I can't imagine something worse than scripts being written into a tunnel, thinking, 'I don't know when this ends. I don't know.' It usually ends when people get sick of it, but I think it's great when it gets to end on its own terms.
— Justin Theroux
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 had this chronic hyperactivity and an inability to focus, so I was forever being moved to another class, with a much smaller group of children - some of them about 18. If I was asked to read a paragraph, this white wall would go up in my head. Still now, I read very slowly and can rarely work out a tip.
I've always just considered myself a New Yorker, you know.
When you're wanting to delve into something, it's the one thing that cable television lets you achieve, in a way where you can have long form. There are no defined chapters. There are scenes, but everything's not bookended by a Chevy commercial.
Writing is harder than acting. I enjoy acting for just the brevity with which you can be in the experience of doing it. Writing is kind of more satisfying in that you're creating a world and doing something that feels bigger, but it's very time consuming and has a higher threshold for failure.
I think it's a bad habit for an actor to change scripts because that's not your job. You're not a writer, necessarily - although there are some actors that are good at it.
You can get stuff done in New York that you can't in Los Angeles. If you wanted to get some milk and get your shoes repaired and drop something off at the dry cleaner, that's an all-day adventure in Los Angeles. In New York, you can bang that out in half an hour.
I'm a big believer that the reception is not the endeavor. And what I enjoy about almost all my work is the endeavor, the doing of something.
If there's a microphone and a couple of Pink tracks, I'll step up. 'Get the Party Started' is a great start to any karaoke.
Acting is a job of permission. Someone has to give you permission to do it. But I have started to be like, 'I only want to do things that I want to do,' and writing has afforded me the luxury.
When I was 13, I kind of got into the punk scene. I realized it was easier to wear a pair of combat boots and jeans and a beat-up T-shirt. I think of it as a uniform.
The best way for guys to communicate is just don't talk to each other for nine hours. That's why I like long motorcycle rides. It's a great way for guys to socialize and not socialize.
Unless you hit your television with a sledgehammer, you're not going to be able to be an individual.
Fame is something I think happens as a result of trying to do good work. If you're trying to be famous, your work usually suffers.
If I was roped into a seven-year TV contract I'd probably hang myself.
If you're satirizing something, you're hitting at something that's real and true, and putting it on its head, and we did that with 'Tropic Thunder.'
I was not a great reader. I don't know how to put it any other way.
In a weird way, fashion, which is frivolous to the core, shouldn't be taken seriously, but thank God people do: it makes for great people-watching.
I love New York street style. Guys and girls in New York know how to dress, and I just think it's super cool, you know.
Sure, I considered myself an anarchist; I considered myself - I still am, obviously - distrustful of the government. But I also understand the virtues of civility or democracy and kindness, of course. I wasn't throwing garbage cans through shop windows.
Say what you want about superhero movies and how much they make and how much they hurt other movies. I don't buy any of it. I just think they're so good.
I know firsthand how much work has usually gone into a screenplay, so if there's something that rings false or a line that I would think would need a tweak or something, I will think long and hard before I even recommend changing it. In that sense, I'm very faithful to the scripts that I get - if they're good scripts.
If I had to write long-form stuff with descriptions of rooms, it would be so boring for me. I like writing dialogue and jokes and situational stuff.
I'd love to be one of those guys who could be like, 'Yeah, it's really exhausting,' but the truth is I'm not method. I don't take roles home.
I did Chekhov's 'Three Sisters' once. Two months in, I remember going, 'Human beings shouldn't be forced to do or watch this play every night.' It's so dark and so bottomless.
Whenever I put on a colored thing, I feel like I'm in a costume. Like when I put on a gray shirt.
I wear boots. I wear jeans and usually just sort of a beat-up T-shirt and a leather jacket. If I bring more leather jackets home, my wife will kill me.
Don't you think it would be great to do a bunch of Nicorette commercials? Just, like, me in the desert, kind of Marlboro Man-style, driving a fast car, pulling over, looking at the sunset. Dissolving in ecstasy. Can't you see it? Me blowing huge Nicorette bubbles.
I think we need to tell stories that reflect our world.
I always go to bed thinking I'm the luckiest guy in the world.
It's like, once you've seen Tom Hanks win the Golden Globes, the Oscars, you've seen his wife, what kind of car he drives, when you watch his movies, you can't fully get really lost in them.
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.
If you chase fame, you make bad choices. Being famous isn't interesting.
I've always found it funny in life when you meet people who are incredibly stupid and incredibly confident at the same time. Actually, there is nothing funnier. I mean, Donald Trump is a perfect example: he's essentially a seven-year-old on a podium.
I think, in life, we're vulnerable, or human beings are vulnerable, or men are vulnerable. I think it's just a question, you know, choosing when you let that mask slip off, which I think all men do - they just usually don't do it in front of people.
Some of the best movie experiences I've had are when I just walked by the theater and decided to see a movie I hadn't heard anything about and bought a ticket, because that's really the first time you can experience it untainted.
Certain people want to binge-watch stuff, and they want 10 solid hours of whatever, not realizing that writing 10 hours of quality television is a exhausting experience. Writing an hour and a half is a warm hug compared to writing 10 hours of television.
I'm in New York part of the time and in L.A. part of the time. That's always been a goal, to be bicoastal in a real way.
I can speak passable Mandarin. I will not be translating at the U.N. anytime soon.
When you hear about people in the '50s getting married at 20, you're like, 'What were they thinking?' My grandparents were together for over 50 years.
When was the last time you were super offended? I might be like, 'That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!' Or, 'It's not my thing,' or, 'It was a stupid joke.' But there's such a sensitivity now. Political correctness has become really insidious.
My grandfather used to write one sentence every day in his journal: 'I love Anne more than ever today.' I think that was his meditation - keeping him in his marriage, and also his appreciation for it. It was very touching.
Whenever I've done anything where I feel like, 'Oh, it would be smart to do that,' it's always been a mistake. Whenever I do the 'Oh, it would be fun to do that,' it's always paid dividends.
I wish I owned stock in Nicorette. I love Nicorette. Best invention ever.
There's a logic to dreams that doesn't necessarily follow linear narrative. You don't know why things happen, it's your subconscious pushing you, to give you information.
I've never been shocked by anything on television, except the news.
