As One Of 'The Leftovers,' Actor Justin Theroux Explores Loss And Spirituality

Transcript

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LEFTOVERS")

JUSTIN THEROUX: (As Kevin Garvey) They're going to come tomorrow, and when they do, somebody's going to get hurt.

GROSS: That's my guest Justin Theroux in the first episode of the HBO series "The Leftovers" as a police chief trying to hold his small town together. "The Leftovers" is about the people left on Earth after 2 percent of the population vanished in a split second - no one knows why. Maybe it's the rapture, an act of God, but maybe not. Everyone left on Earth is grieving. Many have lost their bearings trying to deal with such inexplicable loss. The sheriff's wife has left home and joined a cult group. Their son has become a follower of someone claiming to be a holy man and a healer. In season two, which is now underway, the now ex-sheriff is starting a new family with his girlfriend. Her husband and two children are among those who vanished. They try to make a fresh start in a new town, along with his daughter and a baby found on his doorstep. Moving in together was his girlfriend's idea. He thought it might be too soon.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LEFTOVERS")

THEROUX: (As Kevin Garvey) We don't really know each other.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) OK. What do I need to know?

THEROUX: (As Kevin Garvey) I've been walking in my sleep. I was taking medication, so I tossed my pills. I figured that'd be the end of it, but then I grabbed Patti Levin and I took her to a cabin. And when I woke up I tried to let her go...

GROSS: Justin Theroux has also worked in comedy. He co-wrote "Tropic Thunder" with Ben Stiller and wrote the forthcoming sequel to Stiller's "Zoolander." "The Leftovers" was co-created by Tom Perrotta, who wrote the novel it's based on, and Damon Lindelof, who also co-created "Lost."

Justin Theroux, welcome to FRESH AIR. Thank you for being here. I love the series. The premise of "The Leftovers" is that these deaths - the sudden vanishing of 2 percent of the population - these deaths are inexplicable but the people left on Earth have to figure out how to continue living in the face of grief and in the face of inexplicable loss. Where did you go in yourself to - what did you do to get into that frame of mind where there's this inexplicable thing that's happened and it might be God's will that it happened, it might be something like the rapture, might have nothing to do with that? If it is God's will, like, why are you still here (laughter) you know?

THEROUX: I think my character in general, you know, is either atheist or deeply agnostic. And, you know - and I think that's part of the fun struggle for him in the first season is sort of just the firm belief that he can wrap his arms around things and if he holds tight enough he can actually make things happen or affect a change. I think speaking sort of at 40,000 feet about the show, everyone reacts differently and has a different kind of neurosis or something that sets in and different reactions to it. And I think it's one of the fun sort of frustrating - and I know it frustrates certain people who watch the show or at least in the first season - was that we - Damon Lindelof who's very - and Tom Perrotta were very clear that they were not going to answer this question and they were - the people watching were going to have to sort of live in the same unknown that the characters are. So in that sense, everyone's in kind of real time together, which I thought was a great way of sort of, you know, keeping people in the present while watching the show.

GROSS: The showrunner for "The Leftovers," Mimi Leder, was quoted in The New York Times as saying that "The Leftovers" is about the characters. It's about family and that she wants the show to stay on the characters' faces. She says you don't want to miss one single blink of an eye. What does that mean for you as one of the actors 'cause the camera is often on your face? And in some ways we see your face more frequently than we actually hear you speak.

THEROUX: Yeah.

GROSS: And you're usually registering some kind of trouble, feelings of guilt, hurt, pain, confusion, the burden of responsibility. Your eyes tear up sometimes as they've done this season. So I'm sure you're aware that the camera is on your face and that your face has to be expressing the things you're not saying. So if it's a nonverbal scene for you, what do you think about in order to express what it is - the subtleties of what you need to express without overly emoting?

THEROUX: To a certain extent it's a technical question because it's, you know, where is the camera, what lens are they using, or how close are they, and then, you know, as far as the personal stuff that's usually just whatever you're - I've always try and ground it in whatever's written, you know, so if it's a scene where I'm telling my daughter I'm getting a divorce - that's a pretty - I can ground it in that. You know, it's making it believable for myself. You know, I can - I know where to go for that. And Damon - I actually wish - or I hope at some point Damon publishes the scripts because they're really beautifully written and read very fast and oftentimes in the descriptions of what's happening in the scene - it might be a four-line scene or a eight-line scene, he's very specific about, you know, hold on Kevin, or hold on Jill, her eyes moisten, she turns away - you know, like he's very specific about that kind of direction in the descriptives and the action. And they're beautifully written. So in a weird way he's done a lot of my work for me.

GROSS: So season two is a big departure from season one. Your character has a kind of new family. His girlfriend from the first season, who lost her husband and two children in the departures - you are now forming a new family with a foundling that was left, you know, a baby that was left on your doorstep. Your daughter's come with you, too, and you moved to a new town called Miracle, Texas, which claims to be, perhaps the only place that was untouched when 2 percent of the population disappeared. And there's all kinds of, like, hucksters there, like marketing the water as if, like, the water is going to give you eternal life, and all these kind of like cult figures, and religious messiahs, and false prophets are there preaching. And it's a tourist attraction. What's it been like for you to, like, basically start over? It's almost like a new series in season two.

THEROUX: It's a new series - you know, they - Damon and Tom were really smart because they had run out of the source material. The book had been played through to the end basically. And Damon wasn't even sure whether he wanted to come back for a second season. He was like, well, unless we have a good idea, I don't know if we have a reason to come back and visit these people. And then they struck upon this idea of Miracle, Texas, which I think really - more interestingly than oh, it's a geographic move for these people, and we're just going to start a new life somewhere else. It was really about, I think, the ideas that Damon and Tom wanted to drill down on. They wanted to - I feel like, if anything, the first season was about sort of, loss and grief and mourning. And now we're sort of into this much more spiritual territory which allows us to - or allows the creators of the show to ask some bigger questions about spirituality and faith and the ability to move on or where we - why we're moving on, you know, sort of meaning-of-life type questions. And obviously, we're not going to answer the meaning of life on this show, but we definitely circle a lot of...

GROSS: Season three maybe? Season three will have the answer.

THEROUX: ...Season three. (Laughter) Exactly. That'll be our finale.

GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Justin Theroux, and he stars in the HBO series "The Leftovers" which just begun season two a couple of Sundays ago. Let's take a short break. Then we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is actor and writer Justin Theroux. And he stars in the HBO series, "The Leftovers," which is about to go into its third episode of the second season this Sunday. So you've been working on the sequel to "Zoolander."

THEROUX: Yeah.

GROSS: You wrote the screenplay for "Zoolander 2," which is tentatively scheduled for release in February. And "Zoolander" is about a male - the first movie was about a male model, played by Ben Stiller, who is incredibly vacuous and self-absorbed. So I want to play (laughter)...

THEROUX: (Laughter).

GROSS: I want to play a short clip. Before we talk about the sequel that you're working on, I want to play a short clip...

THEROUX: Sure.

GROSS: ...From the first "Zoolander." And this is from the beginning of the film. It's the VH1 Fashion Awards ceremony. And one of the categories is male model of year. So Zoolander has already won this three times, and he's up for his fourth win. But he's against a newcomer named Hansel, who's played by Owen Wilson. And each of the nominees has a video to show who they are, you know, before the award is announced. So here's Lenny Kravitz, who's hosting, introducing the nominees on stage and introducing the video for Hansel, the male model played by Owen Wilson.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ZOOLANDER")

LENNY KRAVITZ: (As himself) Here are the nominees for male model of the year.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Young, hot, rash, with more covers in his first year than any rookie model ever and an attitude that says, who cares; it's only fashion.

WILL FERRELL: (As Mugatu) That Hansel's so hot right now.

OWEN WILSON: (As Hansel) I hear a lot of words like beauty and handsomeness and incredibly chiseled features. To me, that's like a vanity that - a self-absorption that I try to steer clear of. I dig the bungee. I mean, for me it's just the way I live my life. I grip it, and I rip it. I live with a lot of flare. I live it on the edge, where I've got to be. I wasn't like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut. I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree. Richard Gere is a real hero of mine. Sting - Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music that he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it. But the fact that he's making it, I respect that. I care desperately about what I do. Do I know what product I'm selling? No. Do I know what I'm doing today? No. But I'm here, and I'm going to give it my best shot.

(APPLAUSE)

GROSS: (Laughter) That's a scene from the first "Zoolander." So what have you had to learn to write "Zoolander 2"?

THEROUX: Obviously, you know, I got to write it with Ben, which was very instructive he, you know...

GROSS: Ben - Ben Stiller, yeah.

THEROUX: He knows those characters. Yeah, Ben Stiller. And he knows those characters very well. They're his creation. He was - I think at one point said, you know, we're basically writing 9-year-old. You know, we're not - we're not - there's no super deep psychology to them. So you kind of write them - they're kind of not formed people yet. But they sort of live in this adult world. So that was very instructive. And then it's just about sort of ping-ponging what we think are - what we think makes them funny or what we like about them and what makes us laugh. For me, what I really like about those two characters is they have the combination of two things that I think are extremely funny, which is supreme confidence and total stupidity. And in life, I just think that's just funny, when you see someone very dumb who is completely confident that they're smart and maybe smarter than everybody. You know, that kind of forward footedness I really think is great for comedy.

GROSS: You co-wrote "Tropic Thunder" with Ben Stiller. And this is about the - a movie about the making of a Vietnam War movie, a movie that goes disastrously wrong. Ben Stiller plays a kind of washed up, Sylvester Stallone-type action hero. Robert Downey Jr. plays the kind of actor who goes to extremes to get into character. In fact, he has a surgical procedure to blacken his skin so he can portray a black lieutenant. Jack Black plays an actor making his dramatic bid 'cause he's known for very broad - for a very broad comedy franchise of about a fat family called "The Fatties." And I want to play the voiceover that begins "Tropic Thunder," explaining what the movie's about.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TROPIC THUNDER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As narrator) In the winter of 1969, an elite force of the U.S. Army was sent on a top-secret assignment in southeast Vietnam, the objective to rescue Sergeant Four Leaf Tayback from a heavily guarded NVA prison camp. The mission was considered to be near suicide. Of the 10 men sent, four returned. Of those four, three wrote books about what happened. Of those three, two were published. Of those two, just one got a movie deal. This is the story of the man who attempted to make that movie.

GROSS: (Laughter) That's from the beginning of "Tropic Thunder." Had you ever auditioned or been in a war film?

THEROUX: Yes, I did audition for a war film one time, and it was terrible. (Laughter) It went so horribly wrong. I remember thinking - 'cause it was one of these things - it was actually - they'd sort of - it was - I think it was "Thin Red Line" or something. I was, you know, younger. And it was - it was one of those horrible additions where, like, there's no pages. There's no script. And they - can you tell me about the character? No, you're going to go up to this place on 57th Street. And you're going to, you know, meet with the casting director. And she's going to put you on film. And you go, well, what am I going to do? And they go, well, we don't know what you're going to do, but, you know, this is a very important movie. And you go up there. And they sort of tipped a chair over, and they're sort of saying, like, OK, now pretend you're getting shot. So they're asking you to sort of write the dialogue, create the character (laughter) and do everything, you know, like, on the spot. You know, and you think, well, this is no way to audition for a film (laughter) - you know what I mean? - like, for anything, you know, let alone - whatever. I'd rather just stand there holding my name on a card and just say, do you like me or not? You know, like, it's a humiliating experience.

GROSS: Let's talk about your formative years. You come from a very interesting family. Your uncle is the write Paul Theroux. You pronounce your names differently. He's Theroux, and you're Theroux.

THEROUX: I - just something that - I guess the way I fell off the truck, I don't know where the transition happened. But yeah, all the people that sort of - our cousins even, you know, go by Theroux. And I should probably switch it at this point (laughter). But...

GROSS: Too late for that (laughter).

THEROUX: I know, I think it's too late. I think the train left the station.

GROSS: So your uncle, Paul Theroux, is a very well-known travel writer. Your mother is or was a journalist...

THEROUX: Is.

GROSS: And author. Is?

THEROUX: Yeah...

GROSS: Your father...

THEROUX: A wonderful writer.

GROSS: Is a lawyer. There are other writers in your extended family.

THEROUX: Yeah.

GROSS: Were you surrounded by books and culture when you were growing up?

THEROUX: Yes. My mom was - is very well read. I had a much more difficult time. I was not a great reader (laughter). I don't know how to put it any other way. I was - you know, I think I had, I mean, tested as a dyslexic. And, you know, I was an unfocused child (laughter). So I didn't read a lot early on in my life and don't read that much now, if I'm being honest. You know, like, I mean, I read a lot for me. But I'm not one of those people who gets The New York Times book review and runs out and buys 10 books and is done with them and passing them out to friends, you know, two weeks later. I just had a really difficult time reading. I remember getting - between school years, when they sort of would give you your list of eight books to read before you got back to school. It always felt like someone had just handed me, you know, the Hillary Step, and it was un-climbable - and oftentimes was. So I had a series of bad experiences at schools, just not being able to do the work and eventually found a great school that actually became - was very focused on writing. It was one of these schools that doesn't - you know, they don't test you to death or do exams. But you have extensive term papers and dense books you have to read. And I ended up sort of getting - catching up on a lot of my education in high school.

GROSS: Oh, so it was in high school when you got into that school?

THEROUX: Yeah.

GROSS: So you had a lot of catching up to do.

THEROUX: I had a lot of catching up to do.

GROSS: Were you embarrassed that you couldn't read? Did you try to cover that up?

THEROUX: Yeah, it was humiliating. It was horrible.

GROSS: Was it horrible when you were called on to read out loud in class?

THEROUX: Yeah, the first time I was ever called on to read out - I just could not - I remember the first word - I was called on, like, the - whatever - second or third day of this public school to read. And I remember looking down at the piece of paper that I was supposed to read. And the first word was the, which I could read because it's the first three letters of my last name.

GROSS: (Laughter).

THEROUX: But I couldn't read a single other word. It was like just looking at Greek. And I was like, well, I don't know how to - you know, so I sort of made up a bellyache excuse and went down to the nurse and was like, I've got to get out of here; this is not going to work out (laughter). I remember calling my mom, being like, I've got to go. We've got to get out of here; this is terrible.

GROSS: Your mother was a writer. She must've been upset that you couldn't read.

THEROUX: I actually don't remember many conversations about it. But I think, you know, she - yeah, I remember she was very sympathetic I think and also not understanding, like, why can't you? I mean, I guess she knew. She would have to know that I wasn't great at it because I would - you know, if I got handed a book, I would just - that I had to read or do a book report on - it was just torture. And as I got slightly better at reading, it was still just a slow-moving process. Even to this day, I read things in real time, you know, I don't - like, as if it's being spoken. I can't skim stuff in ways that I know certain people can. I have to sort of hear it in my head to be able to read it. And I think, in a weird way, it's why I - you know, obviously I don't think I could write novels or long essays or whatever, you know, like some of my family members. I think I've tuned my ear to dialogue. And I think it was the - something that I'm much more facile at because I don't have to sort of set up the emotional or internal stakes. And, you know, I don't have to, you know, write these dense paragraphs of, you know, what someone's feeling or thinking. I can basically just mimic people on paper and write dialogue. And I think it was, you know, something - I think whatever deficiencies I've had have ended up serving me in writing screenplays.

GROSS: To end the interview, let's get back to "The Leftovers." Are you going to watch it on Sunday night?

THEROUX: I am going to watch it on Sunday night. I'm going to watch it every Sunday night.

GROSS: Do you know what happens to other people or just know your part?

THEROUX: There's a couple episodes that, you know, take those left turns, where I'm in them either very little or not at all. And I will - I did not read those episodes, sort of on purpose, because I wanted to see it happen in real-time, you know, like a regular viewer.

GROSS: And did you not want to know anything that your character wouldn't have known?

THEROUX: Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't - it's more interesting to me if, you know, for example, if someone from my past shows up and I don't know what they've been going through, to sort of discover that with them in the scene-work for the first time. That sounds a little maybe academic, but it was more fun for me and it'll be more fun when I watch it, I think, to sort of not have any preconceived notions about it.

GROSS: Well, Justin Theroux, thank you so much for talking with us.

THEROUX: Thank you so much, Terry.

GROSS: Justin Theroux stars in the HBO series "The Leftovers." The third episode of the second season will be shown on Sunday. Coming up, we hear from Randall Park, who stars in the ABC sitcom "Fresh Off The Boat" and play North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy, "The Interview." That's after a break. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.