What happened to Vin Diesel. In the early 2000’s this guy had it made. He was being dubbed as the new century’s first action star. He was too take over for the Arnold’s, Sly’s, Wesley’s, Jean-Claude’s, Bruce Willis’…even Steven Seagal! And instead, his career has kind of haulted, for one reason or another. Probably because action movies cost too much. Maybe because a good action movie doesn’t need a bulkie looking action star. In a world where a good action movie can star Matt Damon (someone who doesn’t exactly look like a world class body builder) why do we need the big guys? Only Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone are actually making action movies, and they happen few and far between (their last two were sequels to their biggest success as action heros–part four for both Die Hard and Rambo, respectively). Perhaps its because after Diesel’s huge start with both The Fast and the Furious and Pitch Black, he’s kind of been at a stalemate. he’s had more flops then he’s had blockbusters recently (aside from the Pacifier, but come on, that was more like Kindergarten Cop then it was a classic action movie).
Now, he’s going back to what made him a star in the first place. He has Fast and Furious (the fourth part to the series) coming out this summer. And if this does come through then this may make him a bankable star again. Here’s hoping, I love action movies. But I never really did like his action movies…interesting huh? I kind of blame his movies (Furious and xXx as killing the good action movies and causing them to use more CGI, something that I’m happy the Transformers and Live Free or Die Hard movies kind of did away with by shooting most of their action scenes practically instead of fully utilizing computer generated images).
Honestly, I never saw the first one, and I laughed at the fact that they went ahead and made the second one without him. But, here’s the first signs that they do want to bring this franchise back.
from comingsoon.net:
Diesel and Cohen Returning for XXX Sequel
Source: Variety
September 15, 2008
Columbia Pictures is in discussions with producer Joe Roth for XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, which would bring back Vin Diesel as star and Rob Cohen as director, reports Variety.
The duo teamed on the 2002 original, which starred Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast who gets drafted by the government for a dangerous mission.
Roth controls the property because the original film was made by his Revolution Studios, which was also behind XXX: State of the Union, a sequel that starred Ice Cube and was directed by Lee Tamahori.
While there is no script, both Diesel and Cohen have agreed to return.