A Confusing Time to be Alive: Dissecting Armie Hammer’s Podcast Interview with Louis Theroux

We’ve all read the stories and absorbed the gossip. But were we wrong? And who should we believe?

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It’s a tricky world out there. Especially when celebrities like Armie Hammer are larking around in full public view for us all to judge.

Yes, we all judge. That’s the way of the world these days. But when I listened to Louis Theroux’s recent interview with him I felt like my little showbiz brain had been through a tumble-dryer.

Had we got it all wrong? Was he just a misunderstood addict with a penchant for BDSM sexy times? Did he deserve a second chance at fame? Or were we just being fooled into listening to a crazed man give his side of the story so convincingly that we felt duped by the whole drama surrounding his private life?

I was left utterly confused by the entire subject. But weirdly completely enthralled by the entire thing. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it since.

Firstly, above you’ll find said podcast episode for you to listen too. It’s uncomfortable at times but it feels like a must listen. What Louis does so well is deep dive into interviewing people that all the other podcast hosts would avoid like the plague. There’s no doubt at times it felt as if even Louis was struggling to work out whether he’d got himself drawn into a subject matter he couldn’t handle. I wonder if he was shocked by how open (or honest, depending on whether you believe him) Armie was. It’s sometimes unnerving as an interviewer to have somebody that will answer all your questions with ease.

There are moments of hilarity there - like his “beach ball theory” for his state of mind. I mean, WTF. One friend of mine described him as “a tech bro who has had too much therapy”. Couldn’t have summed it up any better.

I’d love to read Louis’ version of events from this interview. Like, did he, like so many of us, have a pre-conceived idea of who this man is because he’d read the headlines, followed the cancelling of his career online and essentially been forced to join sides and sit on that side of the fence watching it all play out?

One thing’s for sure, what Armie managed to do was come across like a man that had absolutely zero fucks left to give. He clearly wanted to set the record straight in some way and draw a line under the drama and try and move on. But is he ever going to be able to do that? Probably not.

The entire Armie Hammer subject is a tricky one to get your head around. The actor had it all going for him following his Call Me by Your Name leading role. He was on the cusp of a big-time career in Hollywood. But then it went wrong. His long-time marriage buckled (he had an affair), reports of his drug misuse (which he admits fully in this episode) became centre stage and in general he seemed like another victim of the fame game. Hollywood turned their backs super quickly.

But it got a whole lot worse.

Previous lovers came out saying he loved to bite in the bedroom (which again he admits in the episode) and frequented sex dungeons. But the final nail in the Hammer coffin was when a lover claimed he said he wanted to cut a slice of her skin off, cook it and eat it. He quickly became Hollywood’s leading Cannibal rather than an actor. His name was mud. He became a meme. The tabloids lapped it up. Cancelled.

Sure, there was a breakdown, a realisation, some rehab, a moment of peace and then a break from the public eye – and now he’s back trying to salvage his career, says he’s concentrating on being a good dad and single and trying to see what he can do with the next chapter of his life.

The Louis interview got me thinking about the podcast world and my love of the long form interviews that it can supply. I adore the Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast - check it out below…

It’s always well over an hour with each guest but it warrants that amount of time. I want to hear celebrity’s uninterrupted talking about their lives. I want to hear the tone of their voice. I want to feel I leave that conversation knowing much more about who they really are.

With Armie, I either felt like I heard the interview of an absolute mad man or I heard an interview of a man who was an addict and trying to navigate his way back to the career he clearly loved so dearly. From what he said he might have turned a corner of some sort. New films on the horizon, TV work, his new podcast and he even said he had begun turning work down.

I guess in this day and age of celebrity when cancel culture is so prevalent - and so immediate – whether it’s possible people could have made a mistake about a human being. I’m far from saying we know the full story when it comes to Armie. There were literally probably 100 questions I’d have loved to have asked. But he answered every single one of Louis’ questions without hesitation or shame. Almost unnervingly so. He just seemed to realise the interview was going to be a deep dive and he might as well get on with it. Sure, if this had been a current star in Hollywood then his PR would have lost their shit and it would have ended after the second question. In some ways I had to admire the man for going all the way to the end of the interview without seemingly losing his cool. He did admit towards the end that the beginning of the interview hadn’t been his favourite and that he thought it was going to be hard going throughout. But you could tell by the end he felt at ease, measured and calm about the entire line of discussion.

Now, I’ve read the ENDLESS stories on Armie over the years. It was shocking. I had an opinion. But after this interview I just got thinking about cancel culture, celebrities finding their way back and I guess what happens if we all got it wrong?

Do they deserve another chance? How do we decipher the media glare with these stories. Actually, that’s stupid of me. It’s not the media glare – with social media and the way we live online nowadays – it’s actually the public gaze. Because the tabloids don’t have the true power to cancel now. It’s the public. The fans. The dicks without faces on their profiles. That’s where the power lies.

I guess sometimes you have to just wonder whether you’ve been duped and sucked in by the machine and fooled all the way along.

Whether you’ve read a few too many gross features by old Fleet Street witches that claim they “know the full story”. They actually don’t.

I seriously tried to pick a side throughout this episode, and I’ve properly tortured myself thinking about it since. The truth is I have zero clue as to who I side with when it comes to Armie Hammer.

He’s either a complete sociopath or a kinky guy that deserves a second chance who is seriously fucked up by living his life in the public eye and dealing with addiction.

What are your thoughts? I’m genuinely interested to hear them after you’ve listened to this episode…

I’m still rather confused.