Vince Vaughn: Entertainment Weekly

The Trendsetting Entertainers of 1998
June 19, 1998

THE ODD COUPLE

Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix





Ages 28; 23 Why them? One's a slicker-than-Aqua Velva lounge daddy with just enough Midwestern drawl to make you imagine a stalk of wheat hanging from his lips. The other's an instinctive, steely-eyed actor who's capable of shattering with emotion one moment and capturing an eerie stillness the next. But despite their disparate styles, Vaughn (left) and Phoenix are opposites who'll attract moviegoers in two upcoming films. In Return to Paradise, Vaughn plays a New York limo driver who unknowingly deserts traveling companion Phoenix, who's facing a death sentence in Malaysia for drug possession. That's followed by Clay Pigeons, in which Vaughn chews up the scenery as a hilariously smooth-talking truck driver who befriends Phoenix's seemingly slow-witted cowpunk. Work habits Phoenix seems fueled by fear, while Vaughn plows through with confidence. According to Pigeons director David Dobkin, their approaches create a dramatic collision: "Joaquin's got a powerful explosiveness that's going to happen in the first couple of takes. But as Vince gets warmed up, he's like a locomotive — he gets better and better and you can't stop him." How they ended up in two movies together It wasn't just a casting oversight. While doing Pigeons, Vaughn told Phoenix about the Paradise script and urged him to check it out. "The film's a character piece, and I think Joaquin is great. I was excited that he would play the part; it put my mind at ease." Next? Phoenix gets into some shady subway business in The Yards from Little Odessa director James Gray. For Vaughn, it's a wig, dress, and knife when he takes a stab at the Norman Bates role in the upcoming remake of Psycho.

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