D'Onofrio shows versatility
As '60s radical or as serial killer, actor ready for emotional journey
By: Joshua Mooney
September 1, 2000
The Akron Beacon Journal
Vincent D'Onofrio sees a distinct line between his on-screen presence and his off-screen life. In fact, the 41-year-old actor, now starring in The Cell, doesn't even like to discuss that line.
``I'll talk about it a little,'' he said warily, ``but I hate to seem too romantic about things.''
D'Onofrio is known for keeping the essence of his acting to himself. He doesn't like to talk about how he prepares for a role, or what those roles mean to him personally. He's also known as one of Hollywood's pre-eminent character actors, a man of commitment and craft.
You might not recognize the name, but it's very likely you've seen D'Onofrio's work. He burst onto the scene in 1987, playing a disturbed Army recruit in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. D'Onofrio gained 70 pounds to play that role.
He went on to play a lovelorn fisherman in Mystic Pizza, a screenwriter in The Player, a cop in Strange Days, a blind football player in Good Luck and Orson Welles in Ed Wood. He was also a farmer whose body was taken over by an alien in Men in Black.
D'Onofrio has made more than two dozen films since Full Metal Jacket, but he says celebrity has never been his goal. ``The more of a celebrity you become -- let's say a Jack Nicholson -- the less seriously we'll take you as an extreme character,'' D'Onofrio said. ``If people know who you are, they see that instead of the character.''
Audiences are seeing quite a bit of D'Onofrio right now. In the big-budget thriller The Cell, D'Onofrio plays a psychotic killer who terrorizes psychologist Jennifer Lopez and detective Vince Vaughn. In Steal This Movie, a low-budget independent film, D'Onofrio takes on the role of real-life '60s radical Abbie Hoffman.
D'Onofrio was so convincing as the overweight, deranged private in Full Metal Jacket that he was offered a slew of dark roles. But instead of jumping at the chance to work in another film, D'Onofrio waited patiently, lost the excess weight and showed up in a small, sweet-natured love story, Mystic Pizza.
D'Onofrio said he usually has to chase down the roles he wants. But occasionally, a good role lands on his doorstep. ``It's shocking to me every time a director sends me a script and says, `Please do this.' Especially when that character has nothing to do with anything I've done before. That's always really nice.''
That's how D'Onofrio ended up playing Abbie Hoffman. ``I still don't know to this day why (director) Robert Greenwald imagined me playing Abbie Hoffman,'' he said. ``I'm nothing like Abbie. I don't look like Abbie.'' In fact, Hoffman, who died in 1989, was a slight 5 feet 6 inches tall, while D'Onofrio is a robust 6 feet 3 inches.
``I think Robert told me one time it was because of the emotional aspect of it,'' D'Onofrio said. ``Our story isn't so much a biopic as it is the emotional life of a man. I think he thought I could handle it emotionally. That makes sense to me. I like emotional journeys.''
Hoffman's personal journey meshes intricately with the turbulent trip America was taking in the 1960s, an era of protests and politics, radicals and rock 'n' roll (not to mention sex and drugs). Hoffman was a master of political theater and a champion of free speech. He was also an enemy of the Nixon administration and of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.
D'Onofrio said the chance to play Hoffman would be ``a feast for any actor.''
D'Onofrio said he has no illusions about the '60s. He doesn't feel comfortable offering his own political views but, when asked about the ultimate impact of Hoffman and his times, he managed to reveal a bit of his perspective anyway.
``The bottom line is, we live in a country where you're allowed to get up and say what you feel,'' D'Onofrio said. ``Free speech is a disease and these guys were the seed. They started it, and it was infectious. If our film says anything, it says you're allowed to do that here in the country we love. And it makes our country great. So do it.''
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