Page 118 - Esquire (November 2019)

WILD MAN Playing a smoldering, coconut-oil-coated
Suburban. “So I call the Stargate office, and the
badass producer is there, and he’s like, ‘Jason,
get in the fucking car, get to the fucking air- tually paid off, and not just with his career.
port!’ So there’s one seat left on the fucking
back of the plane...and I tell the lady, ‘Listen,
I’m having a baby—make sure everyone sits
down so I can get off the plane first.’”
At this point, Momoa is out of the car, act-
ing out the scene on the sidewalk in front of
the restaurant. “So I come barreling out of the
terminal, like the Predator, like, ‘GET OUT
OF THE WAY!’” As he says this last bit, he
booms his voice out of his chest with such a
rumbling baritone that it scares some children
walking past. He pauses at the Parlour’s host
stand to stick his nose into a big bouquet of
flowers (“I’m Hawaiian, I can’t help it”), then
launches back into the story.
“I’m running through the airport, and I get
in the car. I go, like, ‘Dude, I don’t care, run
all the lights...I’ll pay for everything.’ And I
made it in the nick of time. I had about two
hours with her in the tub, and my baby girl was
born. Oh, and this is the best part! Benjamin
Bratt was on the plane! He was in first class.
And when I ran past him, I’m like, Oh, shit,
Benjamin Bratt! And he was like, ‘Go, go, go.’”
Benjamin Bratt is an actor perhaps best known
for playing a detective on Law & Order. Not
galactically famous, but Momoa was star-
struck—and he still seems to be. As I learned
throughout the day, he speaks reverentially
about nearly every actor who is not himself. He
almost has something of a complex about it. Sev-
eral times during our conversation, he referred
to himself as “more of a stuntman” than an actor.
Perhaps that’s because he fell backward into
the profession. His first-ever role was on Bay-
watch Hawaii, which he auditioned for on a
whim when he was twenty, beating out a thou-
sand other candidates for the part. Momoa’s life
until then had been full of wanderlust: born in
Hawaii; grew up in Iowa after his parents di-
vorced when he was an infant; lived for a while
in Colorado, where he logged some time as a
snowboard bum; moved back to Hawaii, where
he worked at a surf shop and helped “tow in the
big waves” for his father’s family, a bona fide lo-
cal surf dynasty.
112 November 2019_Esquire
for me, because it would have been bad if it
lifeguard lit a spark, Momoa says, but it went happened when I was younger. I just would
unrequited. “I fell in love with the art of acting. have fucked it all up.”
But no one took me seriously. Baywatch isn’t
known for its...quality of acting. I couldn’t MOMOA DIDN’T BECOME famous until his
get an agent to save my life.” So he moved to thirties, and he often appears to be making
Los Angeles, in the most Momoa-esque of up for lost time. He always seems to have his
ways: He bought an Airstream, let his long hands in something on the side, cooking up a
hair thicken into dreadlocks, and wandered little extra business, milking whatever oppor-
some more—“I did the whole vagabonding tunities he can. He loves to trademark things.
around,” as he puts in. In California, he lived (Remember that Aloha J clothing line?) He is
in a trailer and worked as a bouncer until he got manically entrepreneurial; he seems to start
a part in a Lifetime movie, which led to four a company every other week. At the moment,
years of delivering lines about interplanetary the list of products he is making or invest-
lasers on Stargate. It was a winding path, with ing in includes but is not limited to: nylon
several pockets of self-doubt. But his willing- surf pants, pink rock-climbing shoes, rock-
ness to take opportunities as they came even- climbing chalk bags, oversize camping back-
packs, handcrafted knives, fine leather bags
“If someone says something isn’t possible,” made from old mule straps, and reusable
Momoa says, “I’m like, ‘Listen here, I married water bottles. While we were sitting on the
Lisa Bonet. Anything is fucking possible.’” deck during our interview, he ran inside to
his room to grab two different bag prototypes
AT THE PIZZA PLACE, which is busy with a he is developing. He plopped them at my feet
well-heeled happy-hour crowd, Momoa leads like an eager door-to-door salesman. “It can
the group to a private room in the back that become a tote or for water sports or surfing,”
features low lighting, caramel leather ban- he tells me, showing off the expandable pink
quette seating, and its own mezcal bar. The bag. “Just put shit in there and just throw it
space has started to fill up with the See crew: over your back.”
hairstylists, costume designers, Momoa’s Momoa actively takes an “all boats rise” ap-
stunt double, Momoa’s sword-fighting coach. proach to celebrity, at least for the men in his
Even as he orders a round of drinks for ev- life. If he’s winning, then so are his friends.
eryone in his line of vision, all these people Take Mada Abdelhamid, his current right-
who have their jobs because he agreed to star hand man (aka his travel companion/tech
on a series, he continues to be hard on him- support/new dogsitter). The two met when
self. “I’m not known for my acting,” he says. Abdelhamid, who is bald and Egyptian and
“I’m known for action. I don’t say a lot of jacked and even taller than Momoa, became
things or use big sentences.” And then, add- his personal trainer. After the former profes-
ing air quotes, he says, “I’m not ‘very smart.’” sional wrestler got Momoa’s abs in rippling
At first, I take his modesty as a kind of aw- shape for Aquaman, he just sort of . . . stayed
shucks bit. Sure, he’s known his share of on, indefinitely, maybe forever. This tends to
flops—see: the 2011 remake of Conan the happen around Momoa; he collects people
Barbarian—and he spent most of his twen- and puts them on the payroll. “My original
ties hustling his way into unremarkable roles, trainer, before Mada, is now one of my pro-
but his star has been on an inexorable rise ev- ducing partners,” he says. “Everyone just kind
er since he landed, at thirty-one, a major part of moves up.” Momoa is squeezing as much
on the biggest prestige show of its generation. out of stardom as he can, inviting everybody
Then again, by his own admission, his role on he likes to pull up to the feast.
Game of Thrones—Khal Drogo—didn’t ex- It dawns on me that on the HBO show
actly showcase the actor’s full range. “I mean, Entourage, a movie star surrounds himself
where do you put Drogo? He’s not going in a with a gang of yes-men as he prepares to play
rom-com. No one even knew I spoke English.” Aquaman, and now the real-life star of Aqua-
This constant self-abasement almost makes man constantly hangs with a bevy of dudes
me want to hug him, especially once I remem- who high-five him and keep his fridge stocked
ber something he said earlier that day, on his with ice-cold beer. When I bring up the par-
patio: “I think of Brad Pitt as a movie star. You allels, Abdelhamid says that they laugh about
know what I mean? Like George Clooney is this all the time. But unlike Entourage’s Vince,
a movie star. Those guys are like, boom.” He who was a toxic bachelor, Momoa often takes
just worked with Timothée Chalamet on Denis his children on the road, and he invites all his
Villeneuve’s Dune, coming out in December friends to do the same. The gang, Abdelhamid
2020. “I would never be able to handle what estimates, can sometimes swell to thirty.
he does,” Momoa said, reflecting on how his Momoa wants his kids to have a lot of ac-
career had a slower burn. “He’s so fucking tal- cess to his life, to understand what their
ented, man. I don’t know. I’m a little dumber, father does all day. “They got raised on the
needed some time. Which is probably the best Justice League set,” he says. “Running around