The Pick-Up Artists

For Vince Vaughn in particular, things have been falling into place nicely. A month before Wedding Crashers' July 15 opening, he leans back in the Chicago production office of The Break Up and kicks his feet up on his desk, displaying the same frat-boy bravado familiar to audiences. With mussed hair, unkempt attire, and heavy stubble, he actually looks more spent than he did back in Washington, though his mood betrays no fatigue.

As the producer of The Break Up, a Universal romantic comedy that he's currently shooting opposite Jennifer Aniston, Vaughn is the boss of this huge production office, which has a view of the Sears Tower and an elevated train clanking past the window. He developed the film, got it greenlit, and set it up in his hometown, filling out the cast and crew with several old friends. ''A big reason why I'm sitting here is because of Wedding Crashers,'' he says, referring to the attention he's drawn since the film began screening in Hollywood. ''People [in the industry]have responded to the movie, so I think it's helped me even before it's come out.''

Vaughn is in high demand these days, thanks to his special type of guy's-guy sarcasm, the crowd-pleasing comedic persona that has recently drawn kudos in Be Cool and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. And now that the number of movie offers he's gotten has spiked (along with his paychecks, reportedly four times greater than before), the actor soberly acknowledges just how challenging his dramatic detours — like Domestic Disturbance and Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake — were to overcome. ''You're always looked at for whatever you've done most recently,'' he says. ''So it was hard when I started coming back and doing some of these comedies. The doors weren't wide open at first.''

But that's behind him now, and Vaughn, like everyone else involved, can only watch as Wedding Crashers plays out at the box office. Not that he's counting on it for much.''You know. . .peaks and valleys,'' he says in all seriousness. ''I never had a game plan, saying 'One day, I'll be this.' I literally do not think that way.''

And you've got to believe him. After all, who'd have time to contemplate box office grosses or a career plan when the possibilities of slathering maple syrup on po'boys are so ripe to explore?