Here are some photos (the grey suit pics) of Vince Vaughn in character for True Detective’s second season. He plays some kind of sketchy career criminal with an empire built on illegality. Many think that Vaughn could finally be returning to what should have always been his career path: a decent-to-good character actor. He played around with being a leading man and a comedic lead, to varying degrees of success, but he’s always been an underrated character actor.

Anyway, he’s promoting his new film, Unfinished Business, and he gave a lengthy interview to Playboy for the March issue. You can read the full piece here – at first, Vaughn sounds really calm, reflective, interesting and professional. He doesn’t disrespect anyone, he compliments many of the people he met early in his career (like Johnny Depp) and he even says a few words about his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Aniston. Then the interview totally goes off the rails when Vaughn starts talking about politics and racism. WHOA. It’s a good read. Some highlights:

Losing his virginity: “I always had a lot of fun with girls, even before Swingers. It’s interesting; I was a late bloomer and never really found my way with the opposite sex until later in high school. I think I was 17, maybe 19, when I lost my virginity.”

He was never a pick-up artist: “I was never someone who needed to be with a new woman every night. That was never my thing. I always had an easy time joking and getting along with women, and I liked to go out and have fun and talk and joke and meet people and dance. But I was never a pickup artist, per se. I have two older sisters, so I always felt comfortable with women and respected them… Gaming on women has become almost like the dark arts. Like, if you’re not cutting her down or using psychological tricks to make fun of her, you won’t get anywhere. I would argue it’s the opposite. I would suggest that if you take the avenue of putting a woman down or making fun of her so she feels insecure enough to go out with you, you’re ultimately screwing yourself. I mean, let’s face it, if you require coaching and techniques to get a woman, it’ll come out as dishonest and you’ll probably end up unhappy or alone.”

His relationship with Jennifer Aniston: “You know, she’s great. For me personally—and I think most well-known actors who are together feel this way—I never enjoyed the paparazzi side of it. You like someone and you’re spending time with them; that’s separate and that was all fine. But I really spent most of that time finding ways not to be drawn into the attention. I think lying low and not talking about it put me in a good position later, because I just wasn’t part of anything.

He’s a libertarian: “I would use the term libertarian to describe my politics. I like the principles of the Constitution and the republic, which is a form of government built around the law.”

The federal government shouldn’t run things? “Trusting the federal government to know what we need and to run things well feels like a bad idea. You see that in the foreign policy of force, where the United States decides to go into another country to make things turn out a certain way. It doesn’t work. It causes more problems. Just look at any of these undeclared wars. You’re suggesting at gunpoint that you’ll decide how things will go. The results haven’t gone well. I’ve been over to Afghanistan and Iraq. I’ve been with the USO. I’ve gone over with movies and done stuff. I care a lot about all the kids and families in those situations. It can’t be easy. But I don’t agree with a foreign policy that says you can send troops places without declaring a war and without having a plan to win the war.”

Whether he believes in affirmative action: “I’ll answer that with a question. Do you believe that using race as a factor in evaluating a person is a good way to operate?… Then you’re evaluating someone based on race, which is racism. Rights don’t come to you because you’re a man or a woman or African American or European or Jewish. And I certainly don’t think the federal government should be in the business of deciding things or handing out money based on factors like these. It’s the same with same-sex marriage. Who cares what people feel about each other? Let people decide for themselves who they can marry. It’s not the government’s job. It’s between you and your partner and your church or synagogue or whatever you believe in.

[From Playboy]

It’s always nice to hear from a white man who has been given tons of opportunities to succeed – even after failing spectacularly many times – discuss how level the playing field is for minorities. Thank you, Vince Vaughn. Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about this and his white privilege but I think I’ll just leave it all for you guys in the comments.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.