Justin Theroux Gets Drunk, Tattoos His Friend (Warning: He "Messed Every Single One of Them Up")

Leftovers star says Scott Campbell's yin-yang is "a little bit egg-shaped"

By Zach Johnson May 02, 2014 11:50 AMTags
Justin TherouxSylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan/Sipa USA

Justin Theroux and Scott Campbell have permanent reminders of their friendship.

At the Free Arts Annual Auction in New York City Wednesday, The Leftovers star explained how he bonded with the tattoo artist (who is married to actress Lake Bell). "We became friends first, and then we had a couple drunken tattoo nights," Theroux revealed. "And I've tattooed him, too, by the way."

Wait, what?! "I've done a bunch of them. I did a really great wolf's head. I did an amazing skull and crossbones. I did a stunning yin-yang on him. I messed every single one of them up. But he kind of likes it," Jennifer Aniston's fiancés said, laughing. "I did a yin-yang, which is probably one of the worst yin-yangs. We laughed so hard. It might be one of the worst yin-yangs ever made. A little bit egg-shaped."

Theroux's own tattoos are located on his back and legs. Does he regret any? "Not a one," he said. Still, he told Vanity Fair, "I'm riddled with them; I'm ruined with tattoos. And Scott did most of the ruining, as well. He's done almost everything." According to the screenwriter, "I get a couple of little ideas, but I know Scott's taste is so much better than mine. He's going to come up with something better than I can come up with, so I usually throw out a few buckshot ideas, and then let him go back to the lab and scribble out a couple of drawings...He did my entire back, and I've never looked back. I was just, like, 'Do whatever the hell you want. You lay it out how you want.' He's got such an incredible aesthetic."

Did makeup artists need to cover Theroux body art for his sex scenes in The Leftovers?

"No, we just left them," the star said. "We figured, you know, I have so many, or the ones that I have are so big, that to cover them would add about two hours in the makeup chair. So at a certain point, I just said to the writer, 'That's going to be your problem. You have to figure out why they're there.'"

How times change! "It's so funny because when I did Charlie's Angels, they actually had to put tattoos on," the 42-year-old actor said, "and now they're actually trying to figure out ways to get them off."