Woody Harrelson Honoured in Sarajevo, Talks McConaughey Series 'Brothers' and Five-Film Run With Eisenberg
Woody Harrelson received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival on Tuesday, then sat down for a 90-minute career talk at the Sarajevo National Theater that ranged across his filmography, his activism, and a pair of upcoming projects that reunite him with familiar co-stars (Variety, 18 August 2026; Sarajevo Film Festival, 18 August 2026).
The festival, running 14–21 August 2026, scheduled the award ceremony at the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema. Following the presentation, Michael Winterbottom's 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo — an adaptation of Michael Nicholson's book Natasha's Story that first screened at the festival nearly three decades ago — played to the crowd (Sarajevo Film Festival, 18 August 2026).
The heart of the afternoon was the talk itself. Harrelson has starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg in five films, including Zombieland and Now You See Me, and the two clearly share an easy rapport. Harrelson used the stage to praise Eisenberg's upcoming directorial effort The Debut, a dramedy starring Julianne Moore, calling it "phenomenal" (Variety, 18 August 2026).
The conversation also turned to Brothers, Harrelson's forthcoming Apple TV series with Matthew McConaughey. The show was created by Lee Eisenberg, a producer on the American version of The Office. Harrelson and McConaughey both star and serve as executive producers, playing fictionalised versions of themselves. The premise: their friendship is tested when they uncover a decades-old secret suggesting they might actually be brothers (Apple TV Press, 18 June 2026; Variety, 18 August 2026).
The story draws from real life. A few years ago, Harrelson went public with the fact that his father met McConaughey's mother around the time McConaughey was conceived — a detail that fuelled years of friendly speculation between the two actors about whether they share more than a profession (Variety, 18 August 2026).
Brothers is set for a global debut on Wednesday, 23 September 2026 on Apple TV (Apple TV Press, 18 June 2026).
Harrelson touched on his life off-screen as well. In 1996, he was arrested for challenging state drug laws in the United States — an act of civil disobedience he discussed as part of his broader reflections on a career spent moving between mainstream Hollywood and passion projects (Variety, 18 August 2026).
Another reunion is on the way. Harrelson is set to appear in Jason Bateman's The Cackling of the Dodos, which pairs him once more with Sam Rockwell (Variety, 18 August 2026).
For an actor who has spent decades moving between comedy, drama, and the occasional cause, Sarajevo offered a stage to look back — and to point forward at a slate that keeps him working with the people he already knows.
