Vincent D'Onofrio Interview on "Full Metal Jacket" (August 4, 1987)

Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (/dəˈnɒfrioʊ/; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
His roles include Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Full Metal Jacket (1987), Edgar the Bug in Men in Black (1997) and Men in Black: The Series (1997-2001), Carl Stargher in The Cell (2000), New York City Police Detective Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-11), Victor "Vic" Hoskins in Jurassic World (2015), and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin in four television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Early life
D'Onofrio was born on June 30, 1959, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He is of Italian descent, with ancestors from Naples.[2] His parents Gennaro and Phyllis D'Onofrio met while Gennaro was stationed in Hawaii with the U.S. Air Force. Gennaro was trained as an interior decorator but spent most of his spare time in amateur theater.[3] Vincent is the youngest of three siblings. His older siblings are Antoinette (born 1956) and Elizabeth (born 1957), an actress and drama coach residing in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.[4] He was raised in Hawaii and Colorado during his early years.[5]
D'Onofrio's parents divorced when he was young; his mother later married George Meyer. He became stepbrother to Guy and Connie, Meyer's children from a previous marriage.[citation needed] The family relocated to the Hialeah, Florida area. D'Onofrio has described himself as a shy boy who spent "a lot of time in my room, staying in my head",[6] later became interested in magic and sleight of hand, tricks he learned from Cuban entertainers who owned a small magic shop.[3]
In his teens, he worked backstage in set building and sound production at a number of community theaters run by his father.[citation needed] He graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School.[7]
Career
Acting and filmmaking
D'Onofrio in 2014
After graduating from high school, D'Onofrio started to appear on stage. During an 18-month stint at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, he was involved with small, community-theater productions. He later studied method acting at the American Stanislavsky Theater and the Actors Studio, under coaches Sonia Moore and Sharon Chatten,[8] which landed him his first paid role in off-Broadway's This Property Is Condemned.[6] He went on to appear in a number of their productions, including Of Mice and Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. D'Onofrio continued his career by performing in many New York University student productions while also working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Cafe, a bodyguard for Robert Plant and Yul Brynner[5] and a deliveryman.
In 1984, he made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions.[9] In 1986, D'Onofrio took on the role often considered the defining moment in his acting career, as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence, an overweight, clumsy Marine recruit in the movie Full Metal Jacket. On a tip from friend Matthew Modine, D'Onofrio was urged to send audition tapes to director Stanley Kubrick, in England. Four tapes later, D'Onofrio landed the role. Originally, the character of Pvt. Lawrence had been written as a "skinny ignorant redneck"; however, Kubrick believed the role would have more impact if the character were big and clumsy. D'Onofrio gained 70 lb (32 kg) for the role, bringing his weight to 280 lb (130 kg).[10] This remains the record for most weight gained by an actor for a film.[11] While filming an obstacle course scene for the movie, D'Onofrio injured his left knee, compounded by the excessive weight, which required surgical reconstruction.[12]

[@mikefitzgerald41]

Lee Ermey said Vincent was the best part of the movie

[@vincentvega5686]

ive never seen vincent this dark before.

[@ronniep9272]

Well he is of Southern Italian descent.

[@johnnynbk]

Loox like foggy

[@drift3rkid66]

You've never seen him play Wilson Fisk?!

[@jamretro1336]

​@@drift3rkid66 he means skin tone

[@drift3rkid66]

@@jamretro1336 Oh, gotcha! 😄

[@corriecole4687]

Just an amazing actor.

[@user-vp8xh2xs9x]

Big D’Onofrio fan from Criminal Intent. He so young here, excellent interview

[@1506Jimbob]

Genius actor in everything I’ve seen him in. Full metal jacket is amazing. The first half especially until his untimely end In men in black as Edgar the bug, daredevil and Jurassic world

[@patriciamunizs]

🇧🇷👋🏾🤝🏽 Thank you for sharing this love Vincent D'onófrio.

[@ytpremium7649]

Greatest actor ever

[@amadislugo5334]

Underrated.

[@davidpetrie3793]

Marines are not Drill Sergeants, they are Drill Instructors.

[@equine2020]

Yes

[@noellutsey5620]

drill sergeants, drill instructors...who gives a flying fawk. Do you correct people on spelling too?

[@equine2020]

@@noellutsey5620 Perhaps someone is just trying to inform others of correct termology. Learning new things does expand your knowledge. It's not always to put someone down.

[@noellutsey5620]

@@equine2020 You're right though. my bad

[@aidanfox8219]

It's that crazy cop from law & order.

[@howielisnoff]

Great movie and a great actor. I would have liked a longer interview with more discussion about Vietnam, but in the time given to this interview, the discussion was good.

[@whatareyoulookingat24]

It’s like a mix of Vincent D’Onofrio and Julio Iglesias and I’m not complaining at all 😂👌

[@Natedawg38]

Awesome

[@roberttamatea1996]

Vincent was my favourite in the movie 🎥🍿🍿🍿 I cried when he died. There was somuch to him. I wished that he had a chance to prove himself in battle.. Vincent was the Best

[@ikGREENY]

This dude put up one of the best performances in the history of cinema. I’m a bit of a buff for good movies. I’ve seen most critically acclaimed movies of all eras (1930s-now) and all genres. I really have. From Saving Private Ryan to Rear window to the Marvel CU to Gone with the wind. And his performance as Pile has stuck with my and has made more of an impact on my world view than any other character I’ve ever seen (other than legacy characters like Batman or Luke Skywalker). I’ll always remember that bathroom scene…

[@jbw3118]

Such a good movie.

[@equine2020]

So young.

[@northamericanman75]

Was Vincent on quaaludes during this interview?

[@Gquequeg98]

What makes you say that? Other people here are saying he looks coked out lolol

[@jmo8934]

That’s some bouffant on vinnys head.

[@melissaadams4577]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@imagine9265]

I Grew up right around the Corner to MR D'Onofrios Realtives I seen him w his head shaved in front of his Realtives house I didn't know he was a actor he looked like a Emotional Disturbed Person😂

[@mandu6665]

People out here saying he's on coke when they don't realize how hot studio lights are. Especially in the 80s.

[@Tabish29]

He looks just like adam baldwin in the thumbnail.

[@stevefowler2112]

i went thru PI in '72 before being sent to MP school in Texas and then Vietnam...I saw the exact Do you not know your right from your left slapping scene right in front of me and we had a fuck up recruit that had string tied around his dick as the DI lead him across the parade deck. We also had one of our best recruits crack and jump from our third story barracks stairwell landing down to the hard deck. Parris Island was a very brutal place in the Vietnam era. Many of the Parris Island scenes interacting with Lee Ermey are spot on as he was a Marine DI, but all the scenes where Pyle is mentored is complete BS, that never would happen in Marine boot...you are definitely on your own in Marine boot, no other recruit is going to help you, we all hated the fuck ups and non hackers...we were all just trying to survive.

[@slaktheking69]

Bs

[@kettle5946]

He looks nervous

[@shellyt556]

He seems to answer professionally. The interviewer seemed awkward

[@ropi8739]

Lord have mercy, he's so fine, so fine

[@BookClubDisaster]

Was the AC broken? Coke binge?

[@RedAvery1]

Just 1980 lol

[@harryseretti3669]

Drill instructor not Sargent 😮

[@optimal8155]

The interviewer didn’t do a good job.

[@theshield3643]

Why? I thought the interview went fine. Care to elaborate?

[@ropi8739]

He asked questions he cared not to listen VDO reply to. Rude and unprofessional.

[@Th3MagicBullet]

Would’ve been nice if he lost weight by the end of the film. Hellloooo

[@Vimana2089]

He's from Hialeah, Fl? 🤯🎉🎉

[@felmaguin]

That was a bad interview lol

[@MrOctober44]

This might be the greatest interview I've ever seen.

[@theshield3643]

How was this a bad interview? Care to explain?

[@capoislamort100]

@@theshield3643Vince seemed to be on some heavy stuff. IDK what it is, he’s got that nervous look.

[@ropi8739]

I say you are projecting.

[@mikefitzgerald41]

I thought Platoon was way better - Matthew Modine ruined this movie - bad actor and was very unsympathetic

[@lankyhanky9772]

I think Modine just provides a completely different side to what recruits and Marines experience. Joker does a much better job adapting, at least in training, but you can see through Modine's performance that he's basically still a kid. Even with the reconditioning he's gone through, he has still held on to his humanity, and the war and the other Marines clearly disturb him. Did you even watch the end of the movie?

[@jerrywoods4066]

Hamburger hill and platoon were awesome. Full metal jacket still a good movie and a classic

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

You don't understand Kubrick films. They aren't made like the other, cookie-cutter, assembly-line stuff.

[@carlosdanli9389]

I think Matthew Modine proved that at the end of the day, the regular guy attitude in Marines, never goes away. The hyper Gung-ho emotionless macho films, when presented film after film, sometimes turns me off because it's not realistic. At the end of the day, especially when we're in the rear with the gear, we're just regular young guys, straight out of high school, trying to make sense of it all. Joker reminds me of some of my Marine Corps buddies, who were intellectuals, but had the guts to join the Marines