Vin Diesel is today one of the biggest stars of action films, carrying several franchises on his broad shoulders: the saga Triple Xthe films of Riddick – and of course the universe Fast & Furiouswhich has given us no less than ten films to date (not counting the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw), three of which have crossed the billion mark at the international box office.
But even some fans don’t know that Vin Diesel can do much more than master spectacular stunts and drive fast cars on impossible courses. Before his acting career really took off, in 1995 he directed a semi-autobiographical short film entitled Multi-Facialwhich even had the honor of being screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
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The actor not only played the lead role, but also wrote the screenplay, directed, produced and composed the soundtrack for the short film. You can watch the film in which Vin Diesel first demonstrated his versatile talents here:
Vin Diesel had a brief uncredited appearance in Awakeningstarring Robin Williams and Robert de Niro, but he really made his film debut in the low-budget drama Strays, about a failed drug dealer (played by Diesel himself). The film written and directed by the future star received mixed critical reception and was not a huge success, but one of the most famous directors in the world was not shy about calling himself a fan.
This man is none other than Steven Spielberg. He was so enthusiastic about Strays that he invited Vin Diesel to the set of his flagship film Amistad to congratulate him on his film – and to inform him that he wanted to give him a gift: a tailor-made role, that of soldier Adrian Caparzo in We have to save the soldier Ryan.
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Vin Diesel must have been surprised. After all, he himself was a great admirer of Spielberg and had previously expressed his admiration for the creator ofE.T. and D’Indiana Jones in a fan letter. However, he still hasn’t granted one of the cinema legend’s wishes…
Steven Spielberg accuses Vin Diesel of committing a ‘crime against cinema’
In an interview with The National in 2020, Vin Diesel said: “About Steven Spielberg, I saw him recently and he said to me: ‘When I wrote the role for you in Saving Private Ryan, I was obviously hiring the actor, but I was also secretly advocating the director in you, and you didn’t understand it enough’“.
Vin Diesel’s decision not to pursue his directorial ambitions beyond the franchise’s 20-minute short film Fast & Furious titled Bandits (2009) was even described by Hollywood legend as a “crime against cinema” before finally begging the action star, “You should get back in the director’s chair“.
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You would think that it would be impossible not to follow the advice of a sacred monster like Steven Spielberg. But four years later, Vin Diesel has still not announced a new production project, even though he has dreamed for years of bringing to life an epic trilogy on the life of General Hannibal Barca. Will this ever happen? We will keep you posted !
Article written in collaboration with our colleagues atI love cinema.
