- Is being sued for a massive $8 million by Scriptwriter Michael Kerner, who claims he was bitten by the actor's dog when he visited his house to discuss a project they were working on together. (December 5, 2003)
- Diesel's new movie A MAN APART has been given a fourth delay because studio heads at New Line Films don't like the film's ending -- unfortunately for the XXX star, the project's director, F. Gary Gray, is now in the middle of shooting THE ITALIAN JOB remake and it's beginning to look like Diesel's film, which was originally titled DIABLO, is doomed. (January 2, 2003)
- Diesel may have a reputation as a hard man but that doesn't stop him from enjoying the theatre - he wasn't offered the VIP treatment when he decided to catch a performance of The Breath Of Life starring Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in London, but that did not leave him in a rage and he thoroughly enjoyed the play, especially Dench's critically acclaimed turn. (December 13, 2002)
- Diesel is sick of making action movies because he wants to be taken serious as an actor - the XXX star believes Hollywood has pigeon-holed him in the action genre and wants to branch out into different film types, including adaptations of Shakespeare. (November 13, 2002)
- Diesel turned down the chance to reprise his role in the upcoming THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS sequel, because he didn't like the first film -- he's convinced a XXX sequel will be much more successful. (November 6, 2002)
- Diesel has a crush on controversial actress-turned-reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith - because he's attracted to white trash. (October 28, 2002)
- Diesel, who was only launched to the a-list last year after the success of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, was so convinced that he would become famous that he never bought a lottery ticket - even when he was working as a doorman. (October 17, 2002)
- Diesel, whose salary demands saw him dropped from the sequel to his debut film, displayed diva-like tenancies - having reserved a table at club MYNT, he had his people call the venue to request a roped-off area for him and his entourage and free drinks for all throughout the night. (September 2002)
- Diesel has been hailed a real-life hero - he saved a family from a flaming vehicle. (September 9, 2002)
- Before he were the franchise star he is now, he got his start in Hollywood by producing his own movie because he weren't getting parts.
- He said he'd been trying to get a house for his parents if he could convince them to change their lifestyle, which is a lot harder than he thought.
- Is reportedly besotted with Entertainment Tonight reporter Maria Menounos - and they began dating after the actor relentlessly chased the former teen beauty.
- The first full-scale Diesel-powered vehicle -- a $90 million contraption called 'XXX' -- loaded with all the extras: booming pyrotechnics, wall-to-wall gunplay, and even a noisy opening sequence featuring the German industrial-metal group Rammstein.
- One day Edward Burns popped in at his appartment and found Diesel scribbling on pads of paper. Diesel was compiling lists of all the young actors who were doing better than he was and jotting notes on precisely when he planned on surpassing each of them.
- His supposed demand for a $30 million payday to do the FAST AND THE FURIOUS sequel, for instance, had eyeballs rolling all over town. Ultimately it was decided that the sequel would shoot without Diesel
- By stripping away all identifying marks, presenting himself as a blank slate -- particularly when it comes to his racial background -- he's found a way to market himself to the broadest possible audience.
- He's selling himself as a multiethnic Everyman, a movie star virtually every demographic can claim as its own.
- Back in 1994, he even directed MULTI FACIAL, a 20-minute short in which he (type)cast himself as a racially unidentifiable actor who pretends to be a different ethnicity on every audition -- and still can't land a part.
- MULTI FACIAL caught the eye of one other director, Steven Spielberg, who was impressed enough to tap him for his next film, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, as the doomed Italian-American grunt Caparzo.
- His hobbies/Other Interests are Yoga, Snow boarding, Playstation, Dungeons and Dragons, Comic books/Heavy Metal Magazine, Classic Movies, Italian cooking
- His previous jobs: telemarketer and bouncer (9 years)
- Bosses at General Motors' Pontiac division are so impressed by his new action movie XXX, they're designing a souped-up supercar for the sequel. The film is a week away from release in America , but already film experts are expecting it to set the box office alight and end Austin Powers' run at the top of the movie charts.
- Vin Diesel was raised by his astrologer/psychiatrist mother and adoptive father in an artist's housing project in New York's Greenwich Village, never knowing his biological father.
- In BOILER ROOM (2000), Greg tells Chris to get his One Race hands off his money. Chris is played by Vin Diesel, who's production company is called One Race Productions.
- PITCH BLACK: He actually performed the shoulder-dislocation stunt (when Riddick breaks free for the second time) for the crew, holding a chain between his hands, although he couldn't do it with the cuffs on. The version we see is mostly him with some special effects thrown in.
- The contacts that V.Diesel wore to play Riddick in PITCH BLACK were a prototype. After the first day of filming, when they tried to remove the contact lenses, they couldn't. Due to where they were filming, they had to have an optometrist flown in from the nearest town, three hours away. He called the contacts hubcaps.
- Wrote, produced and starred in his first movie, MULTI-FACIAL, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995.
- Was the voice of the main character in the animated movie THE IRON GIANT.
- Has an Italian Mastiff named Roman.
- Ranked #46 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #95 in 2002.
- Is an admitted fan of Dungeons and Dragons, and according to an interview on Conan O'Brian he played for 24 years.
- Was offered the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil that eventually went to Ben Affleck.
- Producing partner with George Zakk. Their company is called One Race Productions.
- Wrote an original screenplay titled Doormen (based on his experiences as a bouncer) as a follow-up to STRAYS (1997), his directorial debut. However, his acting career exploded and his plans to direct the film have fallen by the wayside.
- Was paid $11,500,000 for THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004)
- Was paid $2,500,000 for A MAN APART (2003)
- Was paid $10,000,000 for XXX (2002)
- Was paid $2,000,000 for THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001)
- Was paid $100,000 for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
- Eye color: brown
- Hair color: brown or black (but hard to tell, since his head is shaved)
- Vin's Idol: Mel Gibson, because of his ability to make a movie like BRAVEHEART and for his Mad Max character.
- Favorite Actor: Morgan Freeman
- Favorite food: Italian Food
- Habits: social smoker
- Nicknames his arms guns
- Is of Irish, Itatlian, German, Dominican,Mexican background.
- Nominated for Best Male Performance at MTV Movie Awards for XXX (2003)
- Nominated for Best Male Performance at MTV Movie Awards for THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2002)
- Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast at Screen Actors Guild Awards for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1999)
Quotes- 'James Bond is cool, but he's left over from that Clark Gable mentality. I mean, James Bond wears a suit. I don't know a kid today who wears a suit. So we've come up with a different kind of hero. A nihilist. An antihero. A guy who doesn't give a s--- about anything but his own thrills.'' (about the spy role he has in the FAST AND THE FURIOUS)
- I've always been certain that I was going to be a movie star. Even as a kid I knew it. People keep asking if I've changed since becoming a celebrity. But I haven't changed because I've always thought I was a celebrity. It was the rest of the world that hadn't figured it out.'
- 'After you become famous, everything you do is suspect."
- "Even when I would go on auditions, I had to be as amiable as possible. But I still had his edge, this threatening physical presence. And I know that isn't who I really am."
- "With maturity comes sensetivity, and the confidence to embrace it"
- "Well, I've worked out for years. For a long time it was my only sense of gratification."
- "I would get into fights with other bouncers when a guy was already on the floor and the other guys thought it was alright to jump up in the air and land on the guy's head."
- Regarding his mysterious ethnicity: "I am definitely a person of color."
- "If you had asked me back in grade school what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said my first choice was an actor, but if I couldn't be that, I'd want to be a superhero."
Awards- MTV Movie Awards: Best On-Screen Team, shared with Paul Walker, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2002)
|
