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Made
Vince Vaughn
June 18, 2001

MD = Michael Dequina; Q = Other press; VV = Vince Vaughn


Q: We have a message from Peter [Falk]. Peter says we should get rid of you fast.

VV: He's a smart, smart man.

[Everyone laughs]

Q: He says you've been taunting him.

VV: Everyone wants to treat him, you know what I mean, on a little [pedestal]. I gotta rough him up a little bit.

[Everyone laughs]

Q: Well, he is the king, you know.

VV: You kidding? Of course! I love him.

Q: That's so sweet.

VV: He touches my heart; I love him. I really do; I just love him.

[Everyone laughs]

[VV grabs copy of the soundtrack]

Q: That's a great soundtrack.

VV: I really like it. I think it's good for what it is. It’s so hard to make these soundtracks. Like the Swingers soundtrack, how do you put a Dean Martin song on with DJ Quik? How do you have George Jones and an Average White Band? But from our generation it’s like you just listen to just about whatever you like; you don’t really have a category, you know what I mean? That soundtrack was such a pain in the ass, and people said, "Blah blah blah" [gags] and this thing here too, at first they were like, “Well, you know, I don’t think that an eclectic soundtrack will sell. You should really pick one thing to go for, you know?” But we said, “We’ve got to start with Dean Martin because it’s supposed to be a mob movie and [to] set people’s expectations and then go to [the] reality of sort of what it is. So it’s gotta be hip hop there in New York City...” and all of that. We kind of make a soundtrack in the way of what we think makes sense for the backdrop and also kind of stuff that we like.

Q: Do you think that record producers and movie producers think that audiences are a lot stupider than they are? O Brother [Where Art Thou?] is a huge hit now; that's not exactly a soundtrack that you would think mainstream audiences would get into, and everybody seems to be into it.

VV: I don’t really have a flag to wave for any type of filmmaking, but I think there’s good films, and there’s a lot of really bad small movies made, but you just don’t see them because it’s not really worth it to chase the money. So it's not just because you "do something." Sometimes people, what they want to talk about or think is important is really indulgent, and it’s like you don’t even give a shit about what they’re thing is, you know what I mean? But yes, there’s a certain feel to sort of appeal to everybody, and I think you don’t appeal to anybody. I think all I struggle to do, [and] I think Jon struggles to do with Swingers and with [Made], is just be really truthful and tell the story you’re telling. He didn’t pick swing music because it was popular at the time. People were like, "Who’s Big Bad Voodoo Daddy?" and "No one gives a shit about swing music"; "Why don’t you make it a rock or a grunge scene or a hip hop scene?" But it didn’t really fit these characters; they're different than that. Or "No one's gonna understand an area code joke outside of L.A."--but that would be cool because... me, I’m from Illinois. I’ll roll with it; I can get it; whatever. It’s more interesting the more specific it is. But there’s just a need to try to appeal to such a wide base that really kind of, I think, cheats people out of kind of the fun of what it is to go [there]. And Fav was so smart; he put so many little clever things in, like with Swingers, with the references to other independent films, and the way these guys see themselves and how they actually are. And in this movie, Grandmaster Flash is really the guy spinning the record in the club. He doesn’t have the long shot of it--it’s just quick because it is what it is, and "DOUBLEDN11" on the license plate. Just these very specific [things]; he’s very much a detail guy.

Q: I just read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius--Dave Eggers' book--and in it they talk about how people in Lake Forest, when they have nothing else to talk about, talk about your career. Do you know Dave Eggers?

VV: Slow town.

[Everyone laughs]

VV: Yeah, I just saw Dave Eggers, actually, two weekends ago. I went up and stayed with him for about three days. I love Dave; a lot of character. What he’s been through and how he’s handled it--you only know if you’re put in that position in your life. He’s just a hell of a guy. What’s unfortunate mostly to me is here’s a guy who does his thing and deals with it his way, and this is his medium as to express and deal with stuff that comes in his life--writing--and sort of embrace people and say, "Interesting, interesting," and inevitably there’s gotta be a thing where people gotta say, "Well, this, this, this, this. I just think it’s a shame." I think people’s energy would be so much better served kinda doing their own thing versus feeling a need to comment on something that they don’t even know.

Q: With this movie, did you have to approach your character a lot differently than the Swingers character?

VV: Yeah. You know, Swingers was a different responsibility in that [in] Swingers, I had to make you believe that the girls would respond to me. So I had to be--although what I was saying was outrageous, I had to be kind of charming and [have] a fun energy with it. So whatever I said didn’t really matter; it was more like "What a great time to be around." But [I] ultimately [had to] be pathetic, be someone who is misfocused, gets smoked in the end with the baby, and realizes that what his commitment is to is absolutely frickin' ridiculous and [that] he’s kind of a geek. You know, I always thought that Trent was funny but never really cool. I never thought anyone was cool, that was "really cool" in that way, you know what I mean? I always thought, "Whatever." You want to think that Trent’s right, but ultimately Trent’s wrong. In this one here, Ricky’s ultimately kind of right about some things. "Max does sleep with all of his girls. Why are you trusting him?" They do need a gun. "This place isn’t safe. Everything’s not all right for us here." But you can’t believe anything Ricky says.

Q: Because he’s the most annoying character in the face of the film.

VV: Sure. But in a way to me that’s comedy--that’s the sick of the comedy that I love in that the obvious comedy is Trent; is [Clay Pigeons'] Lester Long. I want a guy that’s aggressive and thinks he’s an operator that’s not an operator. I’ve been an operator that’s a successful operator. I want a guy that thinks he’s a successful operator but has no skills and no game whatsoever and is desperate and hungry and needs things and needs to be understood. I think the movie is more comparable to Midnight Cowboy. Midnight Cowboy’s a great film, I don’t compare it in ways of that--[but it is comparable] in its themes of what it’s discussing ultimately--a love story between two men, all those issues--more so than it is comparable to Swingers. You’ve got two guys that are physically fighting. There’s a child that’s not theirs. There’s an evolvement past swearing, looking for an identity: I’m a boxer; I’m a criminal; masculine. Ultimately they go to Chuck E. Cheese, and Ricky’s home with the baby and wants to be understood. He’s not gonna yell and fight anymore, but he’s finally passionate and cares about something. It’s a very female energy, and I think the movie’s way more about that than it is about the mob. Along the way, some people might interpret it as somebody caught up celebrating their unevolvement or comments that they make, but that’s really just there to show a place of evolvement for what the real value and ultimate point of the movie is. Joe Buck in [Midnight Cowboy] is like, "I’m not a fag; that’s fuckin' fag stuff. Girls like me; they’ve always liked me. They like the way I fuck." Right? Here, "This is a fuckin' fag joint. Get the fuck out of my room." What’s really going on, you know? Again, I think how it’s looked at is always interesting to me in the same way Swingers is, for what the themes really are that are being discussed--at least for my point of view, what I always thought that we were saying.

Q: Was this character more fun?

VV: This character was so much fun because I didn’t have to worry about trying to be light. I got to play him in a real truthful way and also track him in a way that I thought made sense for the movie, which is that you can’t really think he’s competent because ultimately he turns out to be right--although wrong--about certain things, and there’s an evolvement. I just love it. I got to work 15 minutes, you know? [speaks quickly] "I gotta take a break; I won’t be good to anybody. I need to get out of here. Is this complimentary or are you trying to fool me? Everyone’s fooling me; everyone’s fooling me; everyone’s fooling me; you know what I mean? And I’m saying 'Red Dragon' because I’m looking for a friend. I don’t know you. You’ll probably just beat me down like a pimp. I don’t trust him. I’m going to get over on him and get the Red Dragon on my team. Now you need me, don’t you?" [laughs] But I don’t know what I’m doing; I’m spinning out of control, but in a way I’m kind of right. I’m a problem in his life, but really isn’t Bobby a huge problem in Ricky’s life? The guy’s living with a girl that’s dishonest, that’s a stripper. The element that she’s around is the guy that’s totally not up front, Peter Falk; and [Bobby's] taking me on a crime thing where he wants to do everything that they say, but we don’t know what their intentions are? But I’m sticking by him, going through all this stuff with him when I know it’s not right, and I don’t have the necessary tools to handle it correctly. But in a way it’s a mirror; people would never be in each other’s lives if they didn’t mirror or represent or give something--or feel that they did--to the other person. In the same way that Ricky’s a problem for Bobby--it’s a guilt that really one person [is] playing out each side for themselves--Bobby’s an absolute problem for Ricky to have in his life as well.

Q: So how do you and Jon mirror each other?

VV: Me and Jon are very different people, so we bring different perspectives on stuff, but we have very similar tastes. We’re close in age. We both had training with Doug Close at the Improv Olympic, and so we have a similar place of working from and view of acting and storytelling--we have similar, subtle tastes in [storytelling]. "Let the girl call, I love you, hang up, whatever, go out"--you know what I mean, not a big thing? "Very simple with the kid, go to the place"--you know what I mean? "Don’t do the cocaine scene like they’re naked fucking in bed and it's great." Just [a] real, kind of simple, truthful, "how it really goes down from what we know" kind of taste. Just be very simple and truthful, tell your story simply--I think that we’re similar in that regard. Who does Trent really sleep with? He’s a ladykiller but he goes back with a cocktail waitress in a trailer park for five minutes, you know? That to me seemed much more real than if it became really about him scoring and having all these sexual adventures. It was really more for Trent about a perception of how he looked like he could operate the ladies--but he’s probably not all that effective, really.

Q: Has Jon changed since he got married? Now do you see yourself doing the baby thing and all that?

VV: I think his focus, his priorities have changed in the right way for where he’s at. I think it’s a maturity level. He’s having a kid--that really matters to him; he loves his wife very much--great girl--and I think that’s really his focus right now, even more so. It's funny; with this movie coming out, I think that’s where his head’s at--it’s nice to see that. As for me, I’d love to have kids someday, but I think you really gotta be in love with someone. I’d like to just be with one person and be in love with them, but you can’t really create that kind of thing. That’s something that you can’t be looking for, all that kind of stuff. So I’m definitely open to it, but right now I’m not in a place for that at all.

Q: On that, I find it interesting, for instance, that Nicolas Cage is now dating Lisa Marie Presley. It's clearly easy to date somebody who you know has no agenda. Lisa Marie Presley doesn't have an agenda to get Nicolas Cage's money, to get Nicolas Cage's fame. Do you see my point? Are you finding the same sort of thing--that you don't know when you meet girls out in the world whether they want you, or...

VV: Well, I thought I had a spring in my step. [laughs]

Q: It's got to have changed, the way you meet women. It used to be that you had a spring in your step, and you're a tall, good-looking guy. Now, is it something different?

VV: What do you mean?

[Everyone laughs]

VV: I know what you're saying, yeah. You date people that you work with. They do what you do; there’s an understanding there, and there is that kind of thing, but whatever. For me it’s whoever I like. If I like someone, I don’t know; if they’re using me, they’re using me. If I feel something for someone, I’m more than willing to learn my lessons and make my mistakes. I never would run away from something I’m feeling to protect myself because I feel like you hurt yourself a lot more that way. I’ve been fortunate that I don’t know that I’ve ever gone through that experience, but probably I have, I guess, and not realized it. But I don't know, you know? It is something--you know, where you go out to meet someone too? It’s hard.

Q: Your world has changed.

VV: It’s definitely hard, but then you know you’re never really going to meet someone in a bar, whoever the hell you are. It always comes in a way that you don’t expect, wherever it is, and that’s just sort of how it goes.

Q: Were you ever approached for Jurassic Park III?

VV: No. I think the only one that they brought back was Sam Neill, who was in the first one.

Q: Right. I was just wondering if it was even mentioned.

VV: No. I kind of disappeared in [The Lost World:] Jurassic Park II, and I wasn’t even eaten.

[Everyone laughs]

VV: I think I was forgotten about before they even thought of Jurassic III.

[Everyone laughs]

Q: Going along with what you were saying, that you're trying to live this normal life as a celebrity--how has things changed for you because people do react to you differently now.

VV: I’ve always been really lucky for the most part; people have always been very nice to me for the most part. I never had assistants really, or security or anything. I like going out. I really like staying in touch with people and doing that. I really hate to be removed in my house; I just couldn’t live that way. So it’s a price as being a celebrity that sometimes people come up when you want to be alone with your friends and that kind of thing, or talk to you when you want to be left alone--but you understand. Sometimes you can get people that are fuckin' weird; someone will come up to you and it’s more about them in a way, like, "Hey man, I like your movies, and I’m going to work with you one day. My name's Tom..."

[Everyone laughs]

VV: I'm like, "Whoa." I don't understand why you gotta say that. I think the whole focus on this stuff has gone crazy. There's so many shows on fame--not on acting, not on music, but on fame. "Hey, isn’t it cool to get things?"--it’s just crazy. I started acting when I was seven, acted all the way through--at 18 moved out to L.A; did improv and Shakespeare and stuff in Chicago--not because I thought I’d get on a sitcom; it was because it was what there was to do. I came out here, and if I would've ended up in a sitcom, I would've been happy--I just wanted to do acting parts; I loved it. It wasn’t like [acting was] the easiest avenue for me to understand to get a table [at a restaurant] or to be famous. But there’s such a focus on that now. A lot of the kids you see moving out now to be actors could all kick your ass. They’ve all got cars, and it’s unclear what they do--but they’re out at clubs every night; they’ve got some movie deal going; they know so-and-so; and they wanna set me up with free shoes. I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying to me.

[Everyone laughs]

VV: The focus is just crazy; it really is, like all these shows, "Hey, where so-and-so loves to eat, and we’ll be right back"--when people give a shit. It’s like the fame, the fact that you’re recognizable is almost what’s looked at way more so than the work that’s being done. I don’t know why; I really don’t know why. I don’t know what the fuck the fascination is. I don’t know why the fascination isn’t with the performances or the storytelling or the music or that kind of thing. Isn’t that more interesting than if someone was on Quaeludes or not during when they made a record? I don’t really give a shit. I really don’t understand. I just don’t. And also I think it’s when I first came out, which wasn’t that long ago, 13 years ago, all the kids I knew that were actors were really kind of vulnerable, very honest. It wasn’t like, "Hey, let’s go to the gym and pump up some iron, and then we’ll go rock some ass tonight"--you know what I mean? It was just a different thing, and it seems now that the focus is more on people who kind of want to get famous. They want to be famous more so than they’re like, "Let’s go to class; I wanna work" and "This is cool; I love that movie." You know what I mean--it just seems like the focus is different over the last seven, eight years than it was before."

Q: There's also this aspect, with stalkers and all this stuff, you can't really tell if the people's intentions are good when they approach you anymore. How do you know? You've had problems recently.

VV: You never know in life with anybody. You just live and learn and have experiences, right? Some things are not explainable. You’re not in control of someone else’s actions or what they’re gonna do. Some people can go to a place that’s just extreme, and you’re not responsible. But that could happen to anybody. Anybody--car accidents, this--good people, too, having things happen to them, and that stuff is just inevitable. And I think it [comes] along with the fame and focus on it, and the money and the travel and that stuff being so cool to everybody. Also, with the violence that’s going on everywhere--I think it’s insane. I just think it’s insane that it’s not like more of a shock to us all that some kid goes to school and shoots it up, and there’s not more done. I guess you do like a stoppage of everything, just a real "What are we doing here?" where that stuff is concerned. I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting older because I know people when I was younger said stuff, and I said, "Well, fuck them." [laughs] So maybe it’s that, but it just seems to me a bit misdirected, a lot of it.

Q: And as they take you away--a little bit off-the-wall. I write for a magazine that wants to know what are your five top stock picks.

VV: Do they want to know what not to invest in?

[Everyone laughs]


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Thanks to Fred Topel for help with the transcription

Made: Vince Vaughn/© Michael Dequina


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