Theroux in the West Village with a single- speed bicycle he bought in Australia. (MARRIED TO SOMEONE YOU MAY HAVE AFTER YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD IS SINGLE, BACK IN NEW YORK CITY, AND HEARD OF ), JUSTIN THEROUX DOING WHATEVER THE HELL HE WANTS. BY JESSE WILL PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEXEI HAY articles that speculate as to why. Theroux seriously compelling plotline. and Aniston have been relatively silent about Theroux’s character is complicated, of it. In the New York Times, Theroux called it course. “He’s one of those guys who was obvi- “kind of the most gentle separation” and ously on the side of what RBG was trying to regretted saying even that. On this day, he accomplish, but also has his own ingrained refuses to talk about the relationship. But the ideas of equality,” Theroux says. “I don’t think cameras remain. he understands—at least in the script—how Despite the relentless coverage, and despite clever she was being.” major roles in some of the best movies and TV Theroux’s character gets called a relent- series of the past few decades, from Mulhol- less prick—but also provides comic relief. On land Drive to The Leftovers, to blockbuster writ- the Basis of Sex director Mimi Leder, who also ing credits, Theroux manages to evade being directed Theroux in The Leftovers, says Ther- defined by any one gig. No one shouts lines at oux was the only guy for the role. “He draws him on the street. He escapes in plain sight. from the deep well of his own life, and what he cares about, and reads between the lines on the script,” says Leder. “And he’s just funny.” Asked what he thinks of the added pre- BEFORE OUR RIDE, THEROUX ATTEMPTS science the film has in light of recent battles to explain the wildly varied nature of his over the future of the Supreme Court—namely, résumé. We’re sitting in the corner of a West Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment—Theroux Village bistro, the kind of place where the clien- laughs. “It’s so strange, I wanted to be in Ruth tele have expensive haircuts and glowing skin. Bader Ginsberg’s head during those weeks,” Theroux has been here before. He’s wearing a he says. “I would love to wander through what chain-link-inspired necklace that matches the she was thinking.” gold of his glasses, a vintage long-sleeve tee, “I mean, we’re going through this thing “PAPARAZZI. CORNER ON THE RIGHT. and form-fitting, faded black denim jeans. He where the country just feels like it’s a wash- See him? See him?” orders a double espresso almond-milk cortado ing machine in a broken spin cycle, getting Justin Theroux isn’t pointing. But his gold- and starts chain-chewing Cinnamon Surge– crazier and crazier. Parts are flying off.” Ther- rimmed Oliver Peoples aviators are aimed at flavored Nicorette. He looks much younger oux leans forward and covers his forehead in a man on a bike with a backpack across the than his age of 47, and clearly like a star, but no his hands. “We still haven’t had our Network street. Theroux is gripping the handlebars of one gawks until he rips out his baritone laugh, moment. Of, like, I can’t take it anymore!” a chrome-gold single-speed bike at the cor- which has a kind of soft-sounding windup, like Despite growing up in D.C., Theroux ner of Carmine and Bleecker on a blustery the split second before a lawn mower’s pull- didn’t steep in politics at home. His parents, late fall day in lower Manhattan, near the starter shudders to life. who divorced when he was young, worked steps of Our Lady of Pompeii church. Until One of the key tools in Theroux’s kit is an outside of government. His mother, Phillis PREVIOUS SPREAD: THEROUX WEARS JACKET BY VISVIMM; SHIRT HIS OWN; JEANS BY RAG & BONE; WATCH BY ROLEX. THIS SPREAD: THEROUX this moment, the actor and screenwriter had been unraveling the story of how the Theroux clan, a family with a long lineage of artists “I’M DEFINITELY STUMBLING UPSTAIRS. Theroux and his and writers (his uncle is author Paul Theroux) pit bull, Kuma. came to New York. His great-grandparents, I GRAVITATE TOWARD THE SURREAL immigrants from Italy, got married in this church. He and his father found the marriage OR THE ABSURD. I LIKE PROJECTS certificate several years back in the church chips at home. But I had a legitimately hard darin—he made a go of it in Manhattan. gravitate toward the surreal or the absurd. I basement. It’s edifying, he says, to now live THAT GENERATE LOBBY TALK. STUFF time in school.” At night, he bartended at Von, a downtown like projects that generate lobby talk. Stuff just a few blocks away. In his teens, Theroux found solace in bar that in the mid-1990s had CBGB and a that’s not easy watching, necessarily.” But with the intrusion, Theroux aborts the THAT’S NOT EASY WATCHING.” skateboarding and the burgeoning D.C. punk methadone clinic as neighbors. “My life took His latest role in this enigmatic vein is in story and we start pedaling with traffic up scene, where hardcore bands were recast- a massive leap in quality,” Theroux says. “I Maniac, a new series on Netflix, helmed by Sixth Avenue. The stocky pap, hammering ing rock & roll with the DIY ethic. Theroux was finally in a position of power—not power, True Detective Season 1 director (and Ther- in a low gear, overtakes us, pulls over to the expansive, expressive forehead, that, along Grissom-Theroux, wrote for the Washington dabbled with it all, catching shows from really, but there’s some equity in bartending. oux buddy) Cary Joji Fukunaga. Theroux sidewalk on the left, and in what must be a with some gymnastic eyebrows, is able to Post, taught public school, and published bands like Fugazi. He entertained becom- People are nice to you or you have the right to plays Dr. James K. Mantleray, an oddball practiced, fluid, and habitual motion, yanks a transmit a wider register of emotions than several books. “I remember her always at the ing an anarchist, flirted with the booze-free stop serving them.” During the day, he audi- who administers an experimental drug camera out of his backpack, stabilizes himself most actors are capable of. Your next oppor- typewriter with a pack of cigarettes,” Theroux straight-edge lifestyle, gave himself a few tioned for roles, flying out to L.A. only when aimed at ridding mental trauma to charac- against a filigreed light pole, and readies to tunity to see the pairing is in On the Basis of Sex says. “A badass woman. Still is.” His father, tattoos. Some of it stuck. He still plays his someone else would pay. ters played by Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. shoot through a telephoto lens. (December 25), a biopic that follows the future Eugene, was a corporate lawyer—despite Minor Threat records. “It was that great age Theroux had minor breakthroughs in late- Mantleray loses control of his experiment: “Your move,” I call out, and Theroux floats Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg studying to be an artist. I tell Theroux about where you know you’re being lied to—some- ’90s flicks I Shot Andy Warhol and Romy and The patients skitter across their minds as out of the bike lane, drifts and weaves across (Felicity Jones) as she and her husband (Armie a 1978 New York Times profile of the Theroux one’s lying, somewhere—but you can’t make Michele’s High School Reunion, but a casting Mantleray loses his. the six lanes of Sixth Avenue, then ducks Hammer) take on a 1975 U.S. Court of Appeals clan, where Eugene says he decided to study it through the New York Times magazine by David Lynch would change the course of Says Patrick Somerville, who wrote onto Waverly, a side street, against traffic. case that would create the precedent for courts art at Pratt as the result of conversation with to figure out who or how. I love that about his career. In 2001’s Mulholland Drive, a kind Maniac, “[Justin] has this gift of using his The acoustics shift. It’s quieter. His crank- to reconsider more than 100 gender-biased laws strangers in a bar. teenagers—the suspicion that someone’s not of gothic film noir—named by critics in a 2016 comic gifts for dramatic purposes, and vice shaft slows. across the U.S. “Ha! Clearly my decision-making skills fuckin’ telling the truth.” BBC poll as the best film of the 21st century—he versa. It’s a strange mixture. You know, he’s For Justin Theroux, this is just another Theroux plays Mel Wulf, the animated, are genetic,” says Theroux. “He keeps a diary Buoyed by finding a supportive crowd, thoroughly haunts the character of Adam, a known to be this incredibly attractive jack- Wednesday. And ever since he dated, then ball-busting legal director for the ACLU, who to this day—every day is an illustration, each Theroux experimented with theater and art. creepy young Hollywood director losing con- of-all-trades actor. But now that I know him, WEARS COAT BY RAG & BONE wed, then split with America’s Sweetheart, swings his corduroy-jacket-clad elbows, joust- page is a day in his life. It’s pretty incredible.” His mom was cool with it. “She was in dire trol over both his career and his marriage.