Vincent D'Onofrio recalls Men in Black director's surprising rule

Vincent D'Onofrio has recalled the surprising rule enforced by his Men in Black director.

The Daredevil star opened up to GQ Magazine about his fear of getting fired on set after he was told to abide by one particular rule.

Having been offered the role of Edgar the Bug - an alien character wearing the skin of a human whose body he has already eaten - Vincent, 66, explained he received a call from one of the hit 1997 comedy's producers on behalf of director Barry Sonnenfeld.

"'He's asked me to ask you that if I'm going to give you the script that I have to promise'," Vincent recalled the producer telling him.

"And this is the absolute truth, and Barry and I have talked about it since - I would have to promise that I would never speak to him about acting or the character or anything that had to do with my performance. That I would just say yes and then I would just do it."

Despite his surprise at the request, Vincent said, he agreed and was sent the screenplay.

"I started reading this alien comes down and takes the body of a guy and then wears the skin for the whole thing," he went on. "And I couldn't talk to the director about it!"

After devising a method for playing the character, Vincent arrived on set only to be interrogated about his performance.

"I could be getting fired," he recalled thinking. "All the blood is rushing out of my head. Like, I think I'm done. Like, I think it's my last hurrah with Barry."

However, Vincent said, the film's production continued regardless.

"We just kept on shooting and I just kept on doing that character the way that I brought it in, full out, and I didn't get fired," he said.

"That was a pretty big amount of trust he put in me to pull that character off for him. And I can never thank him enough for that."