Justine Lupe has a guiding principle for life, and it is this: Embrace the “goof.”
asserted
it → have → goof
“If you try and curate who you are too much, it’s unsustainable, and it makes life way less fun,” she says.
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she → try → ?
“I have a dad who’s always been, like, goof-forward, and it brings me a lot of joy.
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it → have → joy
I feel like it’s just where my thermostat is set.”
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thermostat → feel → ?
In her Zoom conversation with Alexa, the effervescent “Nobody Wants This” blonde radiated an unself-conscious sense of humor — a marked contrast to the intensity of her fan-favorite character, Morgan.
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blonde → want → character
At one point in our talk, her husband, visual artist Tyson Mason, even crept stealthily through the background, making her laugh and underscoring the couple’s humor-first dynamic.
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her → creep → dynamic
It was Mason, she says, who helped her rediscover her sense of playfulness.
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her → say → playfulness
“I think there was a time in my 20s when I was maybe wanting to be a bit more mysterious, a little more poised and posed,” muses Lupe, now 37.
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Lupe → think → 20s
“Then, I got into a relationship with my husband, who’s also very goof-forward.”
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who → get → husband
Meeting him, she says, helped her get back to her true self.
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her → meet → self
“One of the first things I found appealing about him,” she says, “was the feeling
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she → find → him
he gave me of home and comfort
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he → give → home
it just turned me back onto goof being something that’s joyful and relatable.”
Since then, she’s cheerfully talked to media about the messiest parts of motherhood — scatological bath time stories, eating chewed-up food her daughter rejected — and, on Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert,” the tale of a long-running prank that involved convincing co-star Kristen Bell that Lupe was an adherent of the drink-your-own-pee wellness cult.
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Lupe → turn → cult
“My [publicist] is always like, ‘Can we lean a little bit away from the bodily function stuff?’” Lupe says with a laugh.
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Lupe → lean → laugh
“But I just find it so funny.”
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it → find → ?
The actor is joining me from Brooklyn Heights, where she’s living while she shoots a Netflix movie she describes as “a big old action comedy.”
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she → join → comedy
It’s been a fast-moving return to work after a blissfully lazy summer spent home in LA with Mason and their young daughter, Ellis.
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It → move → Mason
In addition to the aforementioned action-comedy, Lupe’s got upcoming roles in the horror film “They Follow,” the sequel to the 2014 indie horror hit “It Follows,” and the comedy “Seekers of Infinite Love,” alongside Hannah Einbinder and Justin Theroux.
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It → get → Einbinder
The third season of “Nobody Wants This,” which premieres Oct. 22, continues chronicling sisters Joanne (Bell) and Morgan (Lupe), co-hosts of a sex and relationship podcast derailed by Joanne’s committed relationship with “hot rabbi” Noah, played by Adam Brody.
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which → want → Brody
The first part of the season sees Lupe’s character embarking on an entrepreneurial journey that lets her lean into Morgan’s capacity for forging ahead with a delicious lack of self-doubt.
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her → see → doubt
“I have a really good time playing confidently wrong people,” Lupe says.
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Lupe → have → people
“There’s so much fun to be had with someone who’s trying to fit the bill and just does not have the tools at all.
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who → ’ → tools
It’s a role that’s put Lupe squarely on the map, with a Critics Choice nomination this year for her outsize, zingy performance.
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that → ’ → performance
Lupe was born in New York, raised in Colorado and returned east to study at Juilliard.
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Lupe → bear → Juilliard
Graduating in 2011, she started getting roles immediately, shining in parts in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Mr. Mercedes.”
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she → graduate → Maisel
Then came her breakout “Succession” performance as Willa, the girlfriend-for-hire of eldest Roy son Connor (Alan Ruck).
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performance → come → Connor
Her character’s skeptical reactions to the power-hungry Roy family’s business dealings made her welcome comic relief in an often bleak — yet sometimes hilarious — series.
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her → make → series
Lupe brought her charismatic character invention to the Alexa shoot, where she envisioned herself as a retro icon holding court in a Brooklyn mansion.
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she → bring → mansion
,” she says.
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she → say → ?
It was the most stylized shoot I’ve done so far.
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I → do → ?
As for her favorite looks, Lupe says, “It was kind of like a murderer’s row of clothes; it’s hard to choose!”
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it → say → clothes
But she particularly adored the Dior gown that “had a pattern that felt like, when you sat on the couch, you couldn’t really tell where the dress ended and the upholstery began,” she says.
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she → adore → couch
“It felt like this character took the leftovers from the chaise lounge and made a dress out of them and added feathers.
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character → feel → feathers
The shoot connected firmly with Lupe’s approach to red-carpet style, which she says is evolving.
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she → connect → style
“In the last five years, I got a stylist, Rebecca Ramsey, who started kind of teaching me and exposing me to fashion.
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who → get → fashion
I’ve had fun leaning into what I’m interested in, and usually it’s something that has a playfulness to it.”
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that → have → it
She’s embraced that sense of fun even when it was unintentional, like her eye-catching sheer Giorgio Armani Privé dress at this year’s Golden Globes ceremony.
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it → embrace → ceremony
“We didn’t know the boobs would show!” she says with a laugh.
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she → know → laugh
“We had a feeling there might be, like, a tiny hint, but definitely not full transparency.
uncertain
We → have → feeling
And I was just like, ‘All right, that happened!’
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that → happen → ?
…and 37 more, not listed.
The Aporia
