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Post by domenicaflor on Nov 3, 2005 18:27:13 GMT -5
For DNA - a thread to dedicate to FMJ!
Matthew Modine just came out with a diary of his experiences shooting that film, which has various mentions of D'Onofrio.
D.
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Post by E. McCoy on Nov 8, 2005 23:19:46 GMT -5
From what I have read Matthew Modine did not have nice things to say about VDO. But then again it seems no one does. What's with that??
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Post by Observer2 on Nov 11, 2005 21:11:25 GMT -5
Actually, there was already a thread that mentioned Modine’s book – and mentioned an obnoxious columnist who used carefully selected quotes from the book to make it look as though Modine was trashing D’Onofrio. The thread is called “Law and Order Star out of order long ago;” but I think that this is also a reasonable place for this information, so I hope the moderators will tolerate a rare almost-duplicate post in this case. The thread started out with a copy of a column written by Fox gossip columnist Roger Friedman. I’ll copy the beginning, and the part that quotes from the Full Metal Jacket Diary: www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173521,00.html 'Law & Order' Star Out of Order Long Ago Wednesday, October 26, 2005 By Roger Friedman
D'Onofrio vs. Modine
Vincent D'Onofrio, star of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," is so, shall we say, eccentric that this year he's alternating episodes with Chris Noth.
Stories of his, shall we say, eccentricity are regular features in the New York tabloids.
But it turns out D'Onofrio was always like this, according to the much, shall we say, less eccentric and more focused Matthew Modine.
The latter actor recommended the former for a role in Stanley Kubrick's now classic Vietnam film "Full Metal Jacket" some 20 years ago and lived to regret it.
Modine recounts his upsetting experiences with D'Onofrio in his wonderful new coffee-table book, "Full Metal Diary," published today by Rugged Land....snip... Unfortunately, D'Onofrio was unable to enjoy Modine the actor while they shot Kubrick's movie.
The first sign of real trouble came when extras witnessed them having an argument. D'Onofrio, who liked to stay in character, accused Modine of "joking around" too much. Modine agreed and said, "What are you going to do if I keep joking around?"
D'Onofrio replied: "I'm going to kick your a--."
Modine wrote that Kubrick's daughter Vivian was running messages between them.
"I don't like to use hate," Modine wrote. "Hate is powerful. Hate should be reserved for truly hateful things. But I'm almost there..."
From a diary entry on Jan. 24, 1986: "I am having to deal with [Vince] a lot since this started ... There is such anger and tension between us both. He looks at me with that moronic look and I want [to] slap him."
Things did not get better. To blow off steam, Modine had a punching bag installed in his trailer. D'Onofrio began lifting weights, making a big show of his new physique.
"Vince and I are ready to come to blows," Modine wrote. "We don't talk anymore about anything. Not even professionally. We are preparing for the fight that seems inevitable."
Want more? Buy the book.After I read the quotes in that other thread I dropped by a Borders Bookstore, planning to scan through the Full Metal Jacket Diary to see how accurate that column was. Well, it’s a more interesting book than I expected. I actually ended up buying it. As many fans already know, Modine was largely responsible for D’Onofrio having the opportunity to audition for the role in Full Metal Jacket, though actually landing the role was up to D’Onofrio. In the Diary, Modine talks about their friendship, and the early days of working on the Boot Camp part of the film together (including a painfully vivid description of the moment when D’Onofrio tore a ligament in his knee). Then Modine starts to talk about a kind of friction that began to build up between them. And that’s where the columnist, Friedman, starts selecting quotes. Which would be bad enough. But there is a place where he goes beyond selective reporting and flat-out lies. After describing the friction between D’Onofrio and Modine in January of ‘86, the columnist says, “Things did not get better.” He could have prefaced his description of Modine getting a punching bag and D’Onofrio’s conspicuous weight lifting with, “Things got worse...” and it would have been a matter of opinion. But to say “things did not get better” without putting any time frame around that – that’s a flat-out lie, apparently a deliberate one, meant to leave people with the impression that things *never* got better between them. Things did get better. The intense friction between them apparently lasted about a month – most of the month of January – during which they were filming the scenes where Modine’s character, Joker, is trying to help D’Onofrio’s character, Pyle, learn the things he has to learn in boot camp. Pyle keeps making mistakes, and all the recruits are being punished for those mistakes – and Joker feels more and more frustrated, helpless, and angry at Pyle. The situation culminates in a “blanket party,” where all the other recruits take turns hitting Pyle once each with a bar of soap wrapped in a towel. When it’s Joker’s turn, he at first refuses. But when the others push him hard enough his control gives way and his pent-up emotions drive him to hit Pyle over and over again. During that period when the tension and anger were building between their characters, the tension and anger were also building between the actors. And, at least at times, Modine suspected that the two might be related. The January 24 entry that the columnist quoted, that ended with “He looks at me with that moronic look and I want to slap him,” was followed by an entry in which Modine wrote, in part: ...I think he’s under a lot of pressure with this role.
So now, no one can help him with what he has to do as an actor but himself. I think he’s pushing us out of his life so he can do his work. He doesn’t want the comfort of friendship from me or anyone else. He’s going to take a journey into madness. I forgive him because I know that this is not his heart. I’ll try and respect that and be his friend. Even from a distance.The tension continued to build. The next entry is one the columnist used that starts out, "Vince and I are ready to come to blows." But the entry after that describes the filming of the blanket party, and Modine’s reactions to it. It ends with: I’m finished being angry with Vince. It’s stupid. A waste of life. I hope that something will happen to Vince that will help him to see how ridiculous this has become. Let him be angry. It’s over for me.It seems that the friction between them, and the friction between their characters, followed a very parallel path. Roughly three months later, in April, during an unscheduled hiatus in filming (because Lee Ermey, who played the drill sergeant, was in a car wreck), Modine has an opportunity to audition for a role he wants. He writes: I ask Vince if he’ll help me out. Vince and I exhausted our hostility toward each other long ago. I would say that our anger was a waste of time if I wasn’t aware of the clear fact that it contributed greatly to the work we did on camera. I think the scenes we did were honest and something that we’ll be proud of. I suggest to Pakula that I audition with Vince. Acting is sometimes like playing tennis in that you can only be as good as your partner.Two pages later there are a couple of charming photos with the caption: Vince and Cari sing an aria on a London street There are other mentions of D’Onofrio later, as well. And a few other pictures of him. The book is full of pictures Modine took during the filming of the movie. Some of them are striking. He seems to be quite a photographer. I never knew much about Modine as a person before this. I like him. And it speaks well of D’Onofrio that Modine would say, even in the midst of the anger between them, “I know that this is not his heart.” Anyone with an interest in Kubrick, or Modine, or the movie Full Metal Jacket, should get this book. But I don’t necessarily think it would be useful for people interested in filmmaking. Kubrick apparently got away with doing a lot of things wrong simply because he was such a genius at the aspects that he got right. And as for the columnist who for some reason got his kicks by trying to make it sound as though Modine has it in for D’Onofrio – he’s not a journalist. He’s nothing more than the worst kind of gossip-monger who doesn’t deserve to see a single word he writes in print.
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Post by Techguy on Nov 12, 2005 19:09:03 GMT -5
Observer, thanks for your comments about Modine's Diary and the segments that the gossip columnist very conveniently left out in his article. As I suspected, Modine's comments were taken completely out of context, describing the intense situation between him and D'Onofrio and their respective characters in FMJ.
You are also quite correct that the columnist is no journalist. The one positive aspect of his gossip mongering is that it prompted you to check out the book for yourself, and then actually purchase it.
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Post by Patcat on Nov 12, 2005 19:25:36 GMT -5
Modine also took several interesting photographs of and interviewed Mr. D'Onofrio for some publication (an artsy New York magazine I think) a few years ago. I suspect any conflicts they had during the filming of FMJ are behind them.
Patcat
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Post by kawaiidragonfoe821 on Nov 18, 2005 4:15:38 GMT -5
I love this movie!!! It kicked started my love for Vince because it allowed me to see just how versatile of an actor he was. He was so... deranged & believable that is was frightening. My dad, who is a Vietnam vet watched it with me & he said that he encountered people like that when he was over there.
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Post by DNA on May 12, 2006 4:58:23 GMT -5
UK satellite/cable viewers can catch this flick on TCM Film channel SUNDAY 14 MAY - 11:10pm - 1:20am.
FRIDAY 04 AUGUST - 11:00pm - 1:10am
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Post by DNA on Sept 3, 2006 7:29:17 GMT -5
UK satellite/cable viewers can catch this flick on TCM Film channel SUNDAY 17th SEPTEMBER - 9:00pm - 11:10pmand also.... ITV4: TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER - 10:00pm - 12:15am
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loserbaby12
Silver Shield Investigator
i'm the baby, gotta love me!
Posts: 116
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Post by loserbaby12 on Sept 4, 2006 22:25:49 GMT -5
love love love the movie Full Metal Jacket. one of my absolute favorites, and i'm not usually a big "war-movie" kind of gal. My dad, who's a retired Marine, bought it for me and told me to watch it. I love it, especially Vincent's character (what can I say, I love crazies, esp. in movies!). But now I'm never going to join the army, because I just *know* i'll be the fatty and they'll do to me what they did to Pyle....(so as not to give away part of the movie to those who haven't seen it)
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Post by DNA on Oct 9, 2006 11:43:49 GMT -5
UK satellite/cable viewers can catch this flick on TCM Film channel Sunday 22nd October - 9.00pm - 11.10pm
Sunday 3rd December - 10:45pm - 1:05amIreland* RTÉ 2 - Sunday 3rd December - 9.00pm - 11.05pm
ITV4 -Tuesday 5th December - 10.00pm - 12.15am[/b][/color]
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Post by Techguy on Aug 9, 2007 14:16:44 GMT -5
From 411mania.com: Full Metal JacketThere's an upcoming re-release of...Full Metal Jacket.
Full Metal Jacket will include an audio commentary with Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey and Jay Cocks and the featurette Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition and a trailer.
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Post by sarahlee on Aug 9, 2007 16:13:03 GMT -5
Thanks, t-man...now, where did I put that Christmas wish list?
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Post by Techguy on Sept 24, 2007 19:29:18 GMT -5
Vincent D'Onofrio's co-star R. Lee Ermey has this to say in the Sporting News online:Q: Did you expect Private Pyle (actor Vincent D'Onofrio's character in "Full Metal Jacket") to have the success he has had in the "Law and Order" series?
A: He's done good, hasn't he? I look at Vincent's show -- I seldom have time to watch TV; I watch a lot of news -- but every time I know he's on, and I'm flipping through channels, I stop and watch him. I like to think that I taught Vince everything he knows. But he's kind of taken a few of my traits, like being the off-the-wall guy, and he's very entertaining.
A lot of people don't know this, but ... he had to gain 65 pounds to get that job of Private Pyle.
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