Monday, August 19, 2002
No Comment, Print That

You can count on it. If an actor has a movie coming out, he/she will do 1,000 interviews and pretty much say the same thing each time. Not today. Not this next big thing.

Some actors talk a lot and have nothing to say. One actor just won't say anything.

For whatever reason, Vin Diesel refuses to talk about his past. He won’t say where he’s from or even what race he is. He says it’s because it ruins the reality when fans watch his movies. He’s afraid they’ll just think it’s him or something. The guy is 7 feet tall, bald, full of muscles, and has a crazy deep voice, who else can he be? No matter what he is playing, you think it’s him the whole time. He’s no Sean Penn in "Carlito’s Way".

I’m being cynical again. I’ll stop. He was great as the tough Italian who didn’t take any shit in “Saving Private Ryan,” and as the tough car thief who didn’t take any shit in “The Fast and the Furious,” and … you get the idea.

But now that he’s a big star (and he should be), he won’t talk about his past. When the interviewer asked him about his bio (that Diesel’s publicist gave to him), the D-man got mad and refused to respond. He even got offended about the most inane personal questions. Toots, where do you think you are? You’re in an interview. That’s what you do, you interview. Many articles were written about how he wouldn’t say anything.

Here’s what I would’ve said if I were the interviewer. “Babe, here’s how the game works. You give me something to fill the pages of my weekly rag, and I’ll give your film free publicity and your acting career credibility. Now work with me!” (File that last paragraph under “Yeah right!”).

One thing he won’t talk about is his race. He won’t respond to comments that he’s half Italian and half Black. I guess it’s because he wants everyone to assume he’s his/her race. That’s fine. I know what race he is, he’s Who-gives-a-fuck-ish.