February 1, 2017 The Skanner Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Vin Diesel : The “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” Interview
in terms of the special effects
and the stunts. I also love how
the dialogue is laced with all
those double entendres remi-
niscent of 007.
VD: [Laughs] Totally! It is
America’s answer to James
Bond, for sure.
By Kam Williams
Special to The Skanner News
A
native of New York City,
Vin Diesel is one of Hol-
lywood’s hottest movie
stars. In addition to his
huge box-office success, Vin
is a prominent producer and
filmmaker and has been hon-
ored with both a Hands and
Footprint Ceremony at Grau-
man’s Chinese Theatre as well
as a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.
Furious 7, which he starred
in and produced, grossed more
than $1.5 billion in worldwide
box-office and is the #1 grossing
film in China’s history. In 2013,
he starred in and produced the
box-office smash hit Fast & Fu-
rious 6, which grossed almost
$800 million worldwide.
He is also set to star in the
highly-anticipated “The Fate
of the Furious,” which will be
in theaters on April 14th and
in Disney’s “Guardians of the
Galaxy 2,” which will be re-
leased in May. Here, Vin talks
about reprising the title role in
“xXx: Return of Xander Cage.”
Kam Williams: Hey Vin,
thanks for the time.
Vin Diesel: Yo, Kam, what’s
up?
KW: Not much. You know, I
was just talking to my brother
Vin Diesel
who mentioned that he taught
your nephew Tyler who grad-
uated from Brooklyn Friends
School last year. He said he’s a
great kid that everybody loved.
VD: Oh, that’s so dope! Small
world, Kam.
KW: He said that they’re all
big fans of yours, too. You did
sequels to “Pitch Black” and
“The Fast and the Furious,”
but previously declined when
it came to the “xXx” franchise.
What made you finally decide
to reprise the role of Xander
Cage?
VD: The reason I declined
in 2002 was sort of a silly rea-
son. The studio had promised
me that I was going to be able
to direct Hannibal, and they
wanted me to do “xXx 2” be-
fore “Hannibal.” But the script
wasn’t strong enough for me
to do that. It had become some-
thing other than “xXx.” It was
more like “Three Days of the
Condor” without the fun of
“xXx.” But, in truth, a large
part of my decision was based
on my feeling that I had been
promised that I would be able
to direct Hannibal the Con-
queror. After I produced the
fourth “Fast and Furious” film,
and saw the success of that, I
was inspired and challenged
by the idea of creating these
sagas, these franchises. It took
about another seven years to
get it right. So, it was about
2009 when I made the decision
to do it, and it took from that
time ‘til now to realize it.
KW: Well, it was worth the
wait, because it really brings
you back to the original “xXx”
KW: It even has a bevy of
beauties in Deepika Padu-
kone, Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev,
Hermione Corfeld and more,
“xXx”’s equivalent of Bond
girls.
VD: I remember when we
were in production. there were
some articles written saying
that this was the best cast ever
assembled. It’s so eclectic. The
women are so strong and for-
midable and beautiful. They
kick ass in their own right.
And then it’s novel and cool
that this is a multi-cultural,
global cast from different
film markets from all over the
world. It marks the start of
Hollywood venturing beyond
the confines of Hollywood to
recruit talent. We now have
a global audience. It is no lon-
ger the case that we’re just
making movies for America.
Now, we’re making movies for
the world. So, why not invite
celebrated talent from those
respective markets into your
global film?
KW: And they all mesh seam-
lessly, here. I’ve seen my share
of movies with international
casts where there’s no chemis-
try.
VD: That’s fair to say, Kam.
KW: But you’ve pulled it off
successfully.
VD: Yeah, it’s exciting. Thank
you.
KW: Vin, what would you say
was your biggest challenge in
returning to the role of “xXx”?
VD: Time! these other stu-
dios can get very Mafia. Uni-
versal never wanted me to
make this movie. They would
just love to keep the golden
goose at Universal, and just
keep turning out their bil-
lion-dollar franchise, from my
being the brainchild of it, to
then going on set and produc-
ing and acting in it. So, it really
was a matter of time where I
had one little window of op-
portunity at the beginning of
2016 where I could go make the
movie. And we just went for it!
To be 100 percent honest, that
how Hollywood is nowadays.
Most people don’t realize that.
These studios can be very pro-
prietary.
KW: Really? I had no idea. I
thought the studio system end-
ed back in the ‘40s.
See DIESEL on page 11