UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOSTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF 'THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK,'

THURSDAY, JUNE 3 AT UNIVERSAL AMPHITHEATRE, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

      Premiere to Benefit the Department of Film and Electronic Arts at
California State University, Long Beach, and the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center

     WHAT:     The world premiere of "THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK"

     WHO:      "THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK" cast members Vin Diesel (who also
               produces), Thandie Newton, Karl Urban, Colm Feore, Linus
               Roache, Keith David, Yorick van Wageningen, Nick Chinlund and
               Alexa Davalos; writer/director David Twohy; producer Scott
               Kroopf; and executive producers Ted Field, George Zakk and
               David Womark.

               Plus, celebrity guests Snoop Dogg, Dennis Haysbert, The Rock,
               Shane West and many others.

     WHERE:    Universal Amphitheatre
               Universal Studios, Hollywood

     WHEN:     Thursday, June 3, 2004
               5:30 PM   Press Call Time
               6:30 PM   Celebrity Arrivals
               7:30 PM   Screening Begins

       "THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK" opens in theaters across the country
                          on Friday, June 11, 2004.

Source Universal


9:00am ET, 26-May-04

Riddick's Diesel Wooed Dench

Vin Diesel, who reprises his most famous role in the upcoming SF epic film The Chronicles of Riddick, told SCI FI Wire that he personally lobbied to get Judi Dench to take a role in the movie, an unorthodox choice for her. "I flew out to London and I saw a stage performance that she did with another lovely actress named Maggie Smith," Diesel said in an interview. "And I started courting her. Just begged and pleaded and said, 'You know, this character was written for you, and you are this character. This is how we want to play.' And she was so into it."

Diesel, a fan of Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy stories, found a kindred spirit in the esteemed British actress. "In Vancouver [where Riddick was shot], we would have dinner together and, like two kids playing in this whole universe, [we'd] talk about different [things]," Diesel said. "I mean, she's just remarkable. No one would ever expect that [she] and I would have a conversation that is so fantasy-based. A conversation you might have had with a friend after watching Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, you know what I mean? ... Really, really, really cool."

Diesel, who also acts as a producer on Riddick, said that he went so far as to make the casting of Dench as the "air elemental" Aeron a top priority. "I mean, ... I couldn't imagine anyone [else] being [cast] until Judi Dench was," he said. "I kind of made that a point. It was very, very important to me to have Judi Dench play the role of Aeron." He added, "She is a fan of [SF&F]. ... I mean, she hasn't spent her life playing Dungeons & Dragons, but you know, theater is, at the core, mythology-based. We can go through the numerous Shakespeare [plays]. ... It just goes on forever, the mythological references thematically in many of the plays and stuff that she's been doing forever."

Diesel added that his only regret was that he wasn't able to get Dench involved in a game of his beloved D&D. "Like I said, she doesn't play Dungeons & Dragons, and she doesn't necessarily play video games. But she's intrigued." Did he try to get her to play? "Almost," he said. "If it was up to me, I would have." The Chronicles of Riddick, the follow-up movie to Pitch Black, opens June 11.

SCIFI WIRE article Here

Diesel Revs Up 'Riddick's' Engine
Sun, May 16, 2004, 12:05 PM PT
By Vanessa Sibbald

 
    Vin Diesel sounds like he's in love and the object of his affection is -- Dame Judi Dench. It isn't so much a romantic love, but instead, the kind one has for an idol.

    Working with Dench on their upcoming film "The Chronicles of Riddick," was "like a dream come true," Diesel tells Zap2it.com from the set of his latest project, "The Pacifier" in Toronto. "People would ask me,     'Who do you want to work with?' five years ago and I'm saying, 'Judi Dench!' And they're like, 'Judi Dench? I thought you were going to say Michael Bay,'" he laughs.

    It's not the first time during the interview where he laughs at people's miscomprehension of his image. Clearly, there's more than just an action star under Diesel's bulked-up muscles. Among other things, he's an old Dungeons and Dragons fan, who loves playing with kids and whose other dream project is directing a film about the 3rd century Carthaginian general Hannibal. But back to "Riddick," the sequel to the surprise 2000 hit "Pitch Black," one of the first films that brought Diesel to audiences' attention.

    It turn out that it was Diesel himself, who is producing the film as well as starring in it, who talked the English Dame into taking the role of Aeron, a character that he describes as "a powerful presence in the film that opens it up and gives it a certain understandable significance." During foreign press for "XXX," the last film Diesel shot before taking a short break and entering the 7-month production schedule for "Riddick" (both "A Man Apart and "The Knockaround Guys" were shot before "XXX"), the actor flew to England to see Dench in a play with Maggie Smith -- "another brilliant actress."

    "I started the relationship by going out and seeing her perform and I guess, as an actor, that's the best way to do it," he says, adding that, after the performance he went backstage and "did my best to charm her."

    Apparently, it worked. But as Dench came onboard, Diesel and writer/director David Twohy realized that, in a way, the stakes had been raised. Now they had an opportunity to create something really special.

    "Once you got Judi Dench, it just meant that you had to stay committed to making the script and each moment as soundproof as possible," Diesel explains. "Just because it's such a luxury, and for me a dream, and such a coup for the picture to have such a marvelous actress. If you were going to have that marvelous actress in the film, make it as incredible as you can -- never stop thinking about it."

    Fans expecting "Pitch Black 2" may be surprised to find a whole new mythology in place for "Riddick," which explores the background of the optically enhanced character -- but doesn't follow the same structure of the first film.

    "We all know how shy I am about sequels -- I'd be much richer if I wasn't -- so this couldn't be 'Pitch Black 2.' There's 'Pitch Black,' there's no reason to do 'Pitch Black 2,' he says. "'Pitch Black' was about dealing with those character in the present, under those very specific and immediate conditions. 'The Chronicles of Riddick' is an exploration of everything outside of that one planet and that kind of mythology that lives in the future."

    Turns out, the partnership between Twohy, whose other credits include "The Arrival" and "Below" as well as the screenplays for "Warlock," "Terminal Velocity" and "The Fugitive," and Diesel is not likely to end soon. While Diesel wouldn't say if a second sequel is confirmed, he did say that they have "two other stories" about Riddick that follow "Chronicles."

    "The cool thing about David and I working together is that David is a sci-fi guy and I'm a fantasy guy," says Diesel. "David has written these incredible science fiction pictures and I've spent my life playing Dungeons and Dragons and living in the world of fantasy."

    But Diesel's real baby is "Hannibal," an epic story about the Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps to attack Rome in the 3rd Century B.C., which the actor is not only producing, but will star in and hopes to direct.

    "I'm dying to direct this," he says, adding that he's presently going over conception art for the film. " I see the images in my head. When we have story meetings I end up acting out scenes -- it's my favorite story to tell."

    The project is one that Diesel has been talking about since doing "XXX," although it now has a screenplay courtesy of David Franzoni ("King Arthur," "Gladiator"), who adapted it for the screen from a novel by Ross Leckie. Until Diesel sets a start date for the project (and investors come on board), he is keeping himself busy shooting "The Pacifier," Adam Shankman's ("Bringing Down the House") new comedy about a Navy S.E.A.L. who is assigned to protect the five children of a recently deceased government scientist.

    "Literally, it's heaven working with these kids because I'll go through a whole scene with an 8 month old baby on my lap, smiling at me and wanting me to play with him -- it's so adorable! It's so easy to lose all the cool stuff behind when you're playing with these babies because I'm walking around the set lifting this baby up going, 'Whee!'" Diesel laughs.

    "The Chronicles of Riddick" opens nationwide Friday, June 11.

Zap IT Article Here

Company that helped create Riddick Sets

[excerpt]

the company was also involved in creating the sci-fi film set for the movie The Chronicles of Riddick.

Mallory says the elaborate foam sculptures could be created using hand tools, but would be extremely difficult and require more time (the foam Audi car was completed in just four days) and money.

Although the company currently caters to the film industry, Mallory hopes to expand into people's homes.

Full Article Here

Website for the Company