- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: VIN DIESEL TALKS ABOUT HIS LATEST FILM THRILLER "PITCH BLACK"
- Date: 23rd May 2000
- Summary: LONDON, UK (MAY 23, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIN DIESEL ABOUT WHAT ATTRACTED HIM TO HIS CHARACTER RIDDICK "The thing that attracted me to this character is the challenge of playing a character who initially is the villain archetype of the story and ultimately becomes the hero archetype of the story, I like that transition, probably the charac
- Embargoed: 7th June 2000 13:00
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- Location: LONDON, UK AND FILE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA9FY1TCV2UDK9YEYMGMA31R7JM
- Story Text: Are you afraid of the dark? You will be after you've seen Hollywood's latest science fiction monster thriller.
"Pitch Black" - a high-tech action movie set in space - features the latest in a long line of man-eating aliens. Only these ones wait till it's dark, before they strike, as Reuters found out in an 'enlightening' interview with the movie's high-octane action-man star Vin Diesel.
A commercial spacecraft crash-lands on a distant planet.
The crew is killed. A murderer escapes. The heat is brutal.
The survivours pray for night.
But when night finally arrives, the planet's inhabitants come out. Murderous, terrorizing, fast, and hungry, they're out to kill...
This is "Pitch Black" - Hollywood's latest science fiction thriller. It cost 25 million U.S. dollars to make and is already a box office hit in Australia, where it was shot.
The film stars upcoming new talent Vin Diesel, known for his performance in "Saving Private Ryan" and husky voice in "The Iron Giant". Diesel plays "Riddick", a convicted killer who needs to gain the trust of the spacecraft's passengers in the battle against the murderous creatures.
"The thing that attracted me to this character is the challenge of playing a character who initially is the villain archetype of the story and ultimately becomes the hero archetype of the story, I like that transition, probably the character arc was so dynamic, I never read a character arc that complex and I love anti-heroes, that's what attracted me," he says.
Before his acting days, Diesel worked as a bouncer to earn a living. It's a job that came in useful when he studied Riddick's character. "Very well could have, absolutely. I didn't even think of that, but yeah, very well could have. Now that you say that bouncing is a job where you have to be very conscious of the image you put out and Riddick obviously is very conscious of the image he puts out. Definitely."
"Pitch Black" was filmed in the Australian outback, in a place called Coober Pedy. U.S. director David Twohy chose the location for its vast and stony desert. Diesel says "The greatest physical challenge, there was really nothing I could do to prepare, that was, we were shooting in the desert, and I thought it was going to be hot and it was freezing. It was so cold because it was Australia's winter and it was in the outback, so everyone's standing around me in earmuffs and scarves, and I'm in a tank top, I'm all oiled up and they're spraying water on me which amplifies the chill factor, so they would say, roll camera and I would be like.....(grinds his teeth)."
The producers of "Pitch Black" say the movie is about the worst childhood fears. Fears of the dark, strangers in the room, demons under the bed....Diesel only remembers one thing: "Only at camp. I went to this camp, this bizarre camp.
Next to me was this psycho, a real loony and that made me somewhat nervous. In fact I sleep with the lights on because...(we're gonna have to go a couple of extra minutes with her because I'm cracking up here)...use your imagination, why do you think I sleep with the lights on....well, I tell you...because I want to see what I'm doing...I wouldn't trust a man who doesn't."
Back to the movie. Next to Diesel stars Australian actress Radha Mitchell as docking pilot Fry who is determined to save all remaining survivours from being eaten. A late night rescue operationbadly when antique dealer and gourmet Paris, played by Lewis Fitz-Gerald looses his nerves and gets killed by the monsters. Another death and the group of survivours gets smaller and smaller. Riddick however moves further into the spotlight of the action as the group's leader.
Diesel's voice, already featured in "The Iron Giant", is a huge plus for the role of Riddick. "I don't really see why my voice would be amazing...I don't know what's so different about my voice...are you trying to say that I sound different."
Another extraordinary feature that distinguishes Riddick from the rest of the group are his silvery, spooky eyes which are the result of an operation while in prison so he could be detected in the dark. Handy on this godforsaken planet because they protect him from the monsters.
But it wasn't much fun for Diesel during shooting.
"We used contacts that were prototypes that had never been used before and they were very uncomfortable. They obscured my vision and that's tricky because as an actor you need your eyes. Your eyes communicate a certain level of emotion. They're one of the tools for an actor. So stripping me of that especially when I have goggles on is a handicap.
But every now and then throughout the film they added a little extra punch. Special effects with the eyes, but even while we were shooting they were always shining a little light into my eyes, which wasn't fun now that I think about it. There was always somebody who blast light into my eyes - I don't know why I ever agreed to that."
He did and while he might have chosen a scary film, the real life Diesel is nothing like the scary type.
"No. Not at all. In fact I'm probably the most lovable creature on earth. No I'm a teddybear. I think people could, not really though, I don't think we are always aware of other people's perceptions of ourselves and I'm very much like a little boy as you've witnessed in the last seven minutes. So I don't think of myself as scary, I was a bouncer for nine years, and I had a scary occupation and I wasn't able to be as fun as I am now but I hope people don't think I'm scary. " - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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