We've known for months that Vince Vaughn will partner up with Collin Farrell for True Detective season 2, but he's been awfully mum about his new role until now. The actor who's made his name in comedies sat down with Playboy to discuss to talk about his "Vaughnaissance," how the new season of True Detective will be different, and the pressure of following up Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson's performances. He also answered the obligatory question about Hollywood's emphasis on TV shows.
On tackling a new type of role:
The truth is, I don’t know that I ever had a plan. Mostly I’ve had lots of fun in lots of different ways—acting, producing and writing. It was great early on, working with Jon Favreau on Swingers and all the things that followed. Then doing those early independent films was great. Doing the big studio comedies was fantastic. And it’s nice now to be mixing it up and doing something different with True Detective. But I get a little uncomfortable when people start putting labels on things.
On if he feels pressure after the success of season one:
Honestly, no, because Nic Pizzolatto is such a great writer, and so much of this is driven by his stories. I thought Woody and Matthew did an exceptional job with the first season. This one’s very different, though. It’s a totally different story, with its own characters. The thing that’s consistent is the richness of the characters and the quality of the material. That was Louisiana. This is a California-based story, and it was kind of birthed from here. A lot of it is set in Los Angeles. I really like my character. Nic is so great about investigating characters and their complexities in an authentic and engaging way. I want to watch this show not because I’m in it but as a fan of the material.
On TV vs. movies:
I wouldn’t say more interesting; it’s just different. A film like The Way Way Back with Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell was as smart as anything you’d see in any format. But TV is definitely having its moment. It’s almost as if we’ve discovered how exciting it can be to tell a story over a longer time frame. In the 1990s we went through a run of independent films that captured the attention of critics and a certain type of audience member. Those movies were edgy, offbeat and risky and had fully drawn adult characters. You can’t do that as easily anymore on a big studio movie. If you can’t turn something into a franchise that gets people into seats that first weekend, you’re probably not going to get your movie made. Studios are huge corporate businesses, and they have to show their shareholders each quarter how well they’re doing. When money is what drives you, it’s a lot easier if you can say, “We have this third sequel opening now and that fifth sequel next month and the ninth sequel of something else coming this summer.”
Now we know a lot more about what to expect from season two, but we still don't know when it premieres. Read Vaughn's entire Playboy interview here.
