or actor Vin Diesel, rough landings are nothing new. As Private Caparzo in Saving Private
Ryan, he survived the bloody invasion of Normandy, while as the voice of
the animated Iron Giant, he withstood a stormy ocean splashdown. His
latest film, Pitch Black, finds him once again enduring an unexpected
arrival, only this time it's on a desolate planet which hides a dark, deadly
secret. Diesel recently shared his thoughts on the picture, explaining not only how the story examines some serious societal issues, but also why moviegoers should be afraid--very afraid--when the
lights in the theater go down.
[Editor's Note: this interview contains some spoilers for Pitch Black.]
What is it about Pitch Black that elevates it above typical SF
movie fare?
Diesel: I think Pitch Black celebrates a real hero. I don't
think we've had a complex and dynamic protagonist in a long time, and what's
interesting about this film is that the character who I play, Riddick, starts out as a criminal. He starts out as a convict, and, within this small core of survivors, is subject to the prejudices and all of the judgmental stuff that goes on in society in general. But the survivors are forced to depend on this convict, and that raises an interesting question: When push comes to shove, do you rely on the killer?
Is it something along the lines of Escape From New York, where
there's this convict who becomes a hero?
Diesel: That's actually not a bad analogy. But it's also similar to
Mad Max, because the convict, if nothing else, is clearly an
outsider--that we are sure of. And the convict is indifferent to the
well-being of everybody else. He really doesn't care if anyone else survives.
So he's totally uninvested in saving anybody but himself. His morality issues
aren't the same--in fact, they don't really exist. However, the survivors
have no other choice but to rely on this guy, and rely on the possibility
that there is some humanism left in him.
So Riddick really starts out purely criminal and completely
black-and-white?
Diesel: Absolutely. But then he becomes the only possible chance of
survival. And there's also an interesting kind of comment on the role of
authority. Because the authorities in this picture are all represented by a
character named Johns, who's played by Cole Hauser, and there are a lot of
parallels between this small, stranded society and our society.
There have been many movies where people are stranded in one way or
another, and they build up their own little society--Lord of the Flies
being a prime example. How is Pitch Black different?
Diesel: Well, in Lord of the Flies, the enemy is themselves.
That's what ultimately causes their overall destruction. Here, they play a
little bit on that idea, but more importantly there are these creatures that
come out only in darkness that are just the most terrifying things we've ever
encountered. They're nocturnal predators, and they literally devour
everything. Basically, because there are three suns on this planet, every 22
years there's an eclipse. Which means every 22 years, these creatures emerge
and destroy everything. In the film, you see these huge dinosaur bones, so
you know they literally obliterate everything, even the colonies that have
migrated there in the past. So that's the main difference--not only are they
stranded, but they're stranded on a planet with creatures. And in a way,
that's also somewhat similar to Aliens. Although in Aliens they
weren't exactly stranded, these guys are not only stranded, but they don't
know how they're going to get off, and now they have the addition of these
predators.
From an acting perspective, what was the biggest challenge for you on
Pitch Black?
Diesel: It's interesting. There's no prototype for Riddick, because
he's borderline human. He has got enhanced eyes--this enhanced vision--that's
kind of similar to infrared vision. His actual eyeballs are adjusted, and
he's able to see in the dark. Of course, he's also much more sensitive to
sunlight. And he has this enhanced, panther-like speed. But he's a sick,
sick, sick killer--at least that's what we're given. So there's obviously no
prototype. It's not like I'm playing a cop or a soldier or a gangster or a
salesman or an array of characters where I can look back and say, "Well, my
father was this or my uncle was that, or I know this guy from down the
street." I can't pull from anything. This is a character unto its own. It's
almost like playing a superhero in a way. So that was challenging, though I
welcome the challenge, because it was also exciting. And it was interesting
to do a completely fictional piece. You know, Saving Private Ryan was
not a fictional piece! This is a completely fictional piece. So the challenge
was: How do you incorporate real emotions? How do you incorporate aspects
that people are going to be able to identify with? And that's one of the
things I feel really good about. You get a sense that this guy is unfairly
judged. And we all deal with that. We all deal with being unfairly judged.
Where was the film shot?
Diesel: In Coober Pety, which is in the [Australian] outback.
Ironically, it was also the same exact place that Mad Max was shot. So it's interesting that there are parallels even in where we shot.
Did that Mad Max shooting location help you in creating the character?
Diesel: I guess the energy was in the ground. And what I mean by that
is, I think the energy that I felt more so than anything else was the fact
that we shot on aboriginal sacred ground. That was kind of cool. The floors
are covered with gypsum, which looks like cut plates of diamond or glass, so
it looks like a sea of diamonds. It really gives a kind of otherworldly feel
to the film.
Since you were in Australia, did you learn to play the didgeridoo?
Diesel: [Laughs] That's so funny! Cole Hauser and my co-producer bought
me a didgeridoo for my birthday when we were there. And I did learn to play.
I was lucky because the aborigines treat it as a very sacred instrument, and
one of them took the time out to actually teach me how to do it. It was
exciting, though, of course, I couldn't breathe right--I was horrible [makes
a didgeridoo sound]. I don't know how those guys do it!
Most viewers know you from your role as Pvt. Caparzo in Saving Private
Ryan. There you're obviously all human, but you also supplied the voice
for the Iron Giant, who's a completely robotic character. What made
your part in Pitch Black, where you play kind of a half-human,
half-who-knows-what character, different from the other roles for you?
Diesel: Like I said before, there's no prototype, so you have to
completely create who this character is. You have to take references wherever
you can to kind of color the overall character.
Wouldn't you in some respects have to do the same thing for the Iron
Giant?
Diesel: The Iron Giant was different, because I was doing a
voice-over, so I was able to go and concentrate solely on my voice--pitch and
intonation and whatever. And it didn't matter what I was doing, whether I was
jumping up and down, whether I was covering my eyes, whether I was waving my
hands around, whether I was punching the air. The only thing that mattered
was what voice I was making, and how I put everything together, and how I
composed this voice to all the while be this Iron Giant, but at times
also play different emotional chords.
What was the biggest difference then between doing Pitch Black and
Saving Private Ryan?
Diesel: Well, in Saving Private Ryan I had one objective, and
that was to bring honor to the soldiers that died. That was a really, really
important thing. So I didn't have a creative frame of mind so much in
Saving Private Ryan. I was just trying to be as accurate as possible.
In Pitch Black, I'm trying to create a world and take you through a
new story.
What scares you the most about the dark?
Diesel: I'm not really afraid of the dark, except if I'm walking. And
I guess the thing that scares me the most is the possibility of walking into
a wall and busting my lip [laughs]. When I was about seven years old, there
was a blackout in Manhattan, and I grew up in this huge building with around
365 apartments, and it had long, long halls. I remember we were playing tag
in this building, and I'm running around on the ninth floor, and I ran straight
into a wall and busted my lip. So I guess I just have a phobia of busting my
lip while walking in the dark.
