For a young comedic actor just starting out, snagging a part in Rat Race, a raucous comedy with the likes of John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg and Rowan Atkinson, must have been a dream come true.
For Vince Vieluf, it certainly was exciting, but he felt he had to make the most of his character, Blaine Cody, if he was going to make a splash.
Boy, did he get what he asked for. Flying cows, airport radar towers, Monster Truck rallies-he and his brother in the movie, Seth Green, got the brunt of most of the outrageousness in Race.
Vieluf, known for his TV guest stints on ER and Friends, as well as the films An American Werewolf in Paris, Clay Pigeons and Dropping Out, a Sundance Film Festival favorite, talked with Hollywood.com about how difficult it was to do those stunts, but that working with all those comic greats was just like summer camp.
You and Seth got do some of the most physical comedy in the movie. Was it difficult?
Vince Vieluf: Yeah…we definitely didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. When we started that movie we were both begging Jerry [Zucker] to do our own stunts. If they were going to use stunt people that would mean less time for us on-screen. When Seth and I started this, we worked so hard ’cause we thought we were going to be in the movie less than anyone else. The radar tower scene and the cow scene are literally only a paragraph in the script. And with this cast, you know, you had to make sure you were going to be up there or you weren’t going to be up there at all. So, like, we were willing to die for it. We milked it for all it’s worth.
How was it working with Seth Green? Looks like you guys connected.
Vieluf: It was a real learning experience cause Seth is like Elvis to nine-year-olds. I mean, we couldn’t go to a mall or a restaurant without tiny human beings freaking out. He was signing lunch boxes.
Would you like nine-year-olds to adore you and have you sign their lunch boxes?
Vieluf: [heavy sigh] I don’t know…maybe strippers and crack addicts–I want them as a fan base. Seriously, man, these kids would come to Seth with real love in their hearts. I think that’s beautiful. I mean, I think a lot of teenagers are going to like this movie. And I think they’ll definitely identify with Seth and me. We are the total outsiders in the situation.
Who thought of hooking a cow onto a hot-air balloon while racing in a car?
Vieluf: I don’t know. I think [writer] Andy Breckman injured himself. And while he was stumbling around, that’s what he came up with.
And the tongue stud in the mouth? Did you come up with that idea?
Vieluf: No, that’s the cow guy again. That was Andy Breckman. I was able to make up most of my dialogue, since it didn’t matter what I was saying.
You were in the Los Angeles theater group The Actor’s Gang. Get some of your spur-of-the-moment skills from them?
Vieluf: Yeah, [the Actor’s Gang] would write their shows by working shopping them. I’d make up a character every single night on stage. So, I guess I definitely have a lot of experience in that.
What’s the wackiest thing that happened on the set?
Vieluf: The wackiest thing for me was seeing people like Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Jon Lovitz and Rowan Atkinson and everybody up until 5:00 in the morning, passing around a bag of chips. All the attitudes completely gone cause everyone’s exhausted. Sitting around playing word games. Whoopi was such a mother figure, walking around in slippers. With a big bag of tortilla chips. It freaked me out! You hit this point where you realize it’s turned into summer camp. And then it’s like, what in the hell? I don’t have any heroes anymore. You know what I mean?
Sure. You start to work on this film with all these comic geniuses and at first you’re in awe. But then you realize they are here to do the same job you are and just as exhausted. The walls come down.
Vieluf: Exactly.
Last question. What would you do for $2 million dollars?
Vieluf: The sequel!
