Vincent D'Onofrio Breaks Down His Surprising Role In The Beauty

When a show needs gravitas, there’s one surefire solution: Vincent D’Onofrio. The iconic actor has appeared in movies like Full Metal Jacket and Men in Black, but he’s become a character actor on television thanks to roles in Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Ratched. He’s best known nowadays for his role as Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But he wears the “character actor” label like a badge of pride.

“It's so much fun being a character actor,” D’Onofrio tells Inverse. “I've been acting for so long now, and it's still so much fun to create these characters.” His latest creation in Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty is Byron Forst, the ultra-rich businessman who tries to get his hands on the infamous “shot that makes you hot” by whatever means necessary. He may be playing another villain, but this one’s a little different — I didn’t even recognize him the first time I watched the series.

“He's a super pathetic human being, that guy,” he says of Forst. “There's just a freedom in it. You can just be as obnoxious as you want, and obviously, it has to fit the story and stuff, but you get this freedom of just really going for it. It's so much fun. And when you're conscious of it while you're doing it, it's sort of like Stockholm syndrome. You learn to love your character, but you start off hating it.”

Byron Forst, much like Wilson Fisk, is a guy you love to hate, but Forst lacks the confidence of Fisk. He feels the need to change, to conform, and ultimately, transform (thanks to the Beauty) into The Corporation, the now-nameless character played by Ashton Kutcher.

D’Onofrio speaks with Inverse about his Method acting training, being a part of the Ryan Murphy universe, and what lies ahead for Kingpin in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and/or brevity.

Did you collaborate with Ashton Kutcher in creating this role?

Only a little bit. My job was to go in there and just be really pathetic and really obnoxious and create this human being that nobody could possibly like, and also somebody that's familiar to us. We all get to watch the billionaires of the world and their out-there behavior because of social media these days. We're so much more familiar with the bad behavior.

I mean, not all of them. Some of them actually do help society and stuff, but they're the quiet ones. Obviously, the ones that shine the brightest these days, unfortunately, are the ones that have bad behavior. It wasn't hard to research. It's all around us.

So now that you're a repeat actor in the Ryan Murphy universe, would you return for another show? Is there anyone that you'd want to play in one of his true crime shows?

Oh, I would love to. We talked about it. We talked about it. I would love to. I mean, if the right thing came up. We haven't come up with anything yet, but we did exchange emails about it once, and I told them that I was into it, so we'll see.

What can you tell me about Wilson Fisk’s journey in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2?

Oh my gosh, that's a loaded question. I can't really say a lot. It's impossible when I talk about the show to talk about it in terms of just my character, because Charlie [Cox] is such an enormous part of the show, obviously. So the two characters are at their wits' end, and the city joins them on that. The city ignites, and we have to deal with it. I'm there standing my ground, and it comes to a head, and it doesn't end well.

I would say if you're going to say a metaphor of some kind, then it would be: the city ignites.

Something I admire in your performance is your use of your Stanislavsky training. How did you use that training in this? Do you get annoyed when people misuse the term “Method acting”?

I don't get annoyed. I just know that they don't know what they're talking about.

It doesn't annoy me. I wish that I could have a conversation with them about it so that they would understand better, because a lot of them have great points to make, but they're misreferencing. A lot of people don't know the history of Stanislavsky, and that 99% is based on Stanislavsky, all the different techniques.

Stanislavsky had two different systems of acting. The first 10 years of his studies were what Method acting is. But then he had to deliver two plays a year at the Moscow Theater of the Arts, and because of the Method acting, he was losing control of his actors and they were being a bit too self-indulgent, which is the only way people act these days. But it wasn't helpful to him. So he went off with Boleslawski and a couple of other people, and they formed a new system of acting called the Stanislavsky system.

So I studied both of those. I studied the Stanislavsky system for three and a half years touring, doing plays with it all around the country. Then, I started getting into Method acting and learned that and studied that for six years. I mean, I'm still studying it to this day. But my mentor was Sharon Chatten, who's an amazing acting coach. Actually, my daughter uses her now.

But for that particular part, I would say there's a couple of people that I've met in real life. They weren't necessarily billionaires by any means, but they had particular unfortunate personality issues when it came to other people and how they should be treated. And so I channeled a couple of them in a very specific way, in the context of having run-ins with them myself. So, without getting specific, there were a couple of events that I used to put me in the right place.

One last question, because it’s been bothering me — can you explain why you're boxing in the Daredevil: Born Again trailer?

I think it's better if you learn it while watching the show. It's a really good story point. I don't want to ruin that for you. It actually is a very good story point. So I don't want to yet.

The Beauty is now streaming on Hulu.