“Your Highness” opens in theaters today and millions of people will get to laugh as an underachieving prince (Danny McBride) embarks on a journey with his brother (James Franco) to rescue his princess to be (Zooey Deschanel) from an evil wizard named Lezar (Justin Theroux).
“Your Highness” will have you laughing for a full hour and a half as this sexual comedy from the past plays out before your eyes. We sat down with Justin Theroux to discuss his role in “Your Highness,” the fun on set and how he almost barfed on Zooey Deschanel.
Check out this hilarious interview and be sure to check out “Your Highness” in theaters now.
Global Grind: We’ve read that you talk about all the fun you have shooting “Your Highness,” but can you tell me about your least pleasant time on set?
Justin Theroux: There was a stomach flu that went around on my first or second day and in the scene when I am about to put the boots to Zooey Dechanel’s character, while I was literally on camera, I had a moment where I almost threw up all over her. I had this stomach flu come over me in about 3.6 seconds, all of a sudden I got this crazy hot flash and then the next thing you know I’m barfing into a bucket right next to her. Being super impressive to her. Then having to shoot through the day was horrible!
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GG: You’ve been doing a lot of writing of late and this is your return to acting, which do you prefer more, writing or acting?
JT: I prefer each thing for different things. Acting is more fun, it’s more immediate, it’s more every day kind of fun. Writing is more satisfying in the end because you have more creative control, but with that being said it’s also extremely hard. It’s also for a longer period of time than the acting. You might work 2-3 months on a movie, and then writing you’re usually locked down for about 6 months to a year.
GG: Your character, Lezar, was the 2nd most creepy character in this movie, the first being the purple puppet. What was your inspiration for Lezar’s creepiness?
JT: I stole a lot of stuff from Gary Oldman. I love Gary Oldman and I basically lifted a lot of stuff from him. He was my inspiration. I loved him in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” He’s always so good, so i thought maybe I could just steal some shit from him.
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GG: Give me your best theory on why evil wizards kidnap virgins and lock them in a tower?
JT: I don’t think it’s just evil wizards that do that. I think often times in prophecies and wizard movies it always has to be a virgin. I don’t know why that is. I’m just guessing that what those dudes like. That’s their thing. The tower? I think every guy wants to have a girl on lock, that always feels good, but they usually go the extra step and it borders on kidnapping.
GG: That must suck for the virgin.
JT: I know! No one ever kidnaps ever wizards though.
GG: Then she has a dragon.
JT: There is something that will probably be on the DVD of me giving birth to a dragon in this particular scenario. We did shoot a dragon but it didn’t make it into the movie.
GG: You have a lot of funny and fun scenes with Zooey, which one is your favorite?
JT: I think my favorite was snorting the fairy. When I pull the head off of a fairy and snort her. That made me laugh a lot. I don’t know anytime you get the throw big huge lightning bolts out of your finger tips that’s always really fun too.
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GG: Ben Stiller said you all turned in the script to “Zoolander 2.” What is a typical writing session with Ben Stiller like?
JT: He’s great, he’s such a talented writer. He’s just a genius when it comes to comedy. He not only can write really well, he can edit really well. He knows when there is fat on a scene so he knows when to cut stuff out. We usually just go into hunker down mode and we talk a lot and at length about what’s going to be the funniest thing and what’s the funniest plot and we start picking apart what the story is going to look like.
Then we start a document and pass it back and forth between each other. I write something and pass it to him and he writes something and passes it to me. We are a really good team, we have a special thing. Which is rare, he’s a great writing partner.
GG: You held an event for Japan at the Boom Boom Room in New York. How do you plan to keep Japan in the consciousness of the people?
JT: I am going to stick tight with those guys and see what we can come up with in the future. I think the hardest part of any tragedy of that scale is that it’s fashionable for a little bit and then people start to forget about it after it’s not on the front page anymore. It’s more about making sure that we do another benefit or do another thing or keep people thinking about it once the press has gone away.
Those benefits are great when you first do them because you just do them because you can make the most cash for the cause at that moment, but then you got to do it again. We’ll do another benefit at some point.
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GG: You own a motorcycle, describe your first ride on a bike? When did you fall in love with bikes?
JT: I’ve been a motorcycle guy ever since I was kid, ever since I could freaking throw a leg over one. I’ve been riding bikes for like 20 years now. My first time riding a bike I almost killed myself because I didn’t understand how to change gears. So I just put in first gear and just wacked it out. I almost took my head off. I almost went under the back of this metal thing and almost decapitated myself. I managed to get it under control but I burned the oil out of the bike because I was doing 40 mph in first gear.”
GG: Where there any adlibs during filming that just totally cracked you up?
JT: Danny used to sit on the sidelines when he wasn’t working and he’d throw me the alley oop and I’d try to stick it in the hole. He used to throw some funny shit. Every day he would throw something historical at me. It was such a good day every day at work.”
We would like to thank Justin Theroux for taking the time to chat with GlobalGrind. Be sure to check out “Your Highness” in theaters now. You can purchase your tickets to go see it tonight by clicking here! This movie is worth your 12 bucks.
