Diesel-Powered

The first time Conversations sat down with Vin Diesel was in 2002 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills during the press junket for his first-starring picture xXx. He was then described as the hottest new hunk in Hollywood following his attention-getting turn in the smash-hit action thriller The Fast and the Furious where he played the second lead.

Since then, Vin has become a superstar in his own right, having followed up xXx with several hit starrers, including The Chronicles of Riddick which he also co-produced under his own company, One Race. It has been a long, hard climb for Vin who Diesel-powered himself to stardom, proving to everybody that he’s more than just brawn, never mind if he was once known as The Muscles From Manhattan when he worked as a bouncer at a New York club.

According to his bio-data, Vin had his first stage performance at age seven at Theater for the New City in Greenwich Village; he continued to work in theater throughout his childhood. He majored in English at Hunter College, with concentration on creative writing, and began writing screenplays soon after graduation.

In the early 1990s, Vin wrote, produced, directed and starred in his first (short) film, Multi-Facial, shown at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. His first full-length movie, Strays (which he also produced, wrote and directed), competed in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. He then made a few other films, including the sci-fi Pitch Black, the animated feature The Iron Giant and the Tom Hanks topbiller Saving Private Ryan.

Born on July 18, 1967, Vin is Mark Vincent in real life. His fraternal twin, Paul Vincent, is a film editor married to a Filipina. Vin has never known his biological father; he and Paul were brought up by their mother (an astrologer with a master’s degree in Psychology) and their stepfather who’s an African-American drama teacher. Vin is mum on his private persona; he would beg off from answering any question pertaining to his personal life.

But I did managed to squeeze in a "personal" question about him and Filipino sexy actress Andrea del Rosario who claimed that she met Vin at a bar (Prey) in L.A. in December last year. "Yes, we met," confirmed Vin who begged off when asked if they went out on a date. "Oh, come on...," he said, blushing. (It’s not known if Vin is married or not.)

Asked why he chose Vin Diesel as screen name, he smiled. "I’ve been using it even before I joined the movies, for 11 years since I started working as a bouncer at a New York nightclub."

Conversations sat with Vin Diesel for the second time recently, also at the Four Seasons Hotel, for his new movie, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Pacifier (distributed by Buena Vista International), his first comedy in which he plays a Navy S.EA.L. assigned to watch over the children of a slain security expert. What... Mr. Muscleman turned baby sitter?

Excerpts:

How did you find the shift from tough action (Fast and Furious, xXx, etc.) to light comedy?

"At first, I was very anxious and very nervous. Because, you know, I’ve never done comedy. It wasn’t something I was sure I could do at first, but I remember that on the set of Saving Private Ryan, Tom gave me a valuable piece of advice. He said, ‘Vinny, pick the roles you’re afraid of.’ I gotta say that Tom was 100 percent right. It turned into something that I think is going to be really memorable and fun for families to share."

Are you funny in person?

"I try to be. I try to be a comedian and to be funny... I’m trying hard to be. I always try to incorporate humor into the characters that I play, all right, but I never thought I’d be doing a movie that’s straight-out comedy. But my niece and nephews have been saying...(Starts to mimic the kids)...’Uncle Vin, when can we see one of your movies?’ That’s when I realized that I’ve never done a movie for the whole family. This is the first movie that the whole family can see."

What are you like in real life – shy, they say?

"Am I shy in real life? Oh, maybe I was. But I guess I became more shy after I entered showbiz."

Is that so? Why?

"Why? Because when I was a kid, I had to slave for attention. I was a kid who was performing on the streets. I was dying to perform. At that time, I was in the theater but I hardly got any part so I contented myself with performing on the streets. Now, I don’t have to slave so much for attention. I mean, I don’t have to fight for attention anymore. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not doing my job well because I do. I work hard at it."

Is being an actor what you really wanted to be?

"Yes. It has always been my first choice. But I told myself that if I couldn’t be an actor, I would be a superhero."

You are not an overnight success. I mean, you had to go through the grind before you hit stardom. Didn’t you think of quitting along the way?

"Oh, no, I never thought about quitting. But, if you check my resumé, there were years when I was less aggressive but that’s not necessarily quitting. But I couldn’t think of years when the wind was taken from my sail. I was 30 years old when I was shooting Saving Private Ryan, the first Hollywood picture I’ve ever done. For the first month and a half that I was shooting Saving Private Ryan, although I’d been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for over a decade, I never made $7,000 in one month as an actor. So for the first month and a half that I was shooting this high-risk film, I wasn’t insured as an actor but I was insured as a writer."

They’re saying that you are "The new Arnold Schwarzenegger." How do you feel about it?

"Oh, my God, it’s very scary!"

How is The Pacifier similar to or different from the Schwarzenegger starrer Kindergarten Cop?

"It’s a little different, I guess. In this movie, all I have to do is baby-sit. To me, The Pacifier feels like a true classic Disney family comedy. It’s about a man who’s never really known a family, a guy who, as a Navy S.E.A.L., has always avoided getting close to anybody. Only now, without any training for it, he’s forced into having to try to be a caring father figure to these five unruly kids. Shane is a great character because he’s completely amazing at just about every military and fighting maneuver known to man, but most everyday chores like changing a diaper just bring him to his knees. So he’s about to go through some very big changes and he is about to be surprised by just how ridiculously tough and yet how deeply rewarding the family life he thought he would never have can be."

Didn’t you have any second thoughts about doing comedy?

"I was immediately attracted to the story because I thought it would be a whole lot of fun, not to mention very liberating, for me to explore comedy and a character who undergoes a real transformation. I like it that even though there’s some great action in the film, the focus is just as much on humor, emotion and the relationships Shane forms with the Plummer family. I have to say after doing the movie that it was probably the most enjoyable film experience I’ve ever had."

You have a Philippine connection because your twin brother is married to a Filipina.

"Oh, yes, I have. My sister-in-law is a wonderful and beautiful lady from the Philippines. Her name is Grace Blanco. I have wonderful nephews and nieces. I’m used to being with kids because I play a lot with my nephews and nieces. I’ve always been involved with kids; I’ve always had a soft spot for kids. I go to my sister’s nursery school to entertain the whole school. You know, the big brother who comes to put on a puppet show."

It’s obvious in the movie that you enjoy being with kids.

"I tell you, I was just always in a good mood in this film. Usually, the roles I play are the dark, brooding, stoic characters. In The Pacifier, it’s a completely different atmosphere. I was running around playing video games, throwing babies into the air, being chased by a three-year-old. It was just so much fun that, really, it didn’t even seem fair. It was a breath of fresh air."

How many kids do you want to have, if and when?

"That’s a good question. How many can I afford. Twelve? Okay, then 12 is enough!"

What qualities do you like in a woman?

"Honesty, loyalty, independence and self-confidence."

What part of a woman’s body do you look at first?

"The eyes; the eyebrows."

How did you get such a body to-die-for?

"It’s funny that you say that because for the film I just did with Sidney Lumet (Find Me Guilty, based on a true story, a courtroom drama about a mob family on trial and one brave member who defended himself for three years in court and got off), I had to gain 30 pounds."

Oh, really? How did you do it?

"All I did was eat ice cream at midnight before I went to sleep. And then, afterwards I had to get rid of it."

What part of your body is your favorite?

"My favorite part of my body? My head."

Oh, your head. Is your being bald some form of a rebellion?

"I think that it was a style thing initially. New York style, you know. That was 10 years ago. It’s being...should I say, ‘utilitarian?’ Some people shave their heads before they need to. I guess I needed to."

How often do you go to the barber?

"I don’t go to the barber. I shave it myself. It’s a ritual I’ve been doing for the last 15 years. I shave my head once people can tell the difference between the thinning patches and the non-thinning patches."

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