Words: Eurweb

"The Fast & The Furious," a movie about the underworld of hot cars and wild street races opened last weekend, driving in $41.6 million with its adrenaline-powered story. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Ja Rule as rebel street racers with a need for speed. The film's star, Diesel, steals the show with his very real portrayal of a seasoned racer, Dominic Toretto, the leader of a crew of hotrod daredevils.

Diesel, whose real name is Marc Vincent, picked up the Diesel moniker as a buff bouncer in New York. He grew up with his Mom and adoptive father in an artist's housing project in Greenwich Village. Never knowing his biological father, he says that he prefers to keep his "complicated" background a mystery, and says that it was attributed in the film.

"Fast..." depicts the different ethnicities involved in the culture of street racing. In particular, the film represents white, black, Asian, and Latino characters in the racing game. He says that he fits in pretty much with all the ethnicity's because many can't figure out what ethnicity he really is.

"[It was a hindrance] in the first 20 years," Diesel said of his "mysterious" ethnicity. "And then we evolved, thank God."

With the racial struggle in Hollywood, he believes is no longer as strong, one of his biggest challenges with the film was finding a balance between glamorizing the dangerous activity of street racing with being true to his character.

"It's tricky, because as a citizen of society, you should obviously be invested in the well being of society, but at the same time, there's a reason for telling whatever story that you're telling, so sometimes you have to invest yourself in the character with somewhat reckless abandonment," he said.

"Having said that, I think the film addresses the pitfalls of that lifestyle. There are casualties in the film that are directly related to the lifestyle."

Diesel, whose trek to stardom includes his first feature film, "Saving Private Ryan," began to pick up a following after leading the cast of "Pitch Black." He says that he really enjoys doing the action films, but looks forward to expanding his acting roles.

"I like to diversify, but I'm extremely flattered by the idea of doing these action films, of being the next action guy. I approach every film the same way. If a film is in theory an action film, that doesn't mean that I would treat it any differently than 'Private Ryan.' Hopefully that's represented in my work."

Vin Diesel will be starring in the upcoming "Knockaround Guys" in August, and the F. Gary Gray-directed psychological thriller "Diablo." "The Fast & The Furious" is in theaters now.