on the hunt

A SUMMER AFTERNOON IN NEW YORK'S WEST VILLAGE, A WARM day fast turning hotter, and inside Buvette Gastrothèque-a tiny bistro so perfectly Parisian that there's another one in the Quartier Pigalle, a few blocks from the Moulin Rouge-Aaron Taylor-Johnson is scooping up ruddy pink globs of steak tartare and packing them like wet sand onto little ellipses of toasted bread, one bite at a time.
The size of the space means we're out in the open, visible. His eyes dart to the front door every time it opens. His body language says he's ready to be recognized, to be spotted-not waiting for it but scanning, steeling for it.
It doesn't happen. Either everyone's being chill about his presence or nobody associates the guy at the table with the things he's been in. You've definitely seen him in things, though. That was him in Avengers: Age of Ultron, as a mutant dying a plot-twist death. That was him in Tenet, behind a massive Special Forces beard. Or you may have watched the long scene in Nocturnal Animals in which a redneck serial killer torments Jake Gyllenhaal and his family-just unmanning poor Jake-and thought, halfway through, Waitis that the kid from Kick-Ass?
Which it was. He looks different in practically every movie. Mustache, no mustache. Weird hair, less-weird hair. Bulking up, slimming down. A one-man Guess Who? board. Today, his look says Young Mafia Don Bound for Miami. He futzes with a couple gold chains while he talks. They slip in and out of the collar of his seventies-dude tan polo shirt, which matches his pants, which match the suit jacket draped over his chair. His hair is longish, curly, a little sweaty. He's lean, but his arms are like cinder blocks.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Esquire US.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Esquire US.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

THE BEST BARS IN AMERICA 2025
WHEN YOU SUMMON MEMORIES OF YOUR favorite bar, what comes to mind? Is it the dexterity with which the bartender chiseled a block of ice into a gleaming sphere? Is it the way eyedropper pools of herbed oil floated on the surface of your martini like skimmed stones? Is it how you got to watch your $30 cocktail emerging from a dome of smoke? Maybe, maybe.

A CRUSHING WAVE OF SHOW
Thirty-five years ago this July, an avalanche killed forty-three climbers on a mountain called Lenin Peak. I witnessed the disaster and have lived with the memories ever since. Here's the untold story of mountaineering's deadliest day.

THE SINS OF THE FATHER
Why did the NFL humiliate Shedeur Sanders? The seeds of the answer lay in draft day 1989.

NATE BARGATZE GETS THE LAST LAUGH
FOR YEARS, THE HOLLYWOOD ESTABLISHMENT REJECTED HIM. NOW HE'S AMERICA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL COMEDIAN, WITH AUDACIOUS PLANS FOR HIS LIFE AFTER STAND-UP—WHICH IS COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK.

Learning How to Take a Punch
LET’S NOT WORRY ABOUT LEARNING HOW TO THROW A PUNCH right now.
What I've Learned
Bob Odenkirk Actor, comedian, director, writer; 62; Los Angeles

FLOWER POWER
Get to know the summer version of work wear: gardening style

IMPERIAL PHASE
Acclaimed writer and poet Ocean Vuong returns with a sweeping novel about life in small-town America

BONO WANTS MORE
THE U2 FRONTMAN SPENT THE PAST FEW YEARS REEXAMINING HIS LIFE AND CAREER. NOW HE'S BACK WITH NEW PROJECTS, NEW MUSIC— AND A FRESH SENSE OF URGENCY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE HAS A TARGET ON ITS BACK
As we reach the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the same forces that made it necessary in the first place are tearing it down. Next, they're coming for all of us.