Justin Theroux shoots down the theory that his Master Codebreaker character in 'The Last Jedi' is a nod to Indiana Jones
- Internet theories guessed Master Codebreaker's look was based on Indiana Jones in "The Temple of Doom."
- Theroux said, in fact, he was thinking 1980s star Dabney Coleman the whole time.
- "That was the idea for the mustache," Theroux told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ever since "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" came out in 2017 most have figured that Justin Theroux's suave Master Codebreaker character was a hat tip to Indiana Jones in 1984's "The Temple of Doom."
Turns out we were wrong. And no, it's not a nod to James Bond, either.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Theroux revealed that neither slick white-coated characters were on his mind. Instead, it was a legendary character actor.
"I thought of it as Dabney Coleman," Theroux said, referring to the actor known best for 1980s hits like "9 to 5," "Tootsie," and "WarGames."
"That was the idea for the mustache, but I didn't think of it as anybody, really. I thought of him as singular."
For years, social media and Reddit have been filled with assumptions that the character, which Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) search for to help the Resistance, had the look of Harrison Ford's Dr. Jones in the opening sequence of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the second movie in the Indiana Jones franchise.
And the theory made sense seeing both "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises are under the Lucasfilm banner.
But in fact, Theroux's motivation was a mustached actor known for being the star of "The Muppets Take Manhattan."
Theroux can currently be seen in the Apple TV Plus series "The Mosquito Coast."
Coleman, who is now 89, was recently seen in 2019 episodes of "NCIS" and "Yellowstone."