July 16, 1999
by Elizabeth Hunter
Tony Award nominee John Leguizamo
brings intensity, insight and passion to the role of Vinny in
Touchstone Pictures' summer suspense drama, "Summer of Sam."
It didn't get any hotter than the summer of 1977 in New York City.
As temperatures soared well in the hundreds for endless days,
the city was seared by its own heat, sweat and energy.
With the unrelenting swelter, things started to change in the city and it made everybody a little tense and crazy. Looters poured into the streets as a blackout plunged New York into darkness and fear; and a mysterious psychopath began gunning down strangers in the night at random.
Dubbed "Son of Sam" by the tabloids that luridly reported his killing spree, the .44 caliber killer terrorized the city with a steady streak of grisly slayings. With the media playing an integral role in fueling the fear and paranoia, the whole city became a hotbed of suspicion and panic, captivating not only New York, but also the entire world.
With trademark virtuosity, filmmaker Spike Lee goes into the throbbing heart of the Bronx during this unbelievable summer to paint a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic. John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino and Jennifer Esposito lead an ensemble cast in "Summer of Sam," which chronicles how Son of Sam's plague of terror disintegrated a neighborhood, turned friends against each other and transformed trust into dread.
In Touchstone Pictures' "Summer of Sam" acclaimed writer and actor John Le-guizamo brings to life the complicated character, Vinny. "Vinny's this real Catholic, Italian guy from the Bronx who is madly in love with his wife, but he's young and a sexaholic," explains Legui-zamo. "Vinny also wants to get out of the neighborhood but doesn't know how. He wants a better life and career but has no clue how to get it. He's a real complex character even though he's kind of simple which makes him more complex."
A native New Yorker, John Leguizamo vividly remembers the summer of Sam. "It was a creative time. It was a real innocent time," he recalls. "I was thirteen, and hormonally charged. I would try to go to the discos, but I looked way too young. I bought a rust colored three-piece suit, all polyester, took my mom's mascara and painted myself a mustache. I went to clubs and told the bouncer that I was a midget. No dice."
To prepare for the role, Leguizamo drew upon personal memories, interviewed people and watched news clips about the hot summer of 1977. "I spent a lot of time with the `Summer of Sam' writer Victor Colicchio who helped me with the accent and the attitude. Then I took tons of dance classes with Mira Sorvino so we could feel like a couple and get the dancing right. Adrien Brody (who plays the role of Richie, Vinny's best friend) and I spent a lot of time together to get the lifelong friendship. We also saw tons of documentary footage of the period, including interviews with David Berkowitz, and we spoke to some of the cops who were on the case of the time."
The making of "Summer of Sam" had a profound affect on John Leguizamo's approach to filmmaking. "Usually you go in as a hired hand and try to score as best you can. Spike made us rehearse a lot and hang out together a lot so we would have chemistry on screen. Everybody was very relaxed with each other," explains Leguizamo, who feels that this approach brings out the best in actors. "There was a real sense of camaraderie and it made for better and more truthful acting because we could all be honest about our work. It was the most exciting and supportive set I've ever been on. We could tell each other when we sucked and when we rocked."
Leguizamo credits director Spike Lee for setting the tone on the set. "Working with Spike is exceptional. Very few directors have the courage and confidence he has and it transfers to the actors. He just lets you go and push further and farther than you've gone before. A lot of directors are afraid of experimentation and trial and error. Not Spike, he lives for it."
Critics and audiences alike would say the same about John Leguizamo who has established a dynamic career that defies categorization. His work in film, theater, television and literature covers a wide variety of genres, continually threatening to create a few of his own.
Despite Leguizamo's natural gift for writing and performing, he did not always know that he wanted to be an entertainer. He explains, "I always loved being funny and funny people. But it wasn't until I was seventeen that I realized that it was what I really wanted to do." John Leguizamo decided to be a performer and pursued his dream with vigor. He eventually enrolled in New York University where he studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Wynn Handman.
The multi-talented Legui-zamo has made his mark on stage through powerful performances and innovative and insightful writing. His one-man shows include "Mambo Mouth," for which he received an Obie, Outer Circle and Vanguardia Award, and "Spic-O-Rama" for which he garnered the Dramatists' Guild Hull-Warriner Award for Best American Play, and the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Broadway Performance.
Leguizamo's latest ne-man show, the Tony Award nominated "Freak," recently ended a successful Broadway run. Billed as "Semi-Demi-Quasi-Pseudo Autobiography," the critically lauded "Freak" was written by Leguizamo and directed for the stage by David Bar Katz. Leguizamo won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo/One-Persons Show and the other Outer Critic's Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.
Despite Leguizamo's success, he has decided to take a break from the live performance. "I'm not going to do another one-man thing for a while. I did feel another one coming but I'm suppressing it because it just take up so much of life and it's so all consuming. The last one took ten years off my life."
Leguizamo has big goals for the future. "I want to write some great comedies and some amazing dramas," explains Leguizamo who i well on his way to doing that and more. "I have a production company. We've shot two movies already, `Joe the King,' and `King of the Jungle.' We also have a project called `Young Lords' at HBO movies. So I've got my plate full."
John Leguizamo maintains an impressive level of passion and intensity at play as well. "I love to watch the Knicks and boxing. I box and play basketball. I'm into that whole `Bob Villa This old Ghetto.' I fix my house just like in the show. I got the drills, the saws, the whole works. I love going to clubs cause I love hip-hop. I also love to see foreign and classic movies."
No doubt, audiences will once again be impressed as John Leguizamo brings his own unique brand of passion and intensity to the role of Vinny in Touchstone Pictures' sizzling summer release "Summer of Sam."
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