Truly one of the greatest character actors of his generation, Vincent D’Onofrio is the consummate human chameleon who immerses himself into his believable roles. Starburst caught up with him to talk about his latest film, Chained…
Starburst: As an actor, you’ve played good guys, bad guys and troubled souls. How do you prepare for a role?
Vincent D’Onofrio: You need to read the script, find your character and how he influences the story. You ask yourself questions. Get inside his imagination; what’s he all about… then things start to come to you on how you want to portray him. You go back and forth reading and re-reading the script trying to see what works and what doesn’t, developing what kind of character he is and his motivation that’s integral to the plot.
Up until seeing you in the role of Bob in Chained, the one film that really disturbed us was your character as the crystal meth dealer, Pooh-Bear, who took one too many trips to the “honey jar” causing his nose to melt off in The Salton Sea. How the hell did they do that effect?
Those were the days of early CGI. There was a trailer on the set where they had a digital camera set up and they’d put these dots on my nose with a Magic Marker scanning it that took 45 minutes. They can now do a full body scan in 2 minutes with today’s technology.
The house where you filmed Chained is isolated and ominous, yet has a welcoming look about it. Do you think the house itself is a reflection of Bob’s character?
Yes. By the way, that’s all Jennifer.
The scenes between you and Eamon Farron are riveting acting as his surrogate father through fear and intimidation.
In acting, there are scenes that are “in-the-moment.” They create emotion in the plot which creates a reaction in the viewer.
If there was one character you could play, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be?
That’s a tough question as there are so many choices. I would say it begins with the story and how good it is, the character’s motivation and goal. That’s what makes me want to be a part of it.
Anything coming up we’ll see you in next?
I’m working with Jennifer again on her next film; A Fall From Grace and few other things coming up.
CHAINED is out now on DVD/Blu-ray.
