Justin Theroux was just a little bit “in love” with his “White House Plumbers” character.
In the upcoming HBO series, Theroux plays G. Gordon Liddy, who alongside E. Howard Hunt (played by Woody Harrelson) organized and directed the botched burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in 1972.
“He wrote this autobiography, ‘Will,’ in which you sort of get the impression when you’re reading it, it’s sort of a tall tale, or you can kind of go like, ‘this is …’ you know. He sort of strikes me as sort of like a Paul Bunyan type character, a guy who can punch a tree down,” he told Pvnew exclusively at the show’s premiere Monday.
“But it was just really, I really ended up kind of falling in love with him. Or some — or not — every aspect of him, obviously.”
Pvnew assumed that the “obviously” referred to some of Liddy’s more unsavory habits, like playing recordings of Adolf Hitler’s speeches for guests.
“Yeah, the Hitler stuff, I’ll take a pass on,” he joked. “The betraying the election, the electoral process, I’ll also take a pass. But there’s a kind of optimism that he had, kind of joy that he had in living his own life, that I think is — I think we all wish we could have on the day-to-day.”
The “Leftovers” star added, “I think you have to fall in love with your character a little bit more to play ‘em, even if they’re flawed, and I found what I think are the right things.”
Liddy and Hunt’s bungled burglaries led to investigations and the unfolding scandal culminated in President Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Liddy was convicted of burglary, conspiracy and refusing to testify to the Senate committee investigating Watergate and ended up serving nearly 52 months behind bars.
He reinvented himself as an occasional actor, radio talk show host and guest panelist before he died in 2021 at the age of 90.
Theroux said that he wishes he had met Liddy or Hunt if only to ask one thing.
“I wish I could have asked them, ‘Do they have any remorse or responsibility for that?'” he shared. “I wonder if they would point the finger elsewhere and say, ‘Oh, that’s not on me, that’s on this guy who ratted us out or that’s on the guy who put the tape on the door.'”
But the “Mosquito Coast” alum believes that even though the show is darkly funny, “it’s the ultimate Greek tragedy.”
“The guys who loved Nixon probably more than anyone, who would literally take a bullet for him, ended up being the cause for his resignation,” he noted.
Also at the premiere were Harrelson, Lena Headey, Judy Greer, Ike Barinholtz, Domhnall Gleeson and Kathleen Turner.
The “White House Plumbers” is set to premiere on HBO on May 1.
