|
When the improbably named Vin Diesel first came to our attention, about five years ago, it was thanks to a magazine ad. The ad, as we remember it (our usually rigourous factchecking department has, alas, been unable to locate the advert in question), was for a watch company and was part of one of those campaigns that features good-looking "real" people in a sort of "Name, Occupation, Why I Love Tag Heuer" sort of format. At that point, none of us had ever heard of Vin Diesel (of course, in such ads you've rarely heard of the person, which is what makes them so "real"), so when he was introduced as "Writer/Director/Actor Vin Diesel," it seemed only to prove the reliable adage that the more occupations with which someone prefaces his name, the less likely it is that he legitimately deserves any of them.
We begin with this engaging anecdote because it serves to illustrate the way in which Diesel has been leading dual, even competing, careers: Vin Diesel Onscreen and Vin Diesel Offscreen. Let's start with Diesel Onscreen.
Diesel Onscreen, we like. Watching Diesel in The Fast and the Furious opposite Paul Walker -- a young actor so blandly good-looking that he seems like a glimpse into a future where movie stars are computer-generated according to poll data from Tiger Beat -- only serves to highlight the fact that Diesel is a genuinely interesting, and in some ways unprecedented, physical presence. With his bald pate and soft, rounded facial features, his head looks a bit like an overinflated balloon. Throw in his tree-trunk physique, ethnic ambiguity, and trademark sandpaper voice, and he seems more like a cartoon character than an actual person -- an effect not exactly underscored by his comic-strip-ready name. (Can't you just picture something called "The Adventures of Vin Diesel," drawn by the guy who did Tank Girl?) His go-to expression is an efficacious "don't fuck with me" glare, likely honed during his years as a Manhattan bouncer, yet he'll also break out into a goofy, crooked boomerang of a smile.
Yet somehow it all works. Whether or not you find him attractive -- and so far it seems like a split vote -- it's hard to argue that he doesn't have presence. In fact, he so perfectly embodies a kind of swaggering, craps-and-callgirls brand of Vegas machismo that, looking back over his brief résumé, you have to double check that he didn't star in Swingers. Whether or not he's an actor remains to be seen -- he hasn't exactly shone in his emotional scenes, but then again, he hasn't exactly had many to shine in -- but it seems a good bet he'll be a star. The evidence so far -- a bit part in Saving Private Ryan, standout ensemble work in Boiler Room and Pitch Black, a serviceable star turn in The Fast and the Furious -- is scant, but already we're starting to feel like Vin Diesel makes his movies better just by being in them. If that sounds like faint praise, think of how many actors for whom you can't say the same.
So what's the problem? Diesel Offscreen, for starters. Considering that he's enjoyed relatively little media attention thus far, a disarming number of reports about him end up making him look like kind of an ass. Not that big stars can't also be big asses -- they can and so often are -- but they usually square away the stardom thing first before unveiling the extent of their ass-tosity to the world.
Diesel, however, isn't wasting any time. Though he may be a kind, thoughtful, good-hearted man for all we know, he's certainly failed at communicating these qualities in any sort of public forum. As has been pointed out on our own finger-in-the-wind forums, an HBO documentary that followed Diesel around Sundance didn't exactly leave viewers with a warm-and-fuzzy opinion of young Mr. Motorfuel. And director John Frankenheimer claims that, during the filming of Reindeer Games, Diesel refused to wear a sleeveless shirt, saying something to the effect of, "I only show my guns in Vin Diesel films." "Guns"? "Vin Diesel films"? After demanding a rewrite that would significantly beef up his own role, Diesel was fired from the film, only to turn up later as Exhibit A in a Premiere article on Hollywood egos run amok. Diesel has also refused to reveal his real name or his ethnic background, preferring to leave both ambiguous -- a stance that dubiously assumes that the details of his ancestry are the subject of ceaseless speculation and heated debate around the water coolers and in the barbershops of this great land.
But with The Fast and the Furious's surprisingly strong opening weekend, some lucky star will be the recipient of all that box office good karma, and Diesel seems best poised for the windfall. And who knows? Maybe America will soon be scrambling to the next Vin Diesel film to get another treasured glimpse of those guns. Right now, however, the biggest obstacle to stardom for Diesel seems to be that, in his own head, he's already there, and acting accordingly.
|
