T.J. Miller Says He Wants To Be A Villain

In a bizarre interview with Vulture, comedian and actor T.J. Miller shed some light on his recent public behavior, which has included getting into a fight with an Uber driver and trash-talking his Silicon Valley colleagues on his way out the door. 

First off, Miller set the tone of the interview by arriving wearing "a gaudy gold chain" and toting "a bottle of Mucinex, a copy of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, three small bottles of water, and some sort of facial misting spray." He also insisted that his publicist be present for the duration. 

At one point, Miller explained that his goal is not traditional Hollywood fame but rather "to distract people from the tragedy of the impermanence of everyday life," which he plans to achieve by "over saturating the market" by appearing in films, stand-up, improv, podcast, TV, and advertising. 

"People need a villain, and I'm occupying that space," Miller said, later adding, "Nobody right now is publicly the Lindsay Lohan–train wreck–but–not–quite person. If I'd just said it was an honor to work on Silicon Valley and was thankful to Alec Berg, I would have disappeared. Instead, by being just a little authentic, I infected the news cycle."

The Emoji Movie star also offered derogatory remarks on Louis C.K.; commented on why he thinks women aren't as funny as men; and threw Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel under the bus. 

"It's more important to be polarizing than neutralizing. That's my position," Miller said. 

But underneath the provocateur facade, Miller admited that reaching mainstream audiences is his end game. "I'm not making things for wannabe intellectual hipsters complaining on Reddit. I'm doing The Emoji Movie and Deadpool 2 for people en masse," he said. 

"I know it's hard for people to understand, but I don't really care about movies or TV," Miller continued. "Stand-up is always going to be the foundation of what I do. If Hollywood fired me tomorrow, I would be like, 'Finally, I can relax.'" 

When asked why he doesn't just quit, Miller said, "Contradiction is something to pursue rather than avoid."

Alright then. We're officially confused, but that was sort of the whole point, right?