From the Archives: Vince Vaughn
Breaking through big time with his portrayal of cool daddy Trent in Swingers ("You're money," he cooed), Vince Vaughn has been seen smoldering Brando-style in The Locusts, dodging dinosaurs in The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, and pondering a moral dilemna while romancing Anne Heche in Return to Paradise. Upcoming releases include the drama A Cool Dry Place in which he costars with Monica Potter and rumored offscreen interest Joey Lauren Adams; and the eagerly awaited Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho.
In his latest feature, Clay Pigeons, Vaughn torments his Return to Paradise costar Joaquin Phoenix. As Lester Long, Vaughn engraves a picture of a fast-talking, snake-charming, goofy bad boy who loves women to death.
In person, the man is hyper. Not once during the entire interview is he ever still. He constantly gesticulates with his fingers, emotes with his torso, and twitches his long, long legs. His eyes show the aftereffects of a late night. His fingers bear nicotine stains. He sits all six feet, five inches of himself down in a chair. Smokes a cigarette and asks for a cup of coffee. He looks like one of those adults sitting in a kiddie chair. Call him a hepcat, a swinger, a badass, whatever you will. Vince Vaughn is in a class by himself.
RATING THE COMPETITION I think that Matt Damon is an excellent actor. I think that Leonardo [DiCaprio] is a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant actor. I remember seeing This Boy's Life and [What's Eating] Gilbert Grape?. I think he's wonderful. And Matt Damon [in] Courage Under Fire. I thought, Unbelievable! And then in Good Will Hunting, I thought he was really, really, really beautiful in that performance. I think they're both good actors. But they're so different. I think that Matt is more sort of a traditional looking -- almost as if he would not be an actor, which makes him even better. Because he looks almost conservative in a way but there's so much soul to him that's not obvious from the look. Leonardo looks very beautiful in a kind of. . .his body is someone who is bright in that way and playful. And he is.
LAUGHING LIKE LESTER [It's] my laugh, but exaggerated. It's a sort of conscious and unconscious laugh of a con man. If he laughs real big, it's like he laughed, too, but he didn't really laugh. For Lester, when he sees [Clay] hit the girl, he feels like there's someone that can see [him]. In his mind, [he and Clay] are the same. He sees women as very oppressive and dangerous because of whatever emasculated him when he was younger. So he's created this fake persona of being a cowboy, this mythology, to sort of survive. He sees Clay and it's like, "You got hurt in you, too." [But Lester] needs it to be a friendship. He's not doing it solely 100% to screw [Clay] but partially he needs to have a fishing friend or a good friend. But it's a sense of, "I'm aware of what I'm doing and I'm going to put you in this place." Do you know what I mean?
KEEPING THE FAITH I don't really believe in organized religion. I've never liked the feeling of people being made scared and humble and less than. My grandfather's a farmer from Ohio. He never had a college education. So do I want the guy at the gas station rolling his eyes in his suit? Is that right? Is he not a human being? He's honest, he loves his family, busts his ass for them. I think that you look at someone, you look at them and respect that. Hell, if they're doing something and they're honest and they work hard, you respect that.
REMAKING PSYCHO I had to get my mind around it. It hasn't been done before. But you used to try and fly in the sky, they'd say you were satanic; now we all step on planes. The same thing with Psycho. Music -- a song has been sung and years later someone else sings the song. Sinatra had Elvis singing his song. Just because it plays on film. . .if you see an interpretation of Our Town or any Shakespeare and you're there emotionally. . .are you cheating your emotions? Is it sacrilegious to go see other people do it? I think not. There's a value to it. To go and interpret the material. . . For instance, Jimi Hendrix. Phenomenal guitar player. But, at some point, he's going to go back and play the licks that made him. . .there's something that made him want to play. Gus [Van Sant] is a great director. At a certain point, he wants to go back and say, "These are my roots." This is his unplugged album. (smiles) Gus Van Sant Unplugged!
VINCE IN WONDERLAND I'm really a kid, I'm really a child. I'm a kid who's like, We're all in high school and I'm in video class making the sketches and putting them up and saying, "You like that? I like that." Do you know what I'm saying to you? That's really how I see myself. And I'm not big on Hollywood parties and stuff like that. I'll go to my stuff and I'll drink too much sometimes and funny things will happen. (smiles) I like my friends, who I like to be around. Outside of that, I don't like the strokes. Even younger, though. I never went out. The bars are where I'd go. I liked it because you had real people. I like the conversations, the energy. I like the kind of neighborhood feel -- "How are you, Carl? Good to see you, how are you doing?" I like that kind of feeling. For me, that's the thing. It's weird. The guy who's the coolest, to me, is always the biggest nerd. And the guy who people are usually most intimidated of. . .I used to think I could smack him down because I just see so much the Lester of it all. You know what, brother? Just lay it down and take a nap.
