fascinating - I read his autobiography as well. "I think it started out a little more serious," Harrelson says.

"But when we started rehearsals I remember we were always laughing. Cool."It's equally probable that Harrelson's background in comedy commended him to Stone, a director not noted for his light touch but trying with NBK for a satire on the excesses of the American media. "To some degree, I don't mind talking about him, but what has bothered me in the past is that the whole article has become that So I'd prefer to move into something else if you don't mind. But Harrelson has been reluctant to discuss it."Does it bother me? No, it's much too anticipated But it doesn't have a lot to do with the role I played. I don't perceive my father that way; I don't perceive him as a killer." When he tells me to get lost, it's in the nicest, politest possible way. My dad had it; it's in my blood" - indeed, the director could be suspected of exploiting it slightly. Stone has highlighted this angle - in the film Harrelson as Mickey says, "I came from violence.