VDO Interview in Who Magazine - Australia

[domenicaflor]

Special thanks to www.thereelvincentdonofrio.com for this article.

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The Grill
WHO Magazine (Australia)
by Di Webster
Posted to the Thereelvincentdonofrio.com on Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2005

Hospitalised last year with exhaustion, Vincent D'Onofrio, 45, quirky Det Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, will share screen time in the fifth season of the TV drama with Chris Noth (Sex and the City's Big).

What are you doing here? Don't you work around the clock?

I'm taking my first break because Chris Noth is doing his first episode. In the previous four seasons it's been me 22 episodes a season. So now it will be Chris and Annabella (Sciorra) doing an episode, and me and Kate (Kathryn Erbe) doing every other episode.

Is this a development you welcome?

It's absolutely necessary, otherwise I wouldn't have made it. I was finished. If it was up to (the US network) they would have replaced me or I would have quit, because nobody was listening to me and I ended up in the hospital. My boss Dick Wolf came forward with this idea because we've been friends for a while and he wanted to protect his investment. I want to keep doing the show and he wants me to keep doing it. So, do I welcome it? It was partly my idea.

I heard you collapsed because Bush got re-elected ...

Yeah, I wish! I wish I could say that I actually did. That would be hilarious. But I collapsed because I was tired.

I liked the Bush story better.

Yeah, me too. I think mentally a lot of us collapsed when Bush was elected.

What did you do when he won?

I collapsed! (Laughs) Us Democrats, we don't know what to do. We don't have anybody to stand up for us right now. Hopefully Hillary (Clinton).

You're five seasons into Law & Order. How are you enjoying the TV experience?

This show is awesome for me. I get to play this character, Goren, and it's hilarious to me. I just love the guy. I knew right away that I was going to play him full-out and either people were going to like it or not like it. It was basically, "Please like this, and if you don't, OK, fine, I'm gone." (Laughs) I wanted to set the precedents in the first season: this is not a typical cop show. This is me f--king around. Bear with it or don't. If you don't, kick my ass out. I'm a character actor, I'm fine. I'll do my shit.

It must be a relief not to have to bulk up for film roles, though. You're like the Renée Zellweger of men.

I just did it again for the Orson Welles film. I just did a film about Orson Welles.

You directed, produced and acted in that …

And I put on 35lb (16kg) for it. At the end of the fourth season you'll see Goren getting enough weight to play Orson Welles, and then in the beginning of the fifth season you'll see him begin to take it off. Probably around the fifth episode he'll start looking like Goren again. (Laughs)

Your daughter, Leila (with formerly Australia-based actress Greta Scacchi), doesn't live here[Australia] anymore?

No, but Leila and I come here more than her and her mum. Her mum still has a flat here (in Sydney's beachside Coogee), but she rents it out when she's not here, so when Leila and I come … Leila likes to stay in the city these days, but we spend the whole day on the beach.

She's 13. Have you read her the riot act about boys?

Not yet. So far I haven't had to. We'll see.

How often do you get out here?

Well, we were just here last Christmas, for nothing, just to hang out. I get a break in about 20 days. I think I'll come back then. I've got some business I want to do. I love the winters here. Everybody wears jackets and stuff. It's so funny.

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[Metella]

In earlier interviews Mr. D'Onofrio uses the word fk often, once in a while some other cursing. All in all I found it refreshing and lighthearted and honest.

Now, in the last few interviews, he is swearing more; and I am feeling a more self-defensive tone to it. I am not liking seeing all those swear words now as they just seem walls and not honest expression. Sure could be the increased publicity - finally seeing himself in the enquire; but surely that isn't a surprise & should have been shrugged off?

[Sirenna]

I'm shocked you're shocked, Metella. Are you mellowing in your old age?

The swearing doesn't bother me yet. I'm pretty de-sensitised unless it's directed at me personally. It would bother me if it was done because the person lacked the ability to pick the appropriate noun, adjective or adverb. You know, like the phrase you know and they were, like, being lazy, you know. I see original thought in this interview. Actually the past two or three that have been posted, post-collapse have been better interviews with less regurgitation about his past roles: "character actor", "lost forty pounds" and "never the leading man" blah blah blah. Lately at least the interviews have been more about what his plans are and where he sees himself going next.

I think each interview captures him in a certain mood. In this he seems to be in a 'no bullshit - I just can't be bothered to do it right now' type of mood. He's pretty frank about his and the creators' motives in adding Chris Noth. In the other Austrailian article where he hints at his new project, he seems more diplomatic, picking his words more carefully.

[Sirenna]

Which leads me to think, his best interview maybe after a couple or six drinks to his credit...

[Metella]

Shocked is not a word I used or is even close to my musings. So that word completely misses what I was trying to express.

I give you that he may have been in the mood you listed; I'm saying even in that mood, the tone - spirit in which he inserted his more copious swear words in the last 2 interviews I read were of a vastly different flavor than those years earlier. What?! a person changing over the years? Sure, but most people change in a mellower way, this gives me a distinctive undertone of anger and defensiveness. That, if true, makes me roll my eyes in lack of sympathy. However, this is all conjecture & I just wanted to comment on it as I saw this stretch through more than one interview; over more than one day - which lead me to believe it was due to more than a passing mood, which is something I had considered until I saw more of it.

[BegToDiffer]

I've commented in other posts about Vincent's interviews and while he doesn't do it in TV interviews, the cussing is in almost every print interview I have read. I am disappointed that he does it so much. I'm not shocked by anyone swearing, and I'm certainly not innocent, but I don't think it is professional. I wonder why he does it?

[NicoleMarie]

I think these latest interviews shows his personality more. And like Sirennah, I am tired of reading the "character actor, Kubrick, and 70 pounds" inserted into every bloody interview he does. His swearing doesn't bother me either. It kinda takes guts to swear in interviews. His swearing is part of his personality. He's blue collar kind of guy, not the eloquoent buttoned up guy. (I think anyway.) I swear a lot too but usually don't on the boards because I know some people are so hypersesitive about it. hehe!

[BegToDiffer]

Wait a minute. Time out here. I think that's an insult to blue collar guys. Do we just assume that all blue collar guys behave poorly? You don't have to be in a suit and tie to have a good vocabulary or good manners. To me people who throw out cuss words are showing off, especially during an interview. I think Vincent is an intelligent guy, and I'd like to think that he was better than that. But his history speaks for itself. Why shouldn't we expect more from people?

[NicoleMarie]

Wow, BegToDiffer, that caught me off guard. hehe!

No, it's not an insult to blue collar people. It's an insult to the white collared, prim and proper people- the black tie folks. I'm only half kidding! hehe!

I don't see anything wrong with his cussing- it's just part of who Vincent is- no matter the color of his collar! I myself could give Vincent a run for his cussing money but, I think there is a time and place for everything. Vulgarity has a place- it's vulgar for a reason. Not everyone likes it or uses it but, some do.

I do agree with Metella, Vincent seems more agitated lately.

I found a neat article about the defense and history of cussing, "A Study of Swearing in Modern English" by Andrew Gray. It has lots of cuss words in it, so proceed with caution if cussing offends anyone!!! I thought someone might find this interesting.

www.insultmonger.com/swearing/modern_english_swearing.htm

I don't think I have permission to post the actual article.