Happy Sad Confused - Vincent D'Onofrio

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Vincent D'Onofrio is an actor's actor. Since making his film debut in FULL METAL JACKET he's always poured his heart and soul into role after role. He joins Josh to talk about his big swings in films like MEN IN BLACK, why he defends the method, and the unexpected gift of playing Kingpin in DAREDEVIL. UPCOMING EVENTS! April 6th -- Paul Feig in Miami -- ⁠⁠Tickets here!⁠⁠ April 12th -- C2E2 events in Chicago -- ⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠! April 14th -- Bryce Dallas Howard In New York -- ⁠Tickets here!⁠ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Quince.com/happysadco⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for 365 day returns and free shipping! Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. You mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. At some point in a performance, if I don't feel like my head is out there on the block waiting for the blade to come down purposely, like, I don't feel I'm doing my job. Like, I have to really push things that far, whether it's in a subtle way or a big over-the-top way. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey, guys, it's Josh.

Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. You were about to enjoy a great conversation. with a fantastic actor, a first-time guest on the podcast. Mr. Vincent Donofrio is on the show today talking all things Daredevil and as much as we could cram into nearly 45 minutes an hour, something like that. It flew by, great conversation with a great actor coming up on today's happy, sad, confused. Other things to mention before we get to the main event today, lots of events coming up very soon. Get your tickets now. All the information is in the show notes. Let's see. April 6, Miami. Paul Figue and I talking at the Miami Film Festival following a screening of another

simple favor. April 12th, come on by Chicago folks, C2E2. I'm going to be chatting with the cast of Robocop once upon a time, John Boyega and a 40th anniversary reunion of the Breakfast Club. Get your tickets now. It's going to be amazing. April 14th, this one is free, so tickets are going fast. Get them while you can in New York City. Bryce Dallas Howard, she's been a probably on the show at least a couple times over the year. She's always a delight. She has directed a new film called Pets. It's a sweet, adorable documentary.

But we're going to talk about a great many things beyond that for acting and directing work, of course. As always, Patreon. Patreon's your home for all things Happy, Say, Confused. Early access, bonus materials, autographed merch, all the cool fun stuff. Patreon.com slash Happy, Sad, Confused. I also want to mention for fans of The Last of Us.

It's coming very soon, guys. April 13th, I think, is the debut of the season premiere, second season. I've seen the first episode as of this moment. It's really good. I can't say anything else, but it's really good, as you would expect, a great show. But the reason I mention it is there's a lot coming down the pike for Last of Us fans, and I count myself as one. So if you love The Last of Us and you haven't subscribed to the podcast, now it might be a good time because we have a lot of cool things coming at you very, very soon.

Okay, main event, Vincent Dinoffrio. Man, Vincent D'onofrio is, as I say in the conversation, he is an actor's actor. He's like, for those that know, they know. He has had such an eclectic, remarkable career. He's played good guys, bad guys, character roles, leading roles. He's done stage, film, television. film debut was of course in full metal jacket um but i mean off the top of my head i mean everything from like i don't know mystic mystic pizza to the cell um he oh my god i just rewatched i didn't even

mention it to him his he was in a fantastic episode an iconic episode of homicide unbelievable series and an unbelievable episode in which he is stuck between a subway car and the train platform oh my god it's on i think i'm watching on peacock check it out that's an amazing acting performance. He's the real deal. He really is. And he is, of course, Wilson Fiske, aka Kingpin, in Daredevil Born Again. No spoilers in this. Don't worry. We don't really give anything the game away of the last couple episodes of this season. But we do tease out what's to come, some things we could potentially see in the next season, which he is currently making. He's right in the middle of it right now. And his future beyond that, where he wants

to see the character pop up. Great conversation. I know he'll be back on the podcast because we really only scratched the surface of his remarkable career. Good dude, great actor. Here it is for your eyes and ears. Mr. Vincent DeNofrio. Enjoy. All right. Vincent DeNofrio, man. I really haven't ever officially crossed. So this is really exciting for me. I'm a big fan of yours. Congratulations on everything. And thanks for the time today, man. Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome. I've seen some of your stuff. It's nice to meet you. Oh, thanks. I've seen a lot of your stuff. So there's a little bit of an imbalance.

So I was saying to you before, it's kind of interesting. Usually, you know, I'm talking to somebody a little bit removed from a character, a year, two years, maybe more from what they're doing. You're probably right in the thick of it. You're shooting the next season as you're promoting the last season. So are you just in that mindset right now? What's this press kind of cycle been like for you as you're living it in real time? Well, I mean, the main, the main gist of the press is kind of subsided now, which is good, and I can focus on the show even more.

But, you know, we're doing like this. We're doing things here and there, you know. But mainly, yeah, mainly it's just a lot of prep and shooting going on. Charlie and I are very involved with everything, as is our producers. And we're all like a real team trying to get. trying to get it right, you know, like somehow, some way, you know, every day is a challenge and, and, but we're, you know, we're happy that every, like, everybody in the crew from last time is back, every single person, which is awesome. I love that because we know each other

so well. And, yeah, it's, I'm in, definitely in the middle of it. The response has been great. I've seen the entire season. I'm not going to spoil anything because it's going to run before the end of it. But you guys did a great job. And look, it's always, every film, television show is a miracle to get done, let alone done well, as you well know. But I'm curious, like, how engaged you are. Because, you know, I follow you on very social media platforms.

It seems like you're somewhat engaged with, like, what people are saying. Is that, I don't know, is that helpful for your process or is that something fun or distracting to kind of, like, know in real time how people are receiving the work? I mean, I love it that people are excited. I like the, I think some of the negative comments are funny. I like to joke around with people. I don't take it all very seriously. It's people have opinions.

And some of them are actually quite good and unless they're not, you know. And so it's, you know, I like to give people a fair shot. I don't, I don't hold back up. And occasionally I'll like stuff and comment here and there. It takes so little of my time to just glance at stuff. You know, if I'm in a car or something like that, if I'm not reading a script, I'll glance at my Twitter. Instagram I'm not that savvy with.

I have a closed account on that. But Twitter has been doing it for years. So I feel very comfortable with just parting things and making little comments here. And there's also people who've been following me for a long time. And you get, you also get these young people, some really, you can tell they're really young commenting. And that's always nice. And then the adults, yeah, so I give it a little of my attention.

Yeah. What is your philosophy on listening to a critic, whether a, quote, professional or just, you know, John Q Public and about that informing the work? Is that a dangerous road to go down for a performer? Well, I, you know, like never in my career before have I. ever um until until i started doing the marvel stuff have i ever seen so much direct engagement from fans you know um and and it's so there's just so many um venues for people to put their opinions on these days you know that it's it's uh you you feel like you're just bombarded with opinions, you know, we're very lucky that we'd had a hit show on

on Netflix and that all we really had to do, I don't want to make it sound easy because it was not easy, but is to make it as good or better, you know. And, you know, it was tough, but we feel like we have accomplished that. A lot of the audience agrees and it's a wonderful thing. It's good when there's enough interest to spawn this kind of fervent discussion. That's a good sign. doing it right. It's all very positive. And the truth is that, you know, it's all for fun anyway, I find an entertainment. Yeah. So what was, so way back when, when this, when this part first comes around for the, the Netflix version of this, what was your attitude when this came around? Did you see the opportunity? Did you have trepidation? What put me in your mindset back probably, what, 10 plus years ago at this point?

When, when, when they got in touch with me to play it? Yeah. Initially. I was kind of happy about it. I had a couple of people close in my life that were doing Marvel stuff and you can imagine that a villain was on my mind of some kind. You know, I thought

I've done them before. I could probably come up with something cool to do if they let me. So that was always in the back of my mind. But But getting the call from Jeff Loeb, who was the producer on the Netflix show, through Leray Mayfield, who's an incredible casting agent in our business for a long time and a super talented lady. By way of her, I got this call from Jeff. And, you know, he basically said, you know, what do you think? And I had some, I had to make sure that the hours, at the time, I was married at the time,

and it was important for me to be home with my kids and to see my ex and all that. So, but, you know, Jeff assured me I had just come off along the criminal intent thing. And those years were very hard because you don't get, you didn't get to see your family much and stuff. So I said, you know, there was, we just talked about that. and Jeff is a very kind of straightforward dude who's very honest with me and I liked that and I told him that family was important to me

and and this is how I would like to participate. So I said give me a couple of days to discuss it and with my family and think about it and I just needed some time to think about it and discuss it with them but the time I spent in my office thinking about it I remembered that I had comics when I was young

and I had to kind of just sit and relax and kind of think about I hadn't had those thoughts in a long time or had a reason why to think about what comics because I wasn't a collector

or anything I just had a couple ones that I really liked and you might be too young I don't know if they still do it but back in the day they had these little areas in the back of the magazine

or sometimes in the middle in the back of the comic or in the middle where you could buy like little gadgets It's like, sure. I got my, I got my sea monkeys. I got everything.

Yeah, yeah, all that kind of weird, all that weird stuff. Yeah. X-ray glasses and stuff. Yeah. Invisible, Invisible ink. Of course. Yeah. So, but, but, you know, I did remember, though, I had, I had, my guys were,

um, were Captain America, Spider-Man, Batman, um, Punisher. and I had a because Fisk was in Spider-Man I had a couple of Daredevil ones too because it just that involved Wilson Fisk

Who else? Oh and later on in life the Swamp thing was a big was a big thing to me but it's yeah you get a call like that and you're just like okay, me, you know, I should do this.

I could probably come up with something good. And so I gave him a call, gave Jeff a call back and told him that I was in and would love to read some more. They had sent me two scripts, neither of which my character was in. But he assured me that they would send me one that was. But he wanted me to feel the tone of Daredevil.

Right. Before I, he wanted me to read whatever they had. you know so it was it was nice you know it's a great feeling and then after i don't know if you've ever heard the story before though but i remember showing showing up on set once this is before i had worked at all as kingpin to do off-camera for charlie um he was in this office like abandoned office space and i so i'd come in and i i hadn't met him yet either and um oh no that's not true. We did meet at a dinner once set up by Jeff, all of us, the whole cast. But I went and I sat behind some, some boxes and crates and stuff, and I had a walk-a-talkie, and he had the other

walkie-talkie. His character is talking to me on a walkie-talkie in the show. And so we did that scene with me off camera. Later on, we covered my side of it. But during that, I was watching him, and he was doing really well with the dialogue and stuff, too, of course. because he's you know charlie's just a really good actor and um but then he did this leap um that seemed effortless from the floor to like a cabinet case and he landed up on this thing on his feet and i was like oh my god like this is this this is going to work i think this is going to work because he was in the outfit and i got to see him like scaling furniture in this thing while he's talking to me and I'm like oh my god like this is like perfect but I was sold from

with charlie from that minute on I mean he sold the whole show to me just by doing that hey michael hey tom so big news to share it right yes huge monumental earth shaking heartbeat sound effect big reach is back that's right after a brief snack nap we're coming back we're coming back we're picking snacks? We're eating snacks. We're raiding snacks. Like the snackologist we were born to be. Mates is back. Mike and Tom, eat snacks. Wherever you get your podcast. Unless you get them from a snack machine, in which case, call us. Are you looking for a movie review show where the critic is at the top of his or her game, meticulously breaking down and explaining exactly why a film does or does not work? Well, good luck with the Because we're having fun here on Adam Does Movies.

Each and every week, I hit the big blockbusters, I cover the streamers, and I even toss in some movie news for fun. Check out the show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on YouTube. And hopefully, we can do movies together. Hot. It's been an amazing, you know, journey, needless to say. I mean, this is a very unusual circumstance to play a character through all these different iterations.

I know you've said before, I mean, the beauty of this is you've been able to kind of play Wilson in slightly different tones and context and somehow, it always, somehow always works. And that must be very rewarding to you. I mean, I guess what are you, what's keeping you energized in this go-round as you've come back around for this two-part season? What are you discovering about Wilson only now all these years in? Oh, I see. Well, that's a good question.

I think I think I'd never really put until now, until born again, I never really put a lot of thought into how far he wants to expand his reach of control. And this first season

and now the second season, you know, there's really a lot of thought about that from me as the actor playing him. He's just, he's, he's really putting everything down on red. You know, he's really doing it. Yeah.

And he, you know, I don't, you know, I don't exactly know what, whether they're, what the movement's going to be beyond season two. But he's definitely expanding his reach. It's a new way to approach the part rather than him just, yeah, he loves New York. But he loves New York as a stepping stool, you know. Right. As you well know, that the nature of the business nowadays is we almost know too much. And we know about the production issues that went on, you know, behind the scenes, obviously, of this one. And look, you have a lot of skin in this game and you want it to work.

And I'm sure I can only imagine what it was like for you to go through this. I mean, did you and Charlie, like, have the sense? Were you openly discussing when you first took a crack at this new iteration that, like, this is off? This isn't working. Like, was this an open dialogue in those first few episodes? Like, we need to make a pivot. Was that a collective idea at the time? Between Charlie and I, yes, it was a collective idea, and we were making it known.

Yeah. You know, I have to say that the initial writers, you know, they had a great idea. The idea was a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't think it would have. had a chance because we were disconnecting from the original show. Charlie and I couldn't understand how we're supposed to portray these characters that everybody loves within the environment that they were putting us in and why they loved them, who they love, why they love them, what makes them love them, these characters, or hate

them, you know. And so we kept on bumping against that the whole time. And we're lucky. Look, luckily enough, we have, you know, a boss named Kevin Feigy, and he listens to everything, and he watches everything. And, and you can talk to him like you can, anybody on the crew. And he's a really, you know, a straight up dude. You know, he's got to be one of the, you know, I mean, I would say, as far as his position, he's completely unique to me, you know. And then in 40, something years of acting. He's completely unique to me. In the context of the position that he's in. Meaning creative minded first. I mean, yes, there's a bottom line, but this guy grew up with this stuff. He lives

and breathes this stuff. I mean, I don't know about first, but it's definitely something that he listens to. Like, he listened very clearly and he you know, did the diligence to get to the bottom of it. And it ends up the way it ended

up. But yeah, we were actively talking and communicating Charlie and I. We needed to talk to the writers constantly every day, the initial riders. And yeah, we felt like their idea was amazing, but that we were going to eventually fail if we didn't write the ship a bit. Does, I mean, you've spoken very fondly of Charlie. It's always great to see you guys together. You obviously click on both a personal and professional level.

And I think with part of the joy in this first. batch of episodes is there's some stuff between you guys, but there's not a ton, and that almost makes it more powerful, I think, when you guys do connect. I guess without revealing too much in the second batch that you're at work on, is there more for you guys to play with against each other? Oh, gosh, yes. I mean, it's like, yeah. I mean, I wish I could say, but it's yeah I mean by the end of the second season I guess the audience is going to have by the end of the second season a really good idea of where they had the second season

after the first season they're going to have a really good idea where the second season is heading right and there is there is very little initially but very soon after there's a lot of a lot of us probably not I don't know what to say

I always hear myself during these kind of questions that I can't answer I'm like God this is so boring too no no it's okay it's okay one more

and then I want to ask you some general career stuff because this is the kind of person I could talk to for hours but look I know you're asked a lot about like when are we going to see

Kingpin and Spider-Man and Avengers and et cetera et cetera I mean I guess I'm just wondering like your role and all that like do you actively again sounds like you have kevin's number do you check in and do you say like

what's real what's not here's what i'd love to see for what it's worse i sort i felt the urge i have felt the urge to do that several times but i never do like i would say a few times like i would say about three times since i've met the guy i have had an urge to just call him and say can you just tell me something you know but i i never do i never knew because he always tells us at the right time it's sometimes it's odd but he tells us i don't know if you you know the story about charlie and i finding out about the second season i don't know if i do tell me so at d23 i believe it was yeah i think it burntall was on stage with us i think it was me charlie and bernthal and we're all in a row i'm on one end and charlie's on the other in the middle is kevin and and john

and he's he's you know he's he's about to the the trailer he just released the trailer like first time d23 um after that when the trailer was over he said um and we're green lighting the we've greenlit the second season and charlie and i never heard that before and i was on one end of the thing and the other we i tell us all the time even in front of kevin i we we both kind of like leaned forward and looked at each like wow okay we're doing this second season did you know did you know No, we didn't know. Neither of us knew. We keep each other up to far on everything.

And no, so you can imagine, like, I think people think that we're not telling the truth, but I literally think that if there's any, you know, any more information about anything in the future, it's going to come in different ways, but not normal ways. Right. So I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know about the movies at all. Nobody ever talks to me about the movies at all.

I'll have, you know, literally as we tape this today, your head is probably in the weeds of actual production, but they're announcing one by one the actors in the next Avengers movie. And I'm like, and I'm literally like checking, like every 10 minutes, they're announcing at their actor. I'm like, if they mention Vincent while I'm on this call, God damn it, I'm going to be so good. If they mention me on this call, that would be great because you'd be finding out the same time I would. Right. That would be awesome. But for the record, your game, Spider-Man would be amazing, obviously. they have so many connections.

Like that's something that would be a fun thing to finally realize. The only thing I know is not positive. Like it's a very hard thing to do to use my character and for Marvel to use my character. It's a very hard thing to do because of ownership and stuff. Gotcha. I think they, right now it's still, I'm only usable for television series.

You know, that kind of a thing. Different kinds of series, whatever it is, but not, Not even, not like even a one-off disc movie or anything like that. It's all caught up in rights and stuff right now. I don't know when that would work out or if it ever would work out at all, actually, really. But, you know, for me, it's like, you know, my job is to service a story. That's my job as an actor.

And I, you know, give me a series, give me a film, and I'll do my best, you know, whatever it is. My mind is on the second season now and the fun we're having doing that. Fair enough. Okay, literally there are like a thousand of your movies I could ask you about. So I'm going to hit a few of them, and I know you've told all these stories before, but just for the record. Okay, so for those that don't know, this man on our screen today debuted in no less than full metal jacket was directed by Stanley Kubrick. That's a hell of a way to make a film debut and a hell of a performance and a character to, bring to life um one specific i was just curious about that came to mind was the so the so-called

kubrick stare which which which you know repeats in some of his films whether you're thinking of nicholson in the shining malcolm mcdow and clockwork orange and yes for pile in full metal jacket is that something that was consciously like i want you to kind of put your head in this position towards camera or does that just happen by happenstance no no he's he's he's like Like, you know, I remember the first time we did it. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't reference anything. He didn't reference like any other movie or anything like that that he had done. But I was seen all his movies, so he didn't have to reference them.

And he also, he also knew that I'd seen all his movies, you know, because we had plenty of conversations about whatever. We used to go over his house on weekends, Matthew and I and hang out. He'd show us, he had these big projectors. he would thread the films himself and show us these movies and re-thread the projector each time the reel ran out.

Anyway, so he knew and he would, you know, I remember the first time it was during, it was when they, when we were sitting out on benches out on the field and I had like a cloth to cool me down over my head and I was just sort of staring out to nowhere while he was talking about

Lee Harvey Oswald. The drone stuff, yeah. And I'm like, once I got his direction to like lean down a tiny bit to stare upwards a little bit, I'm like, okay, well, I get it, you know. Yeah. So it was basically, I just used my, I had already set up what we call, I don't want to get too far in the weeds with this because it's kind of boring for people. But in what method acting is called an effective memory, which is an event you bring up in your life and you speak the author's words through that. or you do the actions that needed to be done through that emotional event in your life. And so I would just add that to the stare so that I had, you know, so that my mind was going on.

You could see it because you can, in film, as you know, you can see an actor thinking. So that was important for me. But yeah, basically, but nothing was spoken about it. Just, hey, do this now. Okay, Stanley Kubrick, sure. Do you remember the first time you saw the film? Because that is like all of Kubrick's works, it's such a piece of art. It is so meticulous.

It is so singular. It must have been an out-of-body experience to see yourself in that context. Well, I've only seen it once. And when it first came out, yeah. I do have a laser disc of it that's unopened, though. But I did see it once. Oh, and I have a, I have a Blu-ray with. interviews on it and stuff which is also not open but um i remember i remember i was at the time i was

moonlighting i was i was working with um firefighters and cops who were moonlighting as uh security for people and stuff like that so i was very young but i was big and and i could do a job like that so i was hanging out with all these guys who were slightly older than me but but um they knew that i was an actor and they always you know made fun of me and stuff like that so i invited them to when it was showing I bought all their tickets for the minute. It wasn't even a premiere. There was no premiere. So I just bought, I bought six tickets and like six of us went in and watched all in a line.

And we watched this movie. And I remember during the, I don't think I've ever told this story. During the screening, while we're watching it, during the movie, sorry, why we were watching it. That area where he's first screaming in our faces and he's being basically introduced. introduced to all the characters in a way, you know. When my character started to smile, one of the guys looked at me and said, you're fucking up, dude.

You know, like, he really thought that he really did. I'm not kidding. And I'm like, no, no, that's the character. He goes, it looks just like you. I said, of course it looks such a joke. It is me. And it was like, oh, so this is like acting,

you're acting right now? I'm like, yes, I'm acting. You know. And it was so sweet in a way, you know, because he was, and then once I told him that, he just, you know, just he, all of them were so proud of me, you know, they were, I'm glad you told him because by a time Pyle meets his end, he would have been really upset. Really upset, yeah.

I know, I know, yeah. And, you know, yeah, in a blanket party where I'm crying and the whole thing, you know, they just, they just, all of them, they just, they loved it. They just couldn't believe it, you know, because I had been, you know, Some of them had known me for a couple of years. It took me six years of studying and doing plays and stuff like that to get really started getting paid for what I was doing, you know? Did that, because of that such an iconic performance in such an important film,

you know, did casting directors understand that you obviously transformed yourself totally? Those that don't know, you gained something like 70 pounds. That was not you. But did that in some ways hinder your casting or did it help that, like you were so transformed in that first role to show folks that you were you could transform well the press picked it up right away that i had done this thing you know without i didn't have a press agent or anything i guess they had just learned from whatever because i certainly wasn't in i didn't have any actor friends i didn't have you know i had matthew modine he was my own but he was like a real

friend i didn't know anybody in the business or anything you know other than matthew and um no i think that i think well here's what if you'll let me jump in because what i think of because i saw you the first thing i saw you in was a veteran babysitting which i think came out even like within that same year and if you put that like a b just the physicality and this always comes up and you're just the discussions yeah people saw like

oh this guy can be this like golden god and this poor schlub yeah that that's kind of all you need to know the range of this guy yeah and and you know i eventually got when i got back to the states after shooting i immediately got an agent um and uh a film agent oh actually that's not true we we were we would take a lot of breaks because it was stanley kubrick so we sometimes we would take a month month and a half off you know and so i'd go back to new york and well on those times and i didn't have to they would have to they would have there. I had a flat there the whole 13 months I was there in total. And, um, you know, I would, I would go back. And that's one of those times I went back. I got an agent. I got Johnny

Planko, who was the top agent at William Morris. I just went in and said, hey, how are you? And I'm doing this Kubrick movie. Anyway, he was very excited. We became friends. And he actually, he represented me for a long time. Um, so when I, when I finished the, when I finished the movie and came back, you know, I got an agent. And, you know, once they got a gist of that, you know, that I really was a main character in the, once the business got the gist of it, that I really was a main character in a Stanley Kubrick movie. Then I started getting offers. I got offered, you know, I got to look at a lot of scripts, James Bond scripts and stuff like that, you know, and I just didn't want to do any of that stuff, you know. Like I, I wanted to do something different.

So I just sort of waited. And then Stacey Cher called me about adventures of babysitting. I'm like, oh, that'd be kind of cool. I could get in, like, a really good shape and just do that for the hell of it, you know. And then, you know, I did some plays and stuff. And then I did a movie called Signs of Life for Avenue Pictures back then, which was a really solid story about two brothers, you know, older brother and younger brother. And then I did Mystic Pizza, you know, very different again, boyfriend, girlfriend, thing. you know, I've always, I always had an eclectic taste watching movies.

You know, I liked so many different kinds of music, from movies, from musicals to war films, you know, like, and so it was there, I was my, I was open to anything and everything. And I was very, I was very used to doing drama because when I was a kid, that's all, that's how I learned to act during drama, you know, play after play after and scene after scene after scene. And so I was really thirsty to do like science fiction. and, you know, funny stuff, goofy stuff, you know, so, yes.

Well, if there's any consistency that I see throughout the many years you've been doing this, and it's something I'd really admire about you, and I think many actors do too. You're what they call, I would think, like an actor's actor. You have the respect of your peers very much is you'll take a bold choice. You'll make it and you'll go for it whether, you know, it must feel like, you know, I think it's something like men in black, I mean, which must in the moment, feel like I'm out on a limb here or is it I don't know maybe it just feels so energetic and exciting and thrilling no it feels like you're out on the limb yeah you know you're out on the limb you're

like I'm purposely out on the limb I'm it's like I'm another metaphor would be my head is on the chopping block for sure and and I don't feel unless I at some point in a performance if I don't feel like my head is out there on the block waiting for the blade to come down purposely like i don't feel i'm doing my job like i have to really push things that far whether it's in a subtle way or big over the top way i feel like either emotionally or physically or in some form i really have to take chances like what would be the scariest emotion to play with what would be the scariest physicality to play with like what would i be what would have to have great guts to do you know what i mean and then have to conjure that guts up to actually do it you know so day in and day out not just one

day but for 30 days keep coming back yeah on that on that one i mean i've heard the stories that barry was on the podcast you know he's such a amazing character um like he talked how like tommy lee up until the premiere didn't think he was in a good movie like tommy jones was really worried. Did you have did you have the same concerns or was it again just such an exciting opportunity to get to play like that that you were like whatever it ends up being it ends up being or well yeah exactly. I mean the experience was so wonderful because I spent all my time with Rick Baker not with not with Barry you know like I was with Rick Baker I basically lived in Rick Baker's trailer I mean we were there at 3.30 a.m. every morning he'd paint me for

six to nine hours depending on what stage we were in you know and and the appliances and all that in that time. And so I was with him. You know, I couldn't see anybody. I had these, back then the context were, contacts were painted on. So, like, you couldn't really see through them and stuff. And, yeah, I kind of knew that I kind of loved everything that was in Rick Laker's shop, you know, because I got to see everything, all the mechanical stuff.

I probably got to see more stuff than any of the other cast, because I was basically in his trailer or in his shop in L.A. Almost every day, like, while he was building my face and painting it and stuff like that. So I didn't really know, nor did I care. You know, I just knew that Barry was amazing because I had seen Get Shorty and he was amazing. And I knew that Rick Baker was amazing because I knew about his work in American Werewolf and everything after that. Yeah. Yeah.

So I was just. just kind of doing this thing, you know? Not sure if I was going to get fired, you know. Right. Again, that means you're doing it right. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race.

Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at mx.ca.orgia. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We come together to host Unspool, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits.

Fan favorites, must-season, and case you misdums. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to hit the follow button. Another thing I really appreciate it,

and I've heard a lot of conversations of yours over the years is you talk openly about kind of like the failures, the mistakes, the mishaps, the things that don't quite pan out as learning experiences. You've talked, look, you, and you engaged with very solidly your experience on Ed Wood and playing, you know, Orson Wells on that, you know, the law. older years you've been very open about like what started as a great opportunity turned into

a job a hard hard fucking job um has that has that cost you anything to be so open do you think i mean do you feel like i don't know what do you think i have no idea well like i said i think you are very very well respected i think people really know vincent doesn't half asset he's going to do it all so but i have no idea from a business perspective like studios and No, the truth is, I have no idea either. Like, I have no idea. I mean, there was, there is something, I guess, I don't know. I think I, I think if I made any mistakes as far as, like, talking about stuff,

I think it's more talking about my technique and talking about that. I've always been an actor, very interested in acting. And I've always, I've taught for like, oh, it's going to be. close to like 20 years now and stuff. Yeah. And I only teach when I have the time, which is rare, but I do teach at the Strasbourg Institute for free, and they let me give a scholarship away every year, you know,

which is really nice. Yeah. And so that's sort of the way they pay me, you know. And, you know, I think that sometimes people want to hear about technique and stuff like that, but I also think it's kind of boring at times too. So I've tried to not talk about that. much. Well, let me ask you one thing that and you don't have to go into the weeds, but you do talk about the method. And I've heard you talk about that and that's something that's been

important to you. And yeah, I mean, it feels like there are a lot of misconceptions and people and things people kind of take all. Yeah, because I don't give it. I don't think it gives enough credit to guys like Daniel Day Lewis and now Jeremy Strong, you know, um, Jeremy's like a brother to me. I don't know Daniel Day. But, you know, Daniel Day, you know, he's just a genius. actor you know he's came up with this great way of doing things that he's really into that he can't do it without that he finds it to be um in the things i've heard him say it is his way of doing it like he feels he doesn't know another way this is how i can do the job no it's simple nor does he understand any other way he understands only the way he doesn't right i don't mean like in a literal

way of course he understands him but the understanding of what he does for his parts is where he's comfortable doing it. And I'm sure you've heard this a million times, you know, in my field, like it all comes out in the end. If it's good, it's good. You know, it doesn't matter how you get there. And most actors that I've worked with that are great actors and actresses, they, we all are really doing the same thing, but we have different ways of doing it. Right, right. A couple of the random things I want to mention. I'm the big Aronovsky head. You got a chance to work with Aaron Aronovsky. I did. I think he's great. What a smart guy.

What a singular filmmaker. And I'm also a huge Austin Butler fan. Talk about a young man that's doing it right. Can you say a little bit of what it was like working with Darren and or Austin on that one? Well, I sort of just did that one, only a few months ago. But I'm not sure. Nobody's really told me how much I can talk about that one or not. But it was a great experience.

Leab Schreiber and I played brothers in it. And it was, believe it or not, I'd never met Leav before. We're both like New York actors. Yeah, strange. I just love the guy. He's amazing. And then Austin is amazing. He's just like, you know, to me he's like this young guy who's just out there, you know, figuring it all out, getting it, only taking the best advice, only keeping the best advice in his soul and discarding everything else. And he's really out there trying to combine techniques and finding out which one is the way he wants to do. And he's proving himself again and again and again. I love this kid. He's awesome. And then working with him was so much fun because it was very relaxed.

And even when it was tense, it was relaxed. There's a particular kind of people that Leev and I play in it. And we had to learn another language for it and stuff. And it was just wonderful. And, you know, Darren, you know, I couldn't help but tell him at one point. And, you know, he reminded me so much of Kubrick. Wow. You know, they're from the same area, you know.

They, their voices are very similar. Their accents were very similar. And he's very methodical. And he only says something when it's important. You know, the helicke. I mean, I love working with any kind of director. To me, directors are, when they're great, it's amazing to watch how different they all really are in their techniques.

and the best ones are just amazing to work for and Aaron's one of those and he you know I got to say you know the way he places the camera what he does it's not doing anything just for the sake of it you know he's telling story all the time with the camera you know and then you know he come over and leave you for a few takes and then he'll come over and say something in your ear or sometimes just you know which I don't mind at all just yell it across the room because it takes too much time to get, because we're far apart

at sometimes, his video village and then the set. But I just found him a delight. Like honestly, you don't, you trust everything he says. You trust every camera position, every note that he has. You know, he's like one of

those guys where you're just like, he's a filmmaker. Like, you can't imagine him doing anything else. Well, you know, I talked about you like kind of taking big swings as an actor. This is a filmmaker that doesn't, he He's incapable genetically of just phoning it in. Like, he's going to pour everything into whatever he's doing. And it's going to, you might love it or hate it, but it's going to be passionate.

Yeah, I know. I hope that the audiences love that film caught stealing as much as I loved making it. I think that would make me really happy for him to Darren. So having gone through this experience with this character and with Daredevil over this many years, has it opened your aperture a little bit of the kinds of films, the kinds of experiences you want. I mean, I was, again, looking at your feed. Like, I saw you, like, loving on the Superman trailer from James Gunn.

Like, is, I don't know, like, do you have more of an openness to different kinds of filmmakers and filmmaking than you once did? Or has that always been kind of part and parcel of your philosophy, you think? I think it's been my always, I've always thought of things that way. But there is other things have changed, though, when it. comes to the medium like the the the um right now it's very for me it is i don't know how other actors feel about it for me it's very difficult right now to figure out what a good series is and what a good series is not you know like it's hard the the way that they usually are presented to me is i get like one or two scripts and read them and and you have to

say off of those, whether you're going to stick with this person for a year, you know, or these people for a year. It's very hard, you know, but if you're lucky, you get enough good stuff put in front of you that you can make a good choice. This might also be PTSD from Law and Order. You might have got, you might have this kind of lingering, forget a year, how about 10 years? Yeah, exactly.

But, you know, here I am. I've been playing Kingpin for 10 years, you know, like on it, but not like, consecutive yeah but no i i i think that things are changed you know these there's so many more venues there's so many um different types of uh genres and because of of of um what little breakthroughs we make inequality and and what little steps backward we make sometimes there's all these opportunities to do great story that that wasn't being told when i was younger too So that's changed a lot. The other thing is, you know, the whole idea of people of color working,

people from all different nationalities and religions working more these days, you know, things have changed so much. And it's great that all these actors are getting to work. But in a kind of selfish way, what I enjoy is, like, I've seen a lot of performances in my lifetime, right? I've been on stage and had scenes with lots of. of people, different types of people. But I have to say, most of my career was, you know, acting with white men and women. Right.

You know? And, and nowadays, it's great that they're, that people of color are working and all these new actors are coming in and gender mixed and all this amazing stuff. And I get to experience this whole other performance that I've never seen before, but not just the individual actor's performance. but the way they bring just like all good actors do their whole culture everything they have every bit of their life into a part that's that's stuff that that i very rarely was privy to to to when i was younger you know like there were guys like that were like geniuses like gregory hines who

was a triple threat like he was like one of my best friends while he was alive for a long time him and i were very close you know so there were people of color but it was far and few between you know right and and yeah and it's informing not only you know the quote-unquote indies now the stuff that'll pop up at film festivals but it's it's seeping into you know whether it's something like echo etc like these like large scale solid middle of the you know mainstream entertainment yeah that's that's a change that's huge i mean you can really count on one hand how many films have been made with the leads being impaired yeah in somewhere yeah you know like uh like uh like like Alequa Cox in Echo.

I mean, she's amazing in it, you know, and the whole crew, you know, a lot of the, not the whole crew, but a lot of the crew, especially the ones that were dealing with her directly, all learned sign language for her and, and for them to be able to communicate better and to make the whole show

where we had all these people that were had impaired hearing were comfortable because they could communicate better because there are people taking the time to learn how to talk to them and respond and stuff like that. Things, a lot of have changed, but as far as, you know, like, the kinds of movies that I do,

it's, I've always kind of been eclectic, always. All right, I'm going to end with this because I know you have to get back to work. The happy say I can fuse profoundly random questions for you, Vincent. A little bit more rapid fire. Tell me what you think. Are you a dog or a cat person? Both.

although I'm craving a dog right now because my girlfriend has a has two cats so that's you need the balance yeah yeah yeah I need my I do get to take care of my daughter's dog yeah go ahead my sweeties in the other room I love nice yeah Lucy um what do you collect if anything what do I collect I'll tell you what I wish I collect was horses I love horses yeah I wish I could someday start to do that

I don't really collect a lot. I guess I have like I have a bit of trouble throwing things away like during a move you know so I end up bringing stuff from one place to another that I should really just get rid of

but I don't really collect I see at least three guitars that's the start of a collection right there behind you yeah those are yukes okay got it Yeah, and, yeah, people will send them to me. Nice. What's your, do you have a favorite video game of all time?

Oh, my God. What was it called? Well, I mean, the early call duties. Back in the day, were you an arcade guy? Like the centipede Ms. Pac-Man era? yeah i mean centipede and and um the alien one yeah yeah but like like uh i'm trying to think of one really goofy one that i loved playing with my sons when they were younger i forget that they was i can't remember but i would say the call duties was were the ones halo we were very into halo

back in the day and yeah nowadays i don't have time to play video games but yeah but yeah so it was it's always good to have young boys because you can you don't need an excuse then right sorry i have to bond with my children here what i'm going to do for sure for sure yeah what's the wallpaper on your phone my three kids there you go uh last actor you were mistaken for does it happen it used to happen when i was younger um Vince von and i used to get a lot of similarities all the time yeah we've signed each other's autographs and stuff. What's the worst noted director has ever given you, Vincent? One director asked me to, on a certain line,

she wanted to control my eyes. So she told me, which could have happened if she would have went about it a different way. But she said, all I need you for do is for you to move your eyes from here to there, to her and then on the next line go to her and then on the next line go to him like that and i'm like i think i get it i think what you're trying i think i get what you're trying to do so i did you know my version of that and she cut halfway through and came over and and told me to do it again put my eyes just put my eyes right then then started thinking like okay it must be like a shot thing like maybe it's the specialty so i asked if there was a specialty going on like a

specialty lens or some kind of shots they're doing with my eyes just they're like no it's just you know regular coverage and i'm like oh okay okay and so that was weird that was a little weird and in the spirit of happy sag confused who's an actor who always makes you happy you see them on screen you're instantly happier you can hawk Love it. A movie that makes you sad. A movie that makes me sad. I'm like,

God, there's so many. Jesus. It's your go-to for a good, hard cry. It's your cry about everything. I cry during flow. Flo made me cry. I think I cried three times during flow, yeah. Yeah, that's like a 70-minute movie.

That's like every 17 minutes you're crying. Yeah, it's awesome. And finally, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it. Why do people eat that? now that's easy and the people are going to flip that I don't eat it but like I won't

you know like what are they called the shell blobs on the shell oysters oh oysters yeah okay yeah yeah I call them blah on the shell

that's fancy restaurants they call it blobs on the show yeah I can see that raw they're a little fishy let's not even talk about okay sorry sorry sorry I can't I can't even, I can't even, I can't even, yeah, with that, yeah, that. And on a happy note.

Dude, you're amazing in this show. Congratulations. I can't wait for folks to see the entire run of this first revitalization, whatever we call it, um, uh, of Daredevil, born again. And the next season, I'm so stoked for. And as if you couldn't tell, dude, I'm, I'm such a fan. I hope we have many more conversations like this because like, anytime, dude.

There's so much to talk to, to you about. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Appreciate you. All right back at you. Thanks, buddy. See you. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to

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