For weeks now, Vin Diesel has been teasing that he would be stepping into a role in an upcoming Marvel movie. First he wrote on his Facebook page that he was meeting with Marvel. Then after said meeting, he posted a photo of himself standing in front of an enlarged classic ‘Avengers’ cover, leading most to speculate that he would be appearing in ‘The Avengers: The Age of Ultron.’ The actor remained mum at the Comic-Con panel for his film ‘Riddick‘ after a fan questioned him about his involvement with Marvel. Finally, this weekend, Diesel coyly changed his Facebook profile picture to a classic illustration of the Guardians of the Galaxy character Groot, seemingly spilling the beans of who he’ll be playing, before he quickly removed the photo.
So is he or isn’t he?
When confronted about voicing such an oddball choice, the actor explained (rather colorfully):
“I’m an actor. I can do whatever the f— I want. As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice. And sometimes, the best thing you can do — as far as Steven Spielberg and his advice — is to defy expectations. So if everybody thinks you’re going to go for this one thing and you flip it entirely and go for the strangest Marvel character, it’s interesting. And when something is interesting, it’s inspiring.”
Most fans would expect the box-office champ to take the lead in a big budget hit, so simply providing the voice to a strange supporting character may seem like a strange move, but he clarifies:
“I’m so busy. The audience wanted Vin and Marvel, Vin and Marvel. But I’m too busy to do a six-month role. So what Marvel came up with was really interesting. … I am watching a social wave influence and in some ways guide their thinking… The audience wants Marvel and I to do something, and I don’t know why it’s so important. For six months, I wasn’t able to answer this growing request. Maybe they think of Dom [Diesel’s character in the “Fast & the Furious” movies] as a plain-clothes superhero? There’s something multicultural and interesting about that gravitas to bring the Marvel universe. I don’t know.”
When asked if Marvel was upset with him over possibly “spoiling” any big reveals, Diesel counters:
“I get inspired by things. So if somebody sends me a book of conceptual art that’s the best character design work I’ve ever seen — I’m not kidding, I see that and I want to be a little cryptic and I want to say something positive. Even if it’s as cryptic as an old, dated image of a character… The last thing they are is mad. I’m pretty open, but I have been secretive about this. I went to Comic-Con and I got blasted while I was on the Hall H panel for “Riddick.” Someone asked a Marvel question. I couldn’t say anything because of that secrecy.”
So while he doesn’t outright say “Yes, I’m Groot”, I think we can consider the giant talking tree to be out of the bag. .
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, and Michael Rooker blasts off on August 1st, 2014.
Source: LA Times
