What‘s Up With... Neil Patrick Harris

The award-winning actor wants everyone to know that Barney Stinson has left the building (for now). It’s time to hail his new alter-ego, Count Olaf, in the Netflix fantasy, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

- Douglas Tseng

8 DAYS: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is about Count Olaf, a scheming actor, played by you, trying to steal the inheritance from three orphan kids. When did you first hear of the story? Was it the books or the 2004 movie starring Jim Carrey?

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: Honestly, it was neither. It was the script. My agent said, “Netflix is doing A Series of Unfortunate Events. Would you have any interest in being Count Olaf?” I had never read the books [and] I have never seen the movie. So I said, “Potentially?” and then I looked at pictures of Jim Carrey as Olaf and I realised it was going to be a very physical performance with prosthetic make-up. Then I found out Barry Sonnenfeld is involved and he’s someone I’ve always wanted to work with because he’s a very [visual] director. So I read the books, and then I saw the movie once I had signed on. I’ve always been drawn to full-body, mysterious characters — whether they be Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, who’s very physical and a little dark or the Cirque du Soleil performers crawling out of shadows. That’s why I live in New York and do a lot theatre.

We saw the excerpts of the show. This feels less like a TV show than an eight-hour movie. The sets on the show are amazing.

It almost felt like we were making