There are no two ways about it: Joel and Ethan Coen's classic murder mystery "Fargo" made Minnesota the "yah-you-betcha" capital of the world.

So, when it came time for Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Frances McDormand and director Niki Caro to venture to the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota to make "North Country," the locals wanted to make it clear that they weren't going to be portrayed as the cornball, okey-dokee "Minne-so-tah "characters that the Coen brothers made them out to be.

But the acclaimed "Whale Rider" filmmaker was prepared, and called a press conference with the local media to address any concerns the townspeople might have about the production.

"One of the big things at the press conference was that people didn't want the accents to end up like 'Fargo,' which they felt were an exaggeration," Harrelson recalled for this proud Minnesota native in a recent @ The Movies interview. "We were all real conscientious of trying to get it right and the person in charge of getting the dialect right was amazing. We tried to be subtle."

Of course, the irony was that McDormand was among the cast -- the same performer that won a Best Actress Oscar as a Northern Minnesota police chief, Marge Gunderson, in "Fargo."

But unlike "Fargo," there was no dark comedy to be found in this Northern part of the state. Inspired by a true story, "North Country" chronicles the events that led to the first-ever class-action lawsuit for sexual harassment -- filed by female Iron Range mine workers after vile treatment by their male counterparts on the job. Theron plays single mother Josey Aimes (based on Lois Jenson, the mine worker who won the landmark lawsuit in 1984) and Harrelson plays Bill White, a hometown hockey hero-turned-lawyer who reluctantly takes on her case.

While Harrelson knows that contention about the real case still exists in the region, he said he didn't meet any resistance from the locals -- which included miners -- during the production.

"Honestly, I felt incredibly welcome -- I thought that the whole area in the range opened up to us. I'm sure to some degree there were some people that weren't accepting of us, but at least they weren't showing it," Harrelson said with a cautious laugh.

And his observations didn't come from quick breaks between filming. In fact, the cast members immersed themselves in the Minnesota communities of Eveleth, Virginia, Hibbing and Chisholm, where much of the film was shot over the frigid winter months earlier this year.

"When you would go out and hang with the folks in the bars or wherever you meet them, they were just so kind and warm," recalled Harrelson, who recently returned to Minnesota for a role in the film version of "A Prairie Home Companion." "They were inviting us out to ice fish or to go snowmobiling. At least from my vantage point, I felt we fell into the fabric of the life there -- but in a good way."

But that was then: Now, with the film, the people of the region will be seeing the explicit depiction of sexual harassment. When all is said and done, Harrelson doesn't expect a backlash from the locals.

"I don't think people are going to be upset this film, because I think it's a very accurate depiction of the events," he said. "I think the people of the range and the people closest to it are going to appreciate the care and the authenticity the rest of us tried to lend to it."

Making It Personal

In addition to his busy professional life, Harrelson has his hands full on the personal front. In fact, he announced last week on "Late Night with David Letterman" that his wife, Laura Louie, is pregnant with their third child. Needless to say, his level of sensitivity to the material was ramped up a bit higher than usual given that his first two children are girls.

"I'm the only guy in my family, including our cats and dogs. I'm surrounded by these amazing women, and I have concerns about what happens to them in the world," Harrelson said.

Things hit home for him during a heartfelt speech in the film by Richard Jenkins, who plays Theron's father and fellow mine worker, Hank Aimes. In the scene, Aimes points out double standards to a unruly group of miners, who seem to have no problem with women when they're at company picnics as wives and daughters.

"That's probably my favorite moment in the film," Harrelson said. "I watched it, obviously, when they shot it. It was moving, then, but there's something about the way it was captured on film and the way it plays out -- it is powerful."

Of course, since the days of playing the lovable, mild-manned Woody Boyd on "Cheers," Harrelson has had the opportunity to play a wide variety of roles, from a serial killer in "Natural Born Killers" and pornographer title character in "The People vs. Larry Flynt," to a hard-luck bowler in "Kingpin" and a soldier used for propaganda in "Wag the Dog."

But his lawyer character in "North Country" presents Harrelson a unique opportunity. As an actor playing a character that acts, essentially, it's almost as if Harrelson walking on the divide of a parallel universe.

"In the courtroom, it's where a lawyer really becomes an actor," Harrelson observed for me. "There's a very fine line between delivering a monologue in a play and delivering a monologue to a jury. I've always felt that way -- I've been in a lot of courtrooms. The best lawyers are really theatrical."

So, bearing the character's theatrical nature in mind, Harrelson said that he wasn't so much concerned about putting a different spin, creatively, to make White's actions feel fresh in the crucial courtroom scenes. Rather, he focused on where the character came from.

The payoff? For one, his character feels more believable because we've gotten to know him prior to courtroom as a human being.

"The guy went to hit the big time. He did well in hockey in high school and college and went to New York to join a great law firm and was going to be a partner and was married to a rich, beautiful girl," Harrelson said of his character. "He was following his dream and along the way, he realized how hollow it was. He realized how really unhappy he was. That was in my mind more than anything, not how a lawyer acts."

Harrelson also credits Caro, who helped him complete his character's journey. "She always brings you back to the root of the character, and that is the heart," Harrelson said. "And the heart of my character was this real deep disappointment and sadness over what had gone on before. Maybe, he was a little bit a pessimist, but he rose to the occasion only from being inspired by Josey's fight."

And while Harrelson hopes that people will be engaged by the humanity of his character, he knows that there will be some out there -- no matter how hard he tries -- that just won't get it.

"When we did the press conference in the range there was this interesting-looking guy who asked, 'So, you played a mass murderer, a pornographer and now a lawyer -- is there any depth to which you will not sink in your roles?' I thought it was really funny, as if the most extreme of them was a lawyer," Harrelson said, laughing.