The first time I really remember learning the name Vin Diesel was at an event I wasn’t even there for. I’d seen him briefly in the open minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and heard him do marvelous voice work for THE IRON GIANT, but it was him accompanying a print of the star-making PITCH BLACK to the very first Butt-Numb-a-Thon in 1999 that make me excited to see the film based on the crowd reactions and his enthusiasm for the film. Weirdly enough, PITCH BLACK opened right around the same time as another Diesel film, BOILER ROOM, in early 2000, and between the two, audiences got a solid sense of his range and the types of roles he was willing to commit to.
A year later came THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (too bad nothing every came of that franchise) and a year after that came XXX. At the time, it seemed Diesel was committed to alternating between bigger action-oriented pieces and more traditional dramas. Check out his work in KNOCKAROUND GUYS, A MAN APART (directed by F. Gary Gray) and Sidney Lumet’s greatly underrated FIND ME GUILTY. (I think the less said about THE PACIFIER, the better.).
Alternating between FAST AND FURIOUS sequels and RIDDICK-related chapters throughout the 2000s, it’s actually been seven years since Diesel has made a non-franchise film. A streak that ends with two films, actually—his latest, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, and the 2016 released BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, from director Ang Lee. In 2017, look for another F&F (apparently to be directed by Gray as well) film, as well as GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2, where Diesel returns to his vocal roots, having a bit of fun as the voice of Groot. On top of that, it would appear he’s returning to the XXX series very soon as well.
What brought Diesel and me together recently in New York City was THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, and I wanted to save running this interview until after opening weekend, primarily because it’s the week that leads to the deadline for Butt-Numb-a-Thon applications (due October 31). I opened my brief talk with him with an off-handed comment about him coming to BNAT 1, not meaning to indicate I’d been there, but he clearly thought I had. He was on such a roll that I didn’t want to stop to correct him, but he has some really wonderful things to say about the experience and the importance of that screening. I also got off one question about WITCH HUNTER. This was a strange and wonderful 10 minutes of Vin Diesel reminiscing about his younger days some 16 years ago. Most of the time, he’s addressing the other people in the room at the time, giving them a history lesson about his career. Enjoy…
Capone: Hey. Good to meet you.
Vin Diesel: Good to meet you.
Capone: You were at the first Butt-Numb-a-Thon down in Austin, however many years ago that was.
VD: Then you know me. Steve, you’ve known me for so long. People that work with me don't know me as long as you have. You pre-date almost everyone.
Capone: Here we go. [laughs]
VD: Steve remembers when PITCH BLACK— my claim to fame was THE IRON GIANT…
Capone: …which I just saw the new version the other day.
VD: Wasn’t it great?
Capone: So beautiful on the big screen.
VD: It was a re-release. Before PITCH BLACK came out, it was just buzzing, no one had seen it yet, I think one person from Ain’t it Cool News saw it and gave it an incredible review. And they invited us to Austin, Texas. It was the first time I was ever in Austin, Texas, even though my biological father is from there. They did something called Butt-Numb-a-Thon. They were essentially raising money, and the way they did it is you would go get sponsors and they would pay you according to how many hours you could sit in a movie theater chair, up to 24 hours, if you could do it, and watch movie, after movie, after movie. And you had no idea what the movies were going to be. My movie came, maybe at midnight, maybe at 11pm, maybe at 1am.
Capone: Around the halfway point.
VD: It was raining. I remember standing outside the back door, because I was going to be the surprise guest, and I remember it raining. I’m standing outside. The movie ends, I come up to the stage, and “Roar!” It was the first time I ever saw an audience respond to PITCH BLACK. This is before FAST AND FURIOUS; this is before XXX; and that audience was in Austin at Butt Numb-a-Thon. They gave me a plaque, which was of The Iron Giant as a gift, and I remember Guillermo del Toro was there.
Capone: Was he?
VD: Yeah, he was actually there, just watching movies. For die hard fans, it was so cool. By the way, that was a very pivotal moment in my life and a special moment in my life.
Capone: Well, the film blew up right after that.
VD: It did, and I thank you for doing that and having that.
Capone: Thank you for bringing it. Can I get one question in about this movie?
VD: Oh god, I’m sorry.
Capone: Not at all. I just don’t want to run out of time without asking you at least ask you one question. Believe me, I love hearing you tell that story.
VD: I got lost down memory lane [laughs].
Capone: That was beautiful. I’m going to cherish that. Speaking of franchises, this is the first non-franchise movie you’ve done in seven or eight years, so I’m wondering what about this story made you think, “This is the new direction I’ve got to go in right now.”
VD: Well, you know that I’m a Dungeons & Dragons alum. I’ve been looking for a long time for something in the fantasy realm. And I met with the writer, Cory Goodman, about four or five years ago, and we started talking about my days as a Dungeons & Dragons player, and a few months later—I don’t know if it was coincidence—there’s this script called THE LAST WITCH HUNTER that I guess ended up on the blacklist, which is always an interesting sign. I was fulfilling all the other commitments on all the other films, but I always wanted to do something in the fantasy world.
FURIOUS 7 came and spun me into a dark place, and I was going to take a year off to recover from FURIOUS 7, and then Lionsgate secured something that I couldn’t turn down, and that was Michael Caine. And Michael Caine had said he was coming out of retirement because he couldn’t turn down the role—it was too good an offer and too interesting a role—and he and I have been friends for 13 years—not as long as I’ve known you. I’ve known you longer than I’ve known Michael Caine [Not true, but roll with it.]. But the idea of playing with Michael Caine, someone I’ve truly, truly been a fan of, not just in the way that people in Hollywood say, “Hey. I’m a fan.” I’ve studied him. I’ve watched his films probably more than it is healthy to watch.
Capone: And he’s also a teacher.
VD: He’s a teacher in his own right, yes. But I think of him as his generation’s Clark Gable. Clark Gable was a huge favorite of my grandmother and me. I feel like in many ways Michael Caine had some of that, had similarities to Clark Gable. And when we did an interview together, he said, “I used to love Clark Gable.” “Oh yeah, he’s my favorite.” It was just a wonderful experience. I was really lucky.
Capone: Alright, that’s great. Best of luck with this. Thank you so much. That was a great BNAT story. I loved hearing it from your side.
