{"id":473017,"date":"2026-02-13T19:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/473017\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:59:09","slug":"neil-patrick-harris-hit-with-barrage-of-politics-questions-in-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/473017\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Patrick Harris Hit With Barrage of Politics Questions in Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBella Ramsey<\/a>, George Jaques, and Neil Patrick Harris<\/a> had more political questions to field ahead of the Berlin Film Festival<\/a> premiere of Sunny Dancer.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn George Jaques\u2019 sophomore feature, Game of Thrones and The Last of Us star Ramsey plays Ivy, a 17-year-old who beats cancer and can\u2019t think of anything worse than becoming a Make-A-Wish kid. When her parents (Baby Reindeer\u2018s Jessica Gunning and Happy Valley\u2018s James Norton) send her to summer camp for kids affected by cancer, led by camp counselor Patrick (Harris), she manages to find unexpected friends in an unlikely group of misfits.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarl Cave, Jasmine Elcock, and Conrad Khan joined Ramsey, Harris, and Jaques at Friday\u2019s presser, though co-stars Daniel Quinn-Toye and Ruby Stokes were absent. Este Haim was also present, having composed the music for Sunny Dancer, and gushed over working with both Jaques and Paul Thomas Anderson.<\/p>\n

\n\tRamsey was immediately asked about their recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published Thursday<\/a>, specifically on their wanting to stray away from big Hollywood shows and instead refocus their attention on British independent film.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was just the best, joyous six weeks to spend in Scotland. Everybody so wanted to be there. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s so special about the budget independent film,\u201d they said, \u201cis that everyone\u2019s there because they want to be there. And we want to make something really special\u2026 Best experience I\u2019ve had in my career so far, it\u2019s a big statement, but honestly it was probably the best professional six weeks of my fricking life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filmmaker, Ramsey, and How I Met Your Mother\u2018s Harris were soon asked about whether films should be political and if cinema can fight fascism. \u201cI think we live in a strangely algorithmic and divided world right now, and so as artists, I\u2019m always interested in doing things that are apolitical,\u201d answered Harris. \u201cBecause we\u2019re all, as humans, wanting to connect in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s why we experience things together,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd so when you get to go to a film where you\u2019re caring about the people, you\u2019re caring about the heart of what\u2019s happening, you\u2019re watching this film of these young adults growing up under the umbrella of a world where some of them won\u2019t, and I think that is so touching and also kind of exciting and rebellious and horny, and then it\u2019s fun to be able to witness that without having to process it through a contemporary lens. Right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBritish filmmaker Jaques responded: \u201cSometimes the most rebellious thing you can do is be optimistic. And we wanted to make a film about joy. There\u2019s so much going on in the world right now, and I wanted to make something that really takes you somewhere else\u2026 Yes, it\u2019s a cancer movie. Yes, all of that happens. But actually, it\u2019s about this young girl who starts falling in love with the world again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLater, after a journalist told the cast and crew that it\u2019s \u201cembarrassing\u201d to say the film isn\u2019t political after having had access to healthcare to fight cancer themselves, Harris was asked by another: \u201cDo you dare to criticize your government and do you think democracy in the U.S. is in danger?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWow,\u201d Harris began. \u201cWhile I have my own political opinions, I think as a performer, especially in this kind of movie, [I\u2019m] trying to be as inclusive [as possible.] I never read this script as a political statement. It was much more about a human growing up and having realizations about themselves, singularly and [about] friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMusic star Haim also told attendees she\u2019d jump at the chance to work with PTA again, and praised her sister\u2019s performance in Oscar favorite One Battle After Another: \u201cIf Johnny Greenwood happens to want to retire, I will be right there for Paul whenever he would like, and yeah, my sister was amazing in One Battle After Another and I\u2019m so proud of her. I\u2019m so proud of both my sisters. I\u2019m so excited to see what Alana does in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bella Ramsey, George Jaques, and Neil Patrick Harris had more political questions to field ahead of the Berlin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[192290,191587,83754,49,48,75,77,56798,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-473017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bella-ramsey","9":"tag-berlin-2026","10":"tag-berlin-film-festival","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-international","15":"tag-neil-patrick-harris","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}