When I returned home from LA, the topic my friends most wanted to hear about was meeting Vince Vaughn. Everyone was so excited to hear what he was like in person.
“Was he funny?” Yes.
“Is he tall?” Very. (6’5″)
“Was he nice?” Yes, and gracious too.
“Did you get your picture taken with him?” Yep.
Ok, so that was really a group shot that I cropped my friends out of… But hey, looks cool, right?
“Did you meet him in person?” Yes, never pass up an opportunity to look a celebrity (or any person) in the eye, shake their hand and say thank you. I know I never do.
When Vince Vaughn joined the room of 25 bloggers who were anxiously awaiting his arrival, I don’t think he knew quite what to expect. He greeted us warmly with a comment about our matching Delivery Man shirts, but he seemed on guard. That feeling quickly vanished as he began to talk about Delivery Man and his role in the film. As he talked about the movie, his passion for the movie and being a father became apparent, his physicality became more relaxed and a broad and genuine smile lit up his face.
He was warm, he was genuine and he was laid back. He was exactly what you would hope for, and then some. As I listened to him talk, I discovered five things that made me like him even more.
(Photo: MomStart)
5 More Reasons To Like Vince Vaughn
He’s deep, very deep.
What surprised me the most was to hear America’s funny guy talk with such passion and realism about how he felt about the movie and his character. There was a very real sense that Vince is more than just a funny guy, he is a deep thinker who truly loves acting and the challenge of taking on new roles.
The director is a very passionate storyteller, and I think what he is doing with this story is really unique and inspiring, because it’s not an overly obvious way in to some very kind of sentimental and universal feelings about parenthood and also about life and accepting yourself.
He believes in hard work.
It is always interesting to me to hear actors touch on their journey into acting, and I appreciated his sentiment about teaching our children to work hard for a passion not to just chase empty validation.
I chose something very non-traditional in acting, but I never had pressure to financially be successful. I always had a lot of pressure to work hard. It was expected of me to try my best, but I was never pressured for results, which I think was good, ’cause sometimes if you’re chasing a result, it’s a false sense of whether you are successful or not, because like if it goes well, you are successful and maybe you didn’t try, you know.
It’s a very empty thing to chase in life if you’re chasing something outside of yourself some validation or something that you don’t have control over. So, you wanna make sure with kids that they put a greater focus on how they feel about their approach to what they’re doing than necessarily a grade or a job, or something.
He’s a family man.
While his passion for the movie was evident, when he talked about his own family his words seemed to resonate even more. He talked about being a new dad during the film and how that effected how he approached the role
I waited till I was older ,and I really wanted to be a parent when I got to be a parent. So I’m very invested in it. And I think it was very easy to draw on those kind of emotions that were running in me anyway.
He also touched on the weight he places on the importance of a supportive family.
I think the best thing you can do as a father for your kid is to love the mom in that it shows him what a good relationship should be.
And he mentioned that he might add to his family in the future, but that hasn’t been decided – yet.
I’m open to more kids. Although, my wife has informed me that when someone is breastfeeding that’s not a conversation that you have.
He is real.
As parents we don’t always know the right thing to do, and Vince’s character was faced with that a lot in the film. Sometimes it is the little things that help ground us to our situation and help us overcome.
What’s very moving to me — which I really liked about the character from the beginning and I think I can relate to this sometimes. I think a lot of can. Is he doesn’t know how to love that kid (his special needs son in wheelchair). It’s not that he doesn’t love the kid. He doesn’t know his value in that situation. When he first wants to leave it’s actually because he’s intimidated. He doesn’t have the self-confidence to say how do I express affection or warmth. And the woman really helps him and says, just be there — just talk to him.
He is funny. (But you knew that already, right?)
When asked what kind of gifts he would ask for from his 533 children, he joked
Gosh, I would really hit ‘em up for some stuff; right?
Then laughing he added,
Maybe if you have 533 kids, you can ask for a Father’s Day alone. I love you guys so much this is my day. No one talk to me. ‘Cause 533 would be a lot of conversations.
(Photo: MomStart)
Delivery Man is in theaters November 22, 2013.
For more about my trip, check out all of the #DeliveryManEvent posts, #ThorDarkWorld posts and #DisneyPlanesBloggers posts.