Vin Diesel’s career is firing on all cylinders.
The muscular, clean-pated actor stars in two films, “Pitch Black” and “Boiler Room,” that opened simultaneously last month.
In “Pitch Black,” Diesel played Riddick, a murderous convict charged with safeguarding the lives of spaceship passengers who crash-land on a remote planet inhabited by deadly nocturnal creatures.
The gravel-voiced New York native displayed a different side in “Boiler Room,” donning an expensive suit to play a fast-talking, foul-mouthed millionaire stock broker.
“The last weekend was amazing,” Diesel said from Los Angeles, seven days after the Feb. 18 opening of both films. Their synchronous arrival was a coincidence, he said. “No one expected that. No one probably wanted that.”
It turned out well for Diesel, who earned notice for two dissimilar roles. “I think it was really lucky in that respect,” he said. “That people were able to see such a diversity within the opening weekend if they wanted to.”
The 32-year-old actor first came to attention as Italian-American Pvt. Carpazo in Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film, “Saving Private Ryan.” Spielberg created the role for Diesel after seeing “Multi-Facial,” a short film that Diesel wrote, directed, produced, financed and starred in that screened at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
Last year, Diesel provided the voice for the title character of the award-winning animated family feature “The Iron Giant.”
The son of a father who taught theater and an astrologist mother, Diesel was raised in Manhattan. His real surname reportedly is Vincent. His first name remains undisclosed.
He chose the sci-fi thriller “Pitch Black” for his first starring vehicle because of Riddick’s character arc, “and the fact that he’s so incredibly multidimensional.”
“He’s a superhero of sorts,” Diesel said of the role, which required him to go mano a alien with bat-winged, razor-jawed monsters. “He’s an antihero. He’s a character that reminded me of some of those heroes that I had. The `Mad Max’ character and the `Terminator’ character and all these fun characters that empowered me as a kid.”
The film’s character-driven approach appealed to Diesel.
“I thought that `Pitch Black,’ the overall script, offered a relatively new approach to sci-fi filmmaking–or at least an approach that was nostalgic of those great films in the past,” he said. “Because this film didn’t rely … solely on the special effects. We wanted to create a film that could stand on its own, independent of the creatures and the sci-fi element.”
“Pitch Black” opened at No. 4, earning an impressive $13.4 million in its opening weekend. “Pitch Black’s” success puts Diesel in the high-octane fast lane.
Hollywood is governed by the numbers, the actor said. “Pitch Black’s” strong opening and high per-screen-average makes him suddenly viable for starring roles.
“Boiler Room,” an independent film that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and opened at No. 8 with $6.7 million, may keep him from being typecast as an action hero.
“I did the `Boiler Room’ job for a bunch of reasons, but the fact that I was wearing a suit definitely was a bonus,” Diesel said. “Because that directly contrasts that formidable character in `Pitch Black.”‘
With all this comes pressure to choose the right role. “I already am very selective, but I think with this in mind, I have to be that much more selective,” he said. “Especially because longevity is something that you have to work at.”
Diesel recently wrapped production on “Knockaround Guys,” due in November, in which he stars opposite John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper and “Saving Private Ryan’s” Barry Pepper.
“We all play gangsters,” he said. “It’s about these gangsters that end up in Montana.”
Diesel is preparing several projects as a writer-director, including “Doormen,” based on his experience as a nightclub bouncer. His feature debut, “Strays,” which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, competed at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.
But with his career shifting into overdrive, Diesel plans to stay in front of the camera.
“This will definitely give me more clout to produce films and/or direct them,” he said. “But there are a lot of good projects out there that I may go into starring in first. You can always direct. You can direct when you’re 50. So I’ve got to kind of take advantage of all these great roles now.”
