Q & A with Vincent D'Onofrio : Charity event for Utah Meth Cops ProjectComments: Part 2

This is a part 2 of my recounting of the Q & A with Vincent D'Onofrion which was held on June 4th 2011. Since I took notes in Japanese (it lets me write faster), I make no promise of the accuracy or the order of statements of anyone mentioned (or correct/coherent English grammar).

So after Vincent shared the story of how he ended up in Full Metal Jacket, a friend of mine asked a question;

"So the first film in which I ever saw you was 'Adventures in Babysitting' as the Thor when I was a child in 1987. You looked very fit and very 'Thor' like. Was that film shot before or after 'Full Metal Jacket'? I've been wondering because both of the films were released on the same year."

Vincent smiles at the mentioning of "Adventures in Babysitting" which I recently saw again and realized that the "Thor" was him in that one scene.

He said the order of the filming was; Full Metal Jacket, Mystic Pizza, then Adventures in Babysitting. Even though he said Kubrick takes a very long time to shoot and edit his film, we were all shocked how quickly he got back in the great shape after gaining 70-80 pounds. It shows his dedication to characters he plays.

The birth of Edgar to his Broadway role

Vincent also shared a story on how he created "Edgar" in Men In Black.
He said when the director Barry Sonnenfeld asked him to play the role, Vincent had one condition; a complete freedom on the character.

He said many great actors have their own ways to approach a role, but his was not to rehearse with other actors but often to create the character of his role alone and bring it to the shooting and spark reactions from others. So he was to "create" Edgar based on the script and bring it to the shooting without anyone knowing what was going to be like. You need to imagine there wasn't anything like that character before and he really created Edgar on his own.

As many actors do, he said, he began researching insects by watching documentaries. Trying the various movements of insects. He was able to learn those movements, but it didn't seem to click. One day, he was taking a walk on the streets in LA, he saw a sporting goods store. The store's window display had leg braces for injured basketball athletes. They were foot-to-thigh braces with joints at ankles and knees. And something clicked. He realized the character is an alien insect in a human body and trying to fit in as he pursue his mission on earth. So "he" must be uncomfortable and unable to control the human body very well. How would he have to control his new body? He thought, it's all about restraint. He went into the sporting goods store and bought a pair of the leg braces, stopped by at a home improvement store to get duct tapes, then went home.

First, he wore the leg braces and duct taped his ankles so that they are completely restricted from any movements. Next, he taped around his knees so that he can't bend his knees. Then, trying to express the multi-legged insect alien who's trying to restrain the movement to walk in the awkward human body on two feet. He put his knees together for control and what you see in the movie is what he came up with. Isn't that interesting?! He put so much thought into Edgar a lot more than I imagined.

The day of the shooting, he played Edgar according to his theory of how the character should move. No one knew what he was going to do. When the director said "Cut!" The crew was in complete silence. No one knew what to think of his performance. It was completely beyond anyone's imagination. He thought he was in trouble, he thought he'd be fired.

No one contacted him for days. He thought the producers are now discussing and contemplating how to get rid of him. And one day, he was called in for a meeting with the director and the producers. They were shooting the flying saucer scene which is toward the end of the movie. They told him they had created a pair of giant puppets, which cost them a lot of money ($10,000 each, he may have said), to play the insect alien in its true form in that scene. But it didn't work, because it didn't fit the character in human form which Vincent portrayed. So they have thrown away the puppets and decided to go with Computer Graphics. OK, he thought, but he's not even in the last scenes. Vincent asked why he was called in for this meeting and why they were telling him that. They said to him; "We just wanted to tell you that you're doing great." They must have viewed his scenes and loved what he did as Edgar and changed their expensive plan to make Edgar fit better.

A man sitting in front of me asked him how he felt watching the "finished product" of Edgar with special effects done over his acting. Vincent didn't seem to remember the finished film well. He usually doesn't like to watch his work later. Yes, there are obligations to attend screenings, and he thought MIB was a very entertaining movie, but doesn't remember particularly how he felt about "finished" Edgar.

He talked about why he doesn't like to watch his work later. He said it is bit strange to watch his work, and he'd rather concentrate on the process of building characters and performing them well. He said he doesn't think of what audience would think of his work after he worked on a film. He said; "it's for the audience to decide."

Then he went on to talk about his Broadway days in relation to this topic of audience. Sometimes, he said, while sitting in his dressing room in a theater, doing the same play he'd done tens of times again was the last think he wanted to do. Like when he was in the play "Tooth of Crime." But every time he heard audience starting to take their seats through the speaker system, which connected the stage and the dressing rooms, with their chatting noises and excitement in anticipation of the play which was about to be performed in front of them, it made him realize and become self-aware that he is a story teller from whom this audience is going to hear the story for the very first time. Then he always regained his excitement.

To be continued...
(In Japanese added later...)