Vince Vaughn savours newfound family man role
The nesting father/actor delves into love and loss in heartfelt comedy Delivery Man
LOS ANGELES — Once upon a time, Vince Vaughn was the fastest-talking quipster in the land of Hollywood.
But Vaughn admitted he’s curbed the conversational pace and the flip attitude since making his debut in Swingers almost two decades ago.
The 43-year-old is a father and husband now, so that was a factor. He’s also heading into mid-life, which seems to have tempered his personality and career choices.
“Part of it is my age and how different roles present themselves,” said Vaughn at a Beverly Hills hotel. “It changes what you play at 23 compared to what you play at 43.”
Case in point would be Delivery Man, a droll comedy which mixes l aughs with heartfelt moments defining fatherhood.
The film is a reworking of Montreal writer-director Ken Scott’s French-language movie Starbuck, which was a critical and box-office hit in Canada two years ago.
Scott returns to present his English-language version with most of the same ingredients from the original — and with Vaughn as a boyman in transition.
He plays David Wozniak, a New York under-achieving meat-truck delivery dude who finds out he’s fathered 533 children after making anonymous donations at a fertility clinic 20 years before. The trouble is 142 of his kids have filed a lawsuit that might force him to reveal himself.
Complicating matters is Wozniak’s pregnant girlfriend (How I Met Your Mother’s Cobie Smulders) who may or may not want to marry the immature flake. Through it all, his lawyer friend (Parks and Recreation’s Chris Pratt) and dad to four young children tries to advise Wozniak on his next steps.
It is left to Vaughn to ground the story with his usual wit and charm, but the actor provides some depth in presenting his daddy in turmoil, as well.
The extra effort required was exactly why he decided to take on the challenge — but only if Scott was involved.
“If it was just another director, I would have been less interested,” said Vaughn.
“He’s a very passionate director and storyteller, and he was very passionate about telling the story to a new audience. You really do see a lot of Ken’s DNA in (Delivery Man).”
Vaughn also credits Scott with assisting him to dig deep into his portrayal of Wozniak, who is torn between staying anonymous and getting to know his biological children.
To make his difficult decision, Wozniak secretly meets up with a few of the kids who are now struggling young adults. It required Vaughn to immerse himself in some poignant sequences defining love and loss.
“It is a non-traditional way to get at the heart of a lot of human situations,” he said. “That’s one of the things I really loved about the script. You always have either a comedy or a drama in most studio films, but Delivery Man has comedy and drama all under one umbrella.”
The mix of tones is reflected in Vaughn’s emoting.
“As an actor, I think that the best thing you can have is your imagination,” he said. “And then you use things that you are familiar with to your best advantage.”
In other words, his life as a new family man helped inform his performance after marrying Calgary native Kyla Weber in 2010; daughter Locklyn Kyla was born December 2010 and son Vernon Lindsay arrived last August.
Before that, he was a bachelor-about-town who seemed to excel at playing the raunchy wise guy in R-rated spoofs and farces.
After Swingers (1996), he tried his hand at more dramatic films, including Clay Pigeons, Return to Paradise and Psycho, but getting laughs seemed to be his strength.
He enjoyed a comedy comeback with co-starring roles in a string of hits such as Old School, Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. He returns as Wes Mantooth in the Anchorman sequel set for a December release.
He co-starred in the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie spy comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith and shared the big screen with Owen Wilson in the blockbuster Wedding Crashers.
The Break-Up was best remembered as the romantic comedy that led to his highprofile fling with Jennifer Aniston after her split from Pitt.
The relationship with Aniston gave Vaughn a taste of life under the constant glare of tabloid publicity, and he didn’t like it much. Still, the former Chicago model isn’t entering an introverted artistic period just yet.
He re-teamed with Wilson for the cheeky The Internship last summer and we can see him with Anchorman and Old School buddy Will Ferrell in the silly comedy Daddy’s Home next year.
Meanwhile, he continues his stay-at-home nesting phase with enthusiasm and a sense of gratitude.
“I got married later in life, and thank goodness my wife got pregnant right away,” Vaughn said, admitting parenthood is an ongoing learning curve.
“A whole world opens ups, but I think the best way to be a parent is to set your kids up for happiness.”