FYI: Vin got this part after Steven Spielberg saw him in Multi Facial and even though his character got killed early on, he was permitted to shoot second unit resulting in some of his shots ending up in the final cut. Along with his co-stars, Vin had to do five gruelling days of bootcamp to prepare for the movie which paid off with a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance By A Cast.

"When my mother saw The Iron Giant, she said, 'Vin, if you never do anything else again, I'll be proud of you'."

Iron Giant 1999

Character: v/o Iron Giant

Best Quote: "I am not a gun!"

Plot: based on the British poet Ted Hughes work about a little boy's friendship with a robot.

FYI: This role came about when a female assitstant to Vin at Sundance remembered his voice and gave a copy of Multi Facial to director Brad Bird. Vin met with Bird who was impressed and offered him the part. After 6 to 10 hours of voicing gutteral sounds, some days Vin couldn't speak for up to three hours.

"For a guy like Chris, this job is everything because he's not really good at anything else."

Boiler Room 2000

Character: Chris Varick

Best Quote: "I don't need your business, I value it..."

Plot: about an illegal Long Island brokerage house and the people who "work" there.

FYI: Vin did this role in order to stop him from being typecast. He drew on his pervious experiences as a telemarketer and observations of the high-flying brokers who came to the clubs he was a bouncer at. Boiler Room was made for only $9 million and grossed almost twice as much at the box office.

"The Riddick character represents anybody who's been ruled out, given up on, prejudged."

Pitch Black 2000

Character: Richard B. Riddick

Best Quote: "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

Plot: when a psychopathic killer cyborg is marooned on a deserted planet with a group of space travellers, he finds that he must save them in order to rescue himself from nocturnal alien predators.

FYI: Originally studio execs didn't want Vin for the role as Riddick, but director David Twohy and producer Ted Fields insisted that he get the part. He didn't betray their confidence. In addition to his weight training, Vin took up yoga to capture Riddick agility on screen. As well he did most of his own stunts which means his body took a regular beating. During filming, Vin's eyes were left with an abrasion when the specially crafted contact lenses bonded to them. Despite that, Pitch Black was worth the trouble. It cost $20 million to produce, grossed $40 million in theatres and made Vin Diesel a rising star.

"When I look at Dominic...I see a character who is strong, who is a caretaker."

The Fast & The Furious 2001

Character: Dominic Toretto

Best Quote: "I live my life a quarter mile at a time... For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."

Plot: an undercover cop infiltrates the world of illegal street-racing to stop a rash of truck-jacking heists.

FYI: The Fast & The Furious put Vin on the map. It was inspired by a Vibe magazine article entitled Racer X in May 1998 by Kenneth Li about street racing in Queens. The movie was originally titled Redline. The $50 million dollar film has gone on to gross between $150 - $200 million and become somewhat of a classic among street racers.

"He's a doer of deeds and makes no bones about being a new breed of super agent."

xXx 2002

Character: Xander Cage

Best Quote: "The things I'm gonna do for my country."

Plot: extreme sports competitor is recruited by the US government to infiltrate a Russian crime ring.

FYI: filmed in LA, Austria, Prague and Bora Bora, this movie reunites Vin with TF&TF director Rob Cohen and producer Neal Moritz. Unfortunately one of the movie's stuntmen Harry O'Conner died during one of the stunt scenes. Revolution Studios has set up a trust fund for his two daughters.

Knockaround Guys 2002

Character: Taylor Reese

Plot: four wannabe mobsters are sent to a small Montana town to recover a bag of cash.

FYI: Originally shot in 1999 before Pitch Black, Boiler Room and The Fast & The Furious, Vin actually turned down more lucrative offers in order to work with the likes of John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper.

"This character was the hardest to leave behind. I found myself, for three months, kind of living in a somber place."

A Man Apart 2003

Character: Sean Vetter

Plot: government agents try to bring down a shady underworld crime figure known as El Diablo.

FYI: Blizzard Entertainment got a court ruling which forbid New Line Cinema from using the name Diablo. The rumors around the film include everything from scenes needing to be reshot(a bad sign) to the studio ordering a sequel even before the original hits the theatre.

In order to prepare for this role, Vin took up Ju Jitsu, a highly practical "hands on" martial art which applies ancient combat techniques to modern self-defence scenarios.

Coming Attractions

Riddick(2004)

xXx2*(2005)
as executive producer

In The Works

Hannibal

about the Carthingian general who used elephants to travel over the Alps.

NY Giant

romantic comedy about a hotheaded football player who falls in love.

Dreadnaught

sort of a "Mutiny On the Bounty" in space(has been post-poned)

designed and maintained by Beth Clarke ©2002