In last night’s staged reading of Neil LaBute’s Filthy Talk for Troubled Times: Scenes of Intolerance at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Justin Long played a surprisingly filthy role as one of four misogynistic male restaurant patrons bemoaning feminism and cunnilingus and harassing the waitresses (played by Julia Stiles and Alice Eve). We wondered if it was difficult for the boyish actor to cultivate his inner sleazeball. “Frankly, no. I think it’s just been festering and welling. All that great stuff, that darkness that we repress — it’s nice to be able to release it once in a while. It was very therapeutic.” But Long pointed out that he didn’t identify with every aspect of his character. “There were parts about certain well, acts that men supposedly don’t like performing on women that I have very strong feelings against. I would very much argue the opposite.” So come on, everybody — give Drew Barrymore some credit.
