Actors/Actresses: August 2007 Archives

The Advocate chats up actor Justin Theroux for its Big Gay Following feature. Justin cxurrently stars in "The 10" but we know him from such things as "The Broken Hearts Club" and as Carrie's premature ejaculator boyfriend on "Sex and the City." He is now making his directorial debut in the new film "Dedication."
Here are some highlights from the interview:
Q. How conscious are you of your gay fan base?
A. I was conscious of it as far as the gay New York theater crowd, because that seems to be my forte: I always played gay and English. Literally, if it was a gay Englishman, I got the part. From [directors] Joe Orton [Loot] to Mark Ravenhill [Shopping and Fucking] to Frank McGuinness [Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme] to [Kevin Scott’s] Hide Your Love Away. That’s four gay English people I played, and that’s pretty much my whole theater repertoire in New York.

Q. Homo opportunities must have presented themselves to you. Ever given it a shot?
A. I’ve never given it a shot, but I’ve had drunken advances in college—I did go to Bennington, after all. But it didn’t really pique my interest. I hope I’m comfortable enough in myself that if I even had a percentage of any of that in me, I would feel free to explore it. Actually, I know I would. But I feel pretty hetero.
Q. Any celebrity dude crushes?
A. I worked with Colin Farrell [in Miami Vice], and he’s really charming and charismatic. Alain Delon, maybe? I think with Alain Delon anyone would try something out. He’s to film what Lou Reed was to music: You can’t get any cooler.

Which film was gayer: Romy and Michele or Broken Hearts Club?
Oh, my God, that’s a death match. There’s that weird thing of the “gay community loving the hyper female” story line, but I’d have to go with Broken Hearts Club because it’s just so gay—literally.
What research did you do to prepare for your Broken Hearts role?
You know what? Being in New York theater, I’ve done all the research I ever need to do. It was so nice to do a movie where the themes were gay but it didn’t club people over the head with it. If you took it out of the gay context, it was really more of a Big Chill. One of my favorite C[-list] celebrity sightings—which I’ve never gotten before—was when gay pride was just in town and I was walking down the street and someone said, “That’s the guy from The Broken Hearts Club!” Made me laugh. That’s the first and last time that’ll ever happen.

To read the complete interview, go to Advocate.com.