Get your own Free Home PageThis article is from the December 1996 issue of Bop.
Good thing he made that clear. When you're dealing with Vinnie, you're never quite sure. That's part of his charm. Of course, Vinnie's fans will love him whether he decides to be funny, flip or philosophical. And, if he continues to wow directors like Indian's Frank Oz and Alaska's Fraser Heston, Vinnie can be in whatever kind of mood he wants. The rest of the world will just have to keep up. During our Vinnie encounters, we've learned quite a bit about the star: He's run the gamut from his family to his frolics with Agie Jane, the polar bear in Alaska. Sometimes, however, Vinnie gets into some pretty heavy territory--like the time he told BOP that he is still undecided on whether or not there is a supreme being.
"I'm alone and I come up with my own ideas," he says. "And I come up with a new idea every night about what I believe in God, you know?" Vinnie realizes that he's a deep thinker and he's still searching for the answers to many of life's deeper questions. "I think I'm lost and confused," he says. "And I think what happens is that I am a hypocrite in my words but not in my actions. But if you're a hypocrite in your thoughts, if you're always contradicting yourself, always challenging yourself to be smarter, I consider that a good lesson."
Yet even when he's at his most pensive, even when you think this philosopher might be too deep for you to keep pace, there's always that slight possibility that he's pulling your leg. Vinnie knows how to laugh and he's always ready with a good "Gotcha!"
Recently, for instance, Vinnie told BOP that while promoting 1995's The Indian In The Cupboard, he played fast and loose with BOP's informational fact sheet--a form we ask the stars to fill out so that we can gather basic background information on them. Vinnie, who was 15 at the time, wrote that his favorite TV show was Seinfeld and claimed as one of his idiosyncrasies: "My room is messy sometimes." More than a year later, the actor informed us that several of his answers were bogus. He's a die-hard fan of The Simpsons, not Seinfeld, and when BOP's Cathee reminded him of the alleged "messy room" habit, Vinnie just laughed. "No it's not!" he says.
This mischievous streak can mess with your mind if you happen to be a writer trying to conduct an interview. While you're asking questions, Vinnie is doing his best to oblige you while still indulging in his wicked sense of humor. For example, you've just learned that Christopher Walken is Vinnie's favorite actor ( not Johnny Depp, as the year-old fact sheet listed ) and now you decide to ask him if he has a favorite actress. "No," Vinnie replies. "I don't think actresses should exist."
Uh-oh, panic time. Is Vinnie saying that he doesn't want to work with actresses, that he only wants to act in one-man shows or exclusively-male projects? Does he even want to talk about this subject further? But before you can break into a sweat, Vinnie takes you off the hook. "I'm just joking," he says once again.
It would be comforting to know if there are some subjects on which Vinnie will never jest. Unfortunately, he seems to be pretty much an equal-opportunity kidder. He'll even make a few jokes at the expense of his family and, as always , he slips them in when you're least expecting it.
For instance, Vinnie is perfectly serious when he tells us that his older sister Elise has recently moved back into the Kartheiser family's house in Minnesota. He's telling the truth when he says that he now has the opportunity to catch up on some quality bonding time. Of course, when older siblings return to the nest, Vinnie observes, the younger ones tend to drop lower in the "family pecking order." Interesting, we say. And your parents? What do they do? "Drink," Vinnie fires back without missing a beat. "My mom and dad are both full-time alcoholics."
By now, you can see what kind of challenges the BOP staff faces. At least with that crack, it's crystal clear that Vinnie's putting us on. But probablay the most difficult topic is Vinnie's celebrity status. Basically, it comes down to a difference of opinion: Vinnie doesn't believe that anybody is or should be interested in him, and we at BOP know that he has quite a few fans who are constantly asking for more information on him. We've told Vinnie this several times, but he always seems to think that we're the ones who are joking.
So, as far as we're concerned, Vinnie can sit there all he likes and call himself "a complete loser." He may even be serious when he says it. But as far as we're concerned, that's the biggest joke of all.
Get your own Free Home Page