Vince Vaughn says he remains hopeful about the future of comedy. As an integral member of the original so-called \u201cFrat Pack\u201d, which also included actors such Owen and Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Will Ferrell, Vaughn\u2019s rise to fame in the 2000s coincided with the most recent golden era of movie comedies. <\/p>\n
Beginning with 2003\u2019s college romp Old School, Vaughn had a decade of comedy hits that also included Starsky and Hutch, Dodgeball: An Underdog Story, Wedding Crashers, The Break Up, Four Christmases, Couples Retreat and The Intern. <\/p>\n
But despite big-screen comedy now being an endangered species compared with its heyday of two decades ago, and after his recent observation that late night talk shows have swapped laughs for agenda-based politics, he hopes there is a new generation that can revitalise the genre. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s there \u2013 you see a lot of it in stand up,\u201d Vaughn says over Zoom call of the ongoing appetite for comedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys are kind of going different places. So, I think it\u2019s coming in different outlets. But I\u2019d love to see some people under 30 get a camera and get to make some great young people comedies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we get to see that soon. I just like the genre, I like to laugh.\u201d <\/p>\n
And as to whether the current dearth of comedy on the big screen is down to filmmakers being scared to offend modern audiences \u2013 or whether moviegoers are more and more looking to be offended, Vaughn says \u201cthe pendulum always swings in different directions\u201d and right now studios are playing it safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s more about the state of the film business maybe that there\u2019s just less theatrical stuff,\u201d he laments. \u201cThere\u2019s a different playbook now. It\u2019s a risk business and so you had far more people that grew up in it knowing the risk. It\u2019s gotten a little bit more Wall Street in a way, risk averse.\u201d <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a healthy serving of comedy in Vaughn\u2019s new movie Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. There\u2019s also action, drama and even sci-fi thrown into the mix and the original blend of all those things \u2013 not to mention the fact that it is an entirely original creation \u2013 were what made Vaughn sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always fun to do something original and it\u2019s just fun to be in something that\u2019s not a remake,\u201d Vaughn says of a movie landscape dominated by sequels, prequels, spin-offs and superheroes. \u201cThis movie was so fun when I read it. It\u2019s kind of funny and then there is a hyper gangster world and now there\u2019s time travel and there\u2019s cool action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaughn plays the titular role of Nick \u2013 in fact the doubly titular role \u2013 as two versions of the same loan shark, one from the present and the other from six months in the future. After discovering his buddy Mike (James Marsden) is having an affair with his wife Alice (Eiza Gonzalez), the enlightened future version of Nick goes back in time to prevent his resentful, slightly unhinged past version from doing something he now knows he will regret. <\/p>\n
Like many time travel movies from Looper to The Terminator, especially in the scenes where the two Nicks are trading barbs and blows, it\u2019s best not to think too hard about the logistics of all, but Vaughn says he relished the challenge of the dual role. <\/p>\n
\u201cI like that at the centre it\u2019s really about these relationships and forgiveness and friendship and you care about these characters but in such a fun world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the two characters was cool. It\u2019s like that thing I think we all go through. We can be defensive or hurt and then you handle stuff out of anger or without thinking and then you feel terrible afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was nice to get to be a little reflective and play the character six months later. But it was also super fun to be a little bit petty in the moment as well.\u201d <\/p>\n
But as a veteran of more than three decades in acting \u2013 his breakout movie Swingers turns 30 this year \u2013 what would Vaughn want to change if he could travel back in time? Not a damn thing, he says.<\/p>\n
He admits he\u2019s made some mistakes, but they shaped the person he is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always feel like you\u2019ve got to go down the roads, even the ones that you didn\u2019t handle well or things you didn\u2019t like because it kind of makes you who you are,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know that you can cheat those lessons. You never like them in the moment, but years later you\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, that was rough, but I\u2019m better for going through it\u2019. So, I\u2019d be too nervous to mess things up. I\u2019d probably leave it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
One past experience he would be prepared to revisit \u2013 under the right circumstances \u2013 is his mega-hit rom-com Wedding Crashers with Owen Wilson, which became the first US R-rated comedy to pass the US$200 million barrier when it was released in 2005. <\/p>\n
Rumours have swirled ever since about a possible sequel and Aussie Isla Fisher, who played his love interest and \u201cstage five clinger Gloria, last year said that they were so close to shooting that she had a visa in her passport ready to go, only for it to fall over at the last minute. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there was a time we were close,\u201d Vaughn admits. \u201cBut, they just would have to have an original story that feels like its own movie worth telling and not just re-treading on what was there. So, I\u2019d be open to it if we ever if we ever got to that point.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsla\u2019s terrific \u2013 we had fun. Those characters were so fun to play with each other. It\u2019s always fun to see a couple of dysfunctional people fall in love.\u201d <\/p>\n
Vaughn last month appeared as a guest presenter at the G\u2019Day USA Arts Gala in Los Angeles alongside a who\u2019s who of Aussie talent and VIPs. Although he was there to honour (and lightly roast) his co-star in the coming second season of Bad Monkey, Yvonne Strahovski, with the Excellence in Film & Television Award, he says he very much felt at home. <\/p>\n
Not only did he shoot Mel Gibson\u2019s war drama Hacksaw Ridge in Sydney in 2015, he\u2019s also been a regular visitor for various business interests and promotional trips. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love Australia,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever met an Aussie that I haven\u2019t enjoyed. Good sense of humour, down to earth, easy to be around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a blast shooting Hacksaw Ridge and \u2013 it was so great to be in Sydney. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got to be there during the Melbourne Cup and that was unbelievable. Like the whole day shut down, which was super fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I grew up going to the racetrack with my dad. I\u2019d go to the races a lot, so it was super fun to see that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is now streaming on Disney+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vince Vaughn says he remains hopeful about the future of comedy. As an integral member of the original…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3359,12587,12030,68200,85,2652,39035,190347,190367,77636,190346,179,430,190369,190359,190350,190358,156,190363,9499,190355,190365,41038,26242,79291,190354,2047,190351,58640,190366,57153,190370,190361,190348,190349,2648,111,139,64,13902,69,2659,26808,162605,190356,178080,190357,190352,190362,190360,1734,190368,14920,190364,13883,19154,85400,5573,190353],"class_list":{"0":"post-361521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alice","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-andrew-garfield","11":"tag-austin","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-ben-stiller","15":"tag-big-screen-comedy","16":"tag-blast-shooting","17":"tag-breakout-movie","18":"tag-business-interests","19":"tag-california","20":"tag-celebrities","21":"tag-century-studios","22":"tag-comedy-hits","23":"tag-director-mel-gibson","24":"tag-dual-role","25":"tag-entertainment","26":"tag-film-business","27":"tag-getty-images-inc","28":"tag-hyper-gangster-world","29":"tag-integral-member","30":"tag-isla-fisher","31":"tag-jack-black","32":"tag-james-marsden","33":"tag-loan-shark","34":"tag-los-angeles","35":"tag-love-interest","36":"tag-luke-wilson","37":"tag-mega-hit-rom-com","38":"tag-mel-gibson","39":"tag-movie-comedies","40":"tag-movie-landscape","41":"tag-movie-worth-telling","42":"tag-national-film-writer","43":"tag-new-south-wales","44":"tag-new-zealand","45":"tag-newzealand","46":"tag-north-america","47":"tag-northern-america","48":"tag-nz","49":"tag-oceania","50":"tag-old-school","51":"tag-owen-wilson","52":"tag-passport-ready","53":"tag-regular-visitor","54":"tag-ridge-stars","55":"tag-risk-business","56":"tag-sequel-hopes","57":"tag-super-fun","58":"tag-sydney","59":"tag-sydney-shot","60":"tag-texas","61":"tag-titular-role","62":"tag-united-states-of-america","63":"tag-vince-vaughn","64":"tag-will-ferrell","65":"tag-world-premiere","66":"tag-young-people-comedies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}