It’s almost hard to believe that, in 1994, Vin Diesel found it so hard to find acting work, he was forced to write his own movie just to guarantee himself a part. Eight years later, after a series of increasingly high-profile roles, the formerly unemployed actor can now command a paycheque touching eight figures with a wave of his colossal hand. Catching Diesel while he was in town promoting his latest movie The Fast and The Furious, Empire Online took the opportunity to sit down with Hollywood’s next action superstar to mull over a few of the mammoth roles that are now routinely thrust in his direction.
Recently tipped for the lead in Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of demonic comic book hero Hellboy, Diesel hinted heavily that he may well be taking on the role but evaded attempts to pin down a definite confirmation, insisting: "they’ve told me to keep quiet about it."
"You know why I like Hellboy," muses Diesel. "I like Hellboy for the same reason I liked The Iron Giant. This guy’s just ambivalent about his strength, he’s like this cool guy who doesn’t understand his strength and he goes through life like a bull in a china shop," he grins wickedly. "I love it."
After a recent meeting with Jonathan Mostow about a possible role in Terminator 3 rumours ignited as fans imagined the possibilities of Diesel squaring of against Schwarzenegger as a killer cyborg. Similarly bound by orders to keep schtum, Diesel simply smiles knowingly and says: "I haven’t seen the script yet."
One project he is allowed to talk about, however, is Triple X which will reunite him with The Fast and The Furious director Rob Cohen. "I’ve been talking about this film a lot, I’m proud of this film," he says. Fortuitously, Triple X producer Neal Moritz happens past at this moment and Diesel summons him over to provide some details.
"Triple X is basically a kind of James Bond meets X Games," says Moritz. "It’s like a spy movie with the sensibilities of the X Games." For the uninitiated, X Games is best understood as the extreme sports Olympics, where possibly psychotic sportsmen and women compete in some truly hair-raising events.
"I play a guy who’s a nihilist," says Diesel. "he’s a former X Games champion, who’s recruited by the CIA… and that’s cool. He’s a guy who starts out not giving a shit about anybody and begins to understand that that’s not the answer."
Finally, Diesel will be reprising the role of escaped convict and murderer Richard B Riddick in the upcoming sequel to Pitch Black ,titled The Chronicles of Riddick. Returning to laconic form Diesel is in no hurry to divulge any details: "I read the script and, suffice it to say, I like it a lot."