NOT 'MONEY' ENOUGH? JON FAVREAU AND VINCE VAUGHN EXPLAIN WHY THEY ALMOST DIDN'T GET 'MADE' MADE.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Vince Vaughn still doesn't quite get why so many guys think Trent, his smooth-talking hipster character from the 1996 cult hit ``Swingers,'' was the epitome of cool.

`` 'Swingers' was so misunderstood,'' Vaughn says emphatically, talking in his typical machine-gun cadence. ``I never saw Trent really as cool. I always thought he was pathetic - funny and comical, but never the standard of cool. He was sort of geeky, when you think about it, the way he was so committed to the clothes and the rituals and that he thought he had girls figured out. But there were a lot of guys, though, who started modeling their whole lives on the guy. It shocked me.''

But if Trent wasn't quite as ``money'' as many people thought, he's still a couple of steps up on the evolutionary ladder from Vaughn's character in his new movie ``Made.'' Vaughn plays Ricky, a deadbeat knucklehead who doesn't understand why everyone else in the world can't be more like him. And when someone dares to call him on his obnoxiousness, Ricky will mutter, ``You know, there's a nice way to do that.''

``And you know what?'' Vaughn says. ``Guys are going to love Ricky. I wouldn't be surprised if it's 'Swingers' all over again.''

That wouldn't be a bad thing, since ``Made'' reteams Vaughn and his ``Swingers'' buddy Jon Favreau. The two had been looking for another movie to make together since ``Swingers'' and had come close a number of times. But the sticking point was that this time Favreau wanted to write and direct. (Favreau wrote ``Swingers''; Doug Liman directed.) And he didn't want any interference.

It proved to be a surprisingly tough sell. ``Swingers,'' after all, grossed $4.5 million on a $250,000 budget and greatly expanded its audience (and revenues) once it hit video. The movie also spawned a hit soundtrack (which itself spawned a sequel), and, along with a confluence of other pop-culture factors, helped spur a revival in swing music and cocktail culture.

``After 'Swingers,' everyone was coming after us,'' Vaughn recalls. ``We almost did a western with Miramax. Paramount pursued us, but what was that? It was like a woman saying, 'I want to date you, I want to date you, I want to date you.' And you're not sure. And then when you say, 'OK,' she says, 'Um ... I don't want to date you anymore.''

Favreau finally found a taker and got his movie made. (The film's title is Favreau's wink at the arduous process.) Like ``Swingers,'' ``Made'' is a mismatched buddy movie in which Vaughn's Ricky and Favreau's earnest character, Bobby, delve into the underworld to pull off a job for an old-school mob boss played by Peter Falk. Sean Combs (aka ``Puff Daddy'' or ``P. Diddy'') also stars, making his acting debut as a Manhattan gangster who, of course, has excellent access to the New York club scene.

The $5 million-budgeted ``Made'' feeds off of the chemistry between Vaughn and Favreau, but anyone expecting an extension of the ``Swingers'' vibe should rent the video again.

``We wanted to present something that was more typical of '70s movies like 'Mean Streets' and 'The Pope of Greenwich Village,' movies that weren't so cut-and-dried,'' Favreau, 34, says. ``I like movies where you never know what's going to happen next. This movie is funny, but it also goes to some pretty dark places. I like that. If I have a problem with movies today, it's that they're too predictable and boring.''

Adds Vaughn: ``I haven't made a comedy since 'Swingers,' not because there haven't been opportunities, but because I didn't like any of them. I just don't find them funny. It's always got to be something like some frickin' radio station saying, 'Hey, are you having a hard time dating? Send in a biography and we'll have astrologists pick two people to stay married for a year and then you get a million dollars.''

``Why can't you just have two people meet and have the comedy come from that?'' Vaughn continues. ``It's always got to be some concept. It's crazy. That's why I like Jon. He writes about people. And we both find people to be incredibly funny.''

Favreau moved to Los Angeles from Chicago in 1993 after landing a part in the football movie ``Rudy.'' Vaughn was also in the cast, and the two struck up a quick friendship that ultimately inspired Favreau to write ``Swingers.'' Just like in the movie, Favreau had left behind a girlfriend in his move, and he and Vaughn and several other struggling actors spent their nights hopping between clubs and trolling for ``babies'' in Hollywood, Los Feliz and Silver Lake.

``Made,'' obviously isn't as strongly personal a story, but there are aspects of Ricky and Bobby's friendship, however exaggerated, that ring true. An example comes early in the movie when the two wanna-be players fly first-class from Los Angeles to New York. Vaughn's Ricky is incredulous that first-class fliers receive so many free perks and keeps ringing for the flight attendant to badger her with an insane litany of demands and questions.

``The first thing I noticed after the success of 'Swingers' was how Vince and I were flown around in first-class, riding in limousines, staying in hotel suites,'' Favreau says. ``But you can't really make a movie about Vince and me becoming famous, but you can make one about two guys starting to live in the lap of luxury from being involved with the underworld.''

``That scene on the airplane,'' says Vaughn, ``is totally true, although I'd like to say that I had a bit more self-awareness than Ricky. But I could tell I was bothering Jon by pressing the stewardess button, so I just kept doing it to see how far I could push it.''

Just as in their films, Favreau and Vaughn share an easy rapport with Favreau usually taking the back seat to his friend's more voluble ways. Their respect for each other is solid and deeply felt. Favreau marvels at Vaughn's career ascendancy and his ``ability to elevate the movies that he's in.'' Vaughn respects Favreau's new-found domesticity; Favreau recently married and they are expecting a son any day now.

``He's at peace now,'' Vaughn says. ``He's really come a long way. He's much more of an adult.''

Favreau isn't so sure about that assessment. When asked if he's ready for diaper-changing duties, he replies with a smile, ``I don't know. It depends how this movie does.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1--cover--color) BACK IN THE SWING

Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn reteam to enjoy the high life in `Made'

(2) ``Made'' director and writer Jon Favreau: ``You can't really make a movie about Vince and me becoming famous, but you can make one about two guys starting to live in the lap of luxury from being involved with the underworld.''

(3) Vince Vaughn, left, Faizon Love, Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy), and Jon Favreau star in the gangland buddy movie ``Made.''