Post by Natalie on May 1, 2005 5:39:59 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/movies/01waxm.html
May 1, 2005
Vince Vaughn Dodges a Ball and Leaps to the A-List
By SHARON WAXMAN
LOS ANGELES
IN Hollywood, when you're hot, you're hot. The hard part can be figuring out when that's going to happen.
Take Vince Vaughn, the 35-year-old actor who grabbed the public's attention with "Swingers" in 1996 but who has languished far, very far, from the A-list since then.
Not anymore. In January, Mr. Vaughn became the object of a bidding war when a romantic comedy that he was producing called "The Break Up" went on the auction block. Universal bought the script - by two young writers hired by Mr. Vaughn - for $2.25 million, and paid him $12 million to star and produce. Mr. Vaughn's top fee was previously $3 million, his representatives and a studio executive said.
Suddenly, Vince Vaughn has become a bankable commodity. "I wouldn't accuse them of overpaying him," said Toby Emmerich, the president of production at New Line, referring to Universal's winning bid.
Asked if he would green-light a movie based on Mr. Vaughn's participation, Hutch Parker, the president of production at 20th Century Fox, recently said: "Yes, probably, presuming it's the right role. He's truly viable."
And then in early April, the director David O. Russell cast Mr. Vaughn as the lead in his next film, a comedy for Universal. Mr. Vaughn will play the wisecracking host of a radio call-in show who finds himself adopting the characteristics of his callers.
How does an actor go from lukewarm to red hot? In Mr. Vaughn's case, it's been years coming, with the nearest proximate cause the high-intensity buzz on "The Wedding Crashers," a comedy that co-stars Mr. Vaughn and Owen Wilson and will be released by New Line in July. Mr. Vaughn plays a gangly, obtuse but good-hearted divorce lawyer who hits on women at weddings. He proves to have a knack for physical comedy, using his large size (he's 6 feet 5) to mock his own clumsiness and playing the sensitive type against his particular brand of dark masculinity.
But Mr. Vaughn wasn't initially known as a comedian. After the success of "Swingers," Mr. Vaughn spent years concentrating on dramatic roles, cultivating a dangerous persona, whether as a serial killer in "Clay Pigeons" or as Norman Bates in the remake of "Psycho," both in 1998.
It was not until Mr. Vaughn began revisiting comedy, in roles in "Old School" in 2003 and in "Dodgeball" and "Starsky & Hutch" last year, that he started to attract attention again. With the surprise hit "Dodgeball," in which he starred with his friend Ben Stiller, Mr. Vaughn could lay claim to a bona fide success. At the same time, he took his career into his own hands by cultivating "The Break Up."
"Comedy is what I was offered first and foremost," Mr. Vaughn said by phone from the Universal lot, where he was working on that film, which will also star Jennifer Aniston. "But I chose to shy away from that. In my naïveté, I didn't want to get pigeonholed, but I didn't realize that probably not enough people had seen the film to even know who I was."
And when Hollywood executives took a chance on him, his forays as a leading man did not result in box-office success. "Psycho," for example, was a bust, taking in $21 million domestically.
"The Break Up" is an "Odd Couple"-type story about a man and woman stuck living together as their relationship is ending. He sold it to a studio where it languished, so last year Mr. Vaughn reclaimed the pitch and recruited two novice writers, Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender. "I paid them nothing," Mr. Vaughn said. "I just said, 'Come to my house every day, we'll write the screenplay together.' " That gamble paid off handsomely with the script's auction, coinciding with growing interest in "The Wedding Crashers." A recent screening of that movie, organized by New Line to generate word-of-mouth, suggested that it was poised to become a hit. The room was packed and rocked with laughter.
"Vince is so likable, so sympathetic, there's a vulnerability to him," said David Dobkin, who directed Mr. Vaughn in "Clay Pigeons" and "The Wedding Crashers." "As a fan of Vince's, I'm always attracted to roles where he appears to be the kind of guy that maybe wouldn't have that vulnerability and turns out to have it."
Mr. Vaughn said he was more prepared for this round of Hollywood heat, having been there once. Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Vaughn moved here at 18 after landing a role in a national car commercial. He expected to be discovered but instead struggled for seven years as an unknown, until "Swingers" became a pop culture hit.
The cycle makes him cautious. "I don't want to come off as if I've accomplished anything yet," Mr. Vaughn said. "It feels ridiculous. What I'm most excited about really is the chance to be involved in what the story is, to have more control over the actual story unfolding."
Vince Vaughn Dodges a Ball and Leaps to the A-List
By SHARON WAXMAN
LOS ANGELES
IN Hollywood, when you're hot, you're hot. The hard part can be figuring out when that's going to happen.
Take Vince Vaughn, the 35-year-old actor who grabbed the public's attention with "Swingers" in 1996 but who has languished far, very far, from the A-list since then.
Not anymore. In January, Mr. Vaughn became the object of a bidding war when a romantic comedy that he was producing called "The Break Up" went on the auction block. Universal bought the script - by two young writers hired by Mr. Vaughn - for $2.25 million, and paid him $12 million to star and produce. Mr. Vaughn's top fee was previously $3 million, his representatives and a studio executive said.
Suddenly, Vince Vaughn has become a bankable commodity. "I wouldn't accuse them of overpaying him," said Toby Emmerich, the president of production at New Line, referring to Universal's winning bid.
Asked if he would green-light a movie based on Mr. Vaughn's participation, Hutch Parker, the president of production at 20th Century Fox, recently said: "Yes, probably, presuming it's the right role. He's truly viable."
And then in early April, the director David O. Russell cast Mr. Vaughn as the lead in his next film, a comedy for Universal. Mr. Vaughn will play the wisecracking host of a radio call-in show who finds himself adopting the characteristics of his callers.
How does an actor go from lukewarm to red hot? In Mr. Vaughn's case, it's been years coming, with the nearest proximate cause the high-intensity buzz on "The Wedding Crashers," a comedy that co-stars Mr. Vaughn and Owen Wilson and will be released by New Line in July. Mr. Vaughn plays a gangly, obtuse but good-hearted divorce lawyer who hits on women at weddings. He proves to have a knack for physical comedy, using his large size (he's 6 feet 5) to mock his own clumsiness and playing the sensitive type against his particular brand of dark masculinity.
But Mr. Vaughn wasn't initially known as a comedian. After the success of "Swingers," Mr. Vaughn spent years concentrating on dramatic roles, cultivating a dangerous persona, whether as a serial killer in "Clay Pigeons" or as Norman Bates in the remake of "Psycho," both in 1998.
It was not until Mr. Vaughn began revisiting comedy, in roles in "Old School" in 2003 and in "Dodgeball" and "Starsky & Hutch" last year, that he started to attract attention again. With the surprise hit "Dodgeball," in which he starred with his friend Ben Stiller, Mr. Vaughn could lay claim to a bona fide success. At the same time, he took his career into his own hands by cultivating "The Break Up."
"Comedy is what I was offered first and foremost," Mr. Vaughn said by phone from the Universal lot, where he was working on that film, which will also star Jennifer Aniston. "But I chose to shy away from that. In my naïveté, I didn't want to get pigeonholed, but I didn't realize that probably not enough people had seen the film to even know who I was."
And when Hollywood executives took a chance on him, his forays as a leading man did not result in box-office success. "Psycho," for example, was a bust, taking in $21 million domestically.
"The Break Up" is an "Odd Couple"-type story about a man and woman stuck living together as their relationship is ending. He sold it to a studio where it languished, so last year Mr. Vaughn reclaimed the pitch and recruited two novice writers, Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender. "I paid them nothing," Mr. Vaughn said. "I just said, 'Come to my house every day, we'll write the screenplay together.' " That gamble paid off handsomely with the script's auction, coinciding with growing interest in "The Wedding Crashers." A recent screening of that movie, organized by New Line to generate word-of-mouth, suggested that it was poised to become a hit. The room was packed and rocked with laughter.
"Vince is so likable, so sympathetic, there's a vulnerability to him," said David Dobkin, who directed Mr. Vaughn in "Clay Pigeons" and "The Wedding Crashers." "As a fan of Vince's, I'm always attracted to roles where he appears to be the kind of guy that maybe wouldn't have that vulnerability and turns out to have it."
Mr. Vaughn said he was more prepared for this round of Hollywood heat, having been there once. Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Vaughn moved here at 18 after landing a role in a national car commercial. He expected to be discovered but instead struggled for seven years as an unknown, until "Swingers" became a pop culture hit.
The cycle makes him cautious. "I don't want to come off as if I've accomplished anything yet," Mr. Vaughn said. "It feels ridiculous. What I'm most excited about really is the chance to be involved in what the story is, to have more control over the actual story unfolding."
I finally watched Dodgeball at the weekend and WOW was it good! 
And YES Vince is really cute too. Never really noticed before til I watched this. (Not as lovely gorgeous as Owen obviously 
). Vince is really really tall too. But then most people are to me as I'm only 5ft 2ins.
