Vince Vaughn is coming back to our screens in Bad Monkey , a new comedy series at AppleTV+ , and in a new interview to promote the show with Sean Evans over on the popular YouTube channel First We Feast (on his series "Hot Ones"), Vaughn brought his own heat when discussing the current state of Hollywood.
Audiences have noticed – and lamented – the lack of creativity available at the box office, with the endless sequels, prequels and reboots currently pouring out of Hollywood.
Evans got into the matter, asking Vaughn, "There's been endless ink spilt about Hollywood no longer making the kinds of R-rated wide-release theatrical comedies that were such a tower of strength in your career. How have you seen Hollywood's interest in making those kinds of films change over the course of your career, and what do you think are the forces at play?"
Vaughn candidly discussed the issue without playing coy, saying, "There became some idea or concept," he began. "They would say something like 'You have to have an IP'. So, for some reason, Battleship – which is a game we used to play, like a graph – became a vehicle for storytelling."
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To most, this isn't news. If you've recently been pondering what to see at your local multiplex, you've likely faced the struggle of wading through the timetable to find little option beyond a rendition of something you've seen years prior.
Digging into the issue, Vaughn brought up John Hughes – the writer and director behind Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off – saying, "An IP was a girl's turning sixteen...or, I'm gonna cut school. You know, life situations."
Vaughn brought the conversation back to his work, citing the 2003 Todd Phillips film Old School , which explores the concept of "What if I got to go back and be in a fraternity now at this stage of the game?"
His argument makes the point that there was a time when "Life" and the things it throws at people were its own compelling IP, whereas studios and the decision-makers now play from a different rulebook.
"The people in charge don't want to get fired more so than they're looking to do something great," Vaughn said, "so they want to follow a set of rules that somehow get set in stone that don't really translate, but, as long as they follow them, they're not gonna lose their job."
It's the first time someone has spoken openly about the intricacies occurring behind closed doors that we wouldn't otherwise hear about without stepping into a pitching room.
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He articulates that simply playing by the rules is enough for the people in charge to remain in their jobs because they have covered their backs, saying, "They can say, 'Well, look, I made a movie off the board game Payday. The movie didn't work, but you can't let me go.'"
While much of this year's heavy hitters at the box office have been IP-based stories, such as Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 (which at least started as an original concept), it is worth noting the recent success of independent productions like Talk to Me and Longlegs , which have made history in their own right at smaller studios.
Talk to Me became A24's highest-grossing horror film domestically in September last year, while Longlegs beat Parasite to become NEON's highest-grossing film domestically just last month.
Audiences are interested in different, and Vaughn acknowledged that in his response to Evans. He closed his thought by offering hope, saying, "People want to laugh. People want to look at stuff that feels a little bit like it's dangerous or pushing the envelope, and I think you're gonna see more of it in the film space, sooner than later would be my guess."
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