Some artists bleed for their art. Some will gain and lose ridiculous amounts of weight and muscle. Some will even offer up the very house that they live in. Ask Vin Diesel. He would know. The ‘Riddick‘ star leveraged his house in order to get the third installment of the ‘Riddick’ trilogy made. The film had a bit of a rocky start getting into production and Diesel felt so strongly about the film, he risked his home to finance it.
Diesel was motivated to do whatever it took to get Riddick produced after a fan told him that he and other fans of the franchise would be willing to pay $10 each toward the project just to get a proper R-rated film made, and with all that support, he should have enough money to go forward. As Diesel explains:
“Something about that comment made me think, bless their heart, and if I can do anything with this newfound success, if I could do anything at all, I could deliver on that wish… It’s a strange and unique sense of gratification, and it’s not like any film I’ve done in the last 10 years.”
While ‘Riddick’ had a distribution setup by Universal, the film itself was not produced by the studio this time around. With no major studio behind the production, there were a lot of corners that had to be cut and in Diesel’s case in particular – a lot was riding to get this film made. “I had to leverage my house. If we didn’t finish the film,” says Diesel, ” I would be homeless.”
With Diesel’s house on the line, the cast and crew really had to scramble to get this R-Rated film put together in time. Writer and director David Twohy had quite a bit of challenges to overcome with the reduced budget. It caused a change in how special effects were being done and they had to get the film shot in 47 days compared to the 85 they had for the last film, ‘Chronicles of Riddick.’ “We had to learn how to be independent filmmakers again,” he stated when asked about it.
Even as hectic as the schedule was, the cast loved working on it as Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ fame) commented, “Vin makes not only such a great acting partner but a phenomenal producer. Because he’s an actor, he understands giving the benefit to actors. He really let us all make our characters our own.”
Honestly, I hope ‘Riddick’ does well. Fortunately, early reactions of the film are positive and as a fan of both of the original films, I know that I’m eagerly looking forward to what they’ll able to put on screen! It even looks as if Twohy is already writing another installment and Diesel is excited about continuing the franchise as is the rest of us!
Are you ready for another ‘Riddick’ film? Are you as glad as I did that he bet his own house on it’s success? Sound off below!
Synopsis:
The latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000′s hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004′s The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.
The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.
The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.
Directed by David Twohy, ‘Riddick’ stars Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, Dave Bautista, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk and Keri Hilson and will open in theaters on September 6th.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
