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From bugbear to sex symbol
Despite his harsh and angular looks – Vin Diesel, the approved action
star is the most sympathetic daredevil that could be seen on screen in
a very long time. And he has a favourite character:
Riddick, the
superman with infrared eyes, who kills bad people and ugly monsters in
a distant future and apart from that wants to be left alone. After PB
(2000) he’s slipping again into this role for TCoR. The expectations
are high. After all, the muscular 37 year old is supposed to be the
successor of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, van Damme and all the others.
The bouncer has an interesting past. But Diesel has become a gentleman,
knows all about the business and is about to be seen as a kind of
Kindergarten Cop in the near future. But for now he treasures his
favourite legend, that of Riddick the daredevil. In our interview he
talks about his childhood, his artistic claim and the suffering of a
sex symbol.
Here in Berlin you had a day off. How
did you spend it?
I bought several electronic devices but basically I was just wandering
around like I did as a child in NY. Since then, I have a kind of
voyeuristic view that you develop while growing up in a metropolis and
thus exploring it. When I left high school I couldn’t believe that
there was a world beyond the Hudson river. I always thought there is a
no man’s land and Manhattan was the only existing island.
Now you’re taken with a rather
sectionally character that doesn’t seem to fit to your urbane
environment. Why?
I think what mostly tags Riddidck’s character is the fact that only in
moments of grave danger he is fully aware of himself. He can toy with
people’s fears that surround him in this very moment. Without saying
much he can manipulate people, a tough guy who knows himself well
enough to handle perils. To cut it short: if he faces death he laughs
at it. That’s his typical black humor.
How much of Riddick actually is in Vin
Diesel?
I spent 20 years with going to auditions and sending pictures of me to
people of whom I thought they could present me a career. Today I have a
much more self-confident point of view. I could have never made PB
without Strays which was played at the Sundance Film Festival. Or
another example: while filming SPR in London, I wrote my first script
concerning bouncers in NY. That’s how one thing builds up on another.
How content are you with being an
action hero?
That shows me how well marketing works. I grew up in an artists’ house,
and you were not allowed to live there if you earned more than 10.000
dollars a year. That was a project of the early 70’s in Manhattan. Ever
since then I consider myself to primarily be an artist. This is my
world, creating art because of art itself. The action movies I make
earn money, the others reach a very special audience. That’s the way it
goes.
In your upcoming movie The Pacifier
you
don’t have to mess with monsters but with kids. How does that fit into
your profile?
Now that was surreal. For once not playing an introverted, complex and
difficult character like in AMA or Riddick – that was a completely new
experience for me. I came to the set and only had to be the jester,
that was wonderful. For me that was the best filming experience ever
and I came home smiling.
Was it difficult to empathize with the
part of Riddick?
For him I instantly knew where the wind blew: Riddick is a phobic guy
who, once he is left alone, cannot cope with the company of other
people and who’ll never learn to do so. He’s in a constant state of
stress when being surrounded by other people. Therefor he comes to the
conclusion that it’s best for him to be alone. His uncertainty mints
and divides him, a really melancholic fellow.
How did you manage to convince Judi
Dench to participate in such a movie?
For years people kept asking whom I want to work with and expected me
to name some great directors. But I kept saying: Judi Dench. When we
created her part I always had to think of her. We needed someone who
could transport the whole mythology of the character both fast and
credible. What if Judi Dench would explain the universe? Who would not
believe her? So I flew to London, saw her on stage with Maggie Smith
and begged her to accept the part. I had ordered the studio to cast no
one else for that part and it worked.
Apparently the Riddick saga is still
continuing. What can we expect of the third part?
Of course there’s not much I can tell you. But in the third movie the
audience will be taken to a place that is even more horrible and scary
so that it won’t be approved for a young audience. This in general.
Riddick is not going to be the big hero anymore and the plot of TCoR
will be continued.
How much did your life change with
that
sudden fame?
I’ve always wanted to become an actor. Because of my multicultural
background I had no idols to emulate. Back then there were no movie
stars who accepted their uniqueness and didn’t have a problem with it.
I wanted to take that role. For many years this seemed to be
impossible, until I had the chance of making Multi-Facial. I always
wanted to make movies but no one can imagine how hard it it to lose
your private life. I grew up in a city in which, as an eight year old
boy, I used to communicate freely with people in the subway, in which I
cherished my freedom. This is not possible anymore and I didn’t expect
that.
Do you think of your state as a sex
symbol as a positive one?
I have always pictured myself as a sex symbol – in my weird brain
(laughs). You gotta see it that way: I was a bouncer. The meaning of
this job is to fight and don’t let everyone in. What’s typical for the
NY nightlife is the masses of beautiful women parading every night,
giving you the chance to become a hunter. If you’re labeled ‘sex
symbol’ you become the hunted. It’s bizarre when everything is
reversed. I always had to work hard to get a woman: being funny, being
charming, sending flowers – the whole deal. This is suddenly taken from
you and it feels odd.
Interview
in German Here
