‘No, they didn’t like it at all’: Vincent D’Onofrio shares how Dick Wolf saved his iconic ‘Law and Order’ performance

If you’re a fan of the show Law and Order: Criminal Intent, then you’re probably familiar with the performances of Vincent D’Onofrio on the show. He had this way about him that was simultaneously dangerous and quirky, making his character Robert Goren one of the most memorable of any iteration on the show. Turns out the show’s producers were not into it at all at first.

D’Onofrio appeared on the popular podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, and the host just couldn’t stop gushing about his performance on the popular program.

“The first time I saw that, I had never seen Law and Order, and I was on the TV and I stopped, because I like you and I started watching you. And I go, ‘what is he doing?’ … So captivated in the way you were delivering sh*t and your mannerisms. It was like you were putting it together like a real person, but so quirky.”

Rosenbaum described the actor’s movements and subtle use of his hands and how he pauses for emphasis when he’s delivering his lines. Want a little taste? Check out this clip where D’Onofrio mimics a man while he stands next to him. It’s… weird. But also really captivating.

“Did they like what you were doing right away?” Rosenbaum asked.

“Well no they didn’t like it at all,” D’Onofrio said. “They worried about it.”

D’Onofrio said he would “save certain spots to pause in and not speak.” That, he said, “drove them crazy.”

His rationale for pausing was that the show “wasn’t radio.”

“You can stop talking,” he said.

He also told producers they could always cut it out. However, the show’s creator, Dick Wolf, was into his performance.

“He got it that people were into that weirdness. The idea that I had the guts enough to just pause and not speak for a moment while the room is full of actors and the camera is rolling, he thought that that was exciting.”

It turns out that Wolf himself gave D’Onofrio permission to “do all of that stuff that I was trying to do.”

He also praised the writers on the show for giving him such great lines to work with. Another weird quirk? He would block scenes himself, because “I had it all in my mind of exactly how the whole thing unfolds.”

“It made them nervous at first but once companies like that start making money, their nerves go away.”