Vin Diesel at the US premiere (Getty Images)

Emmanuel Itier: Was this the right time to finally revisit this character? 

Vin Diesel: Absolutely. The timing was finally right. What led to that was a series of events. First and foremost, I had the luxury of working with Sydney Lumet, and boy does that dissolve you from being too stereotyped, because at least it’s on record, though very few people saw the movie. It’s a departure from the franchise films. Finding an entry point to revisit this character is what took so long — eight years. I don’t just do sequels in a reactionary way. “It makes a lot of money,” or “Let’s just do another one immediately without working out the story,” as you know, never works. I take a little bit longer and I make sure I can feel it. I make sure there’s an entry point for my character and that we’ve really, in a real way, worked out the continuation of the story. Am I idealistic and feel like sequels should be more [Francis Ford] Coppola like? Yes. So in that, I’m saying when we were able to work out a continuation to this story in an interesting way, that could lead to its own story, as you see at the end of this movie. I was ready to do it.

EI: Dominic was very much motivated in this film for his love for Letty. What motivates you in your work? 

VD: Well, love motivates me in everything I do. It’s funny you say that because I was talking to my mother, who was at the screening, and she said it was interesting that Dom was doing all this in the service of love and how rare that it is in a tent pole film like this. She said because of that, he could do anything, that there was nothing that was too great a task for him to do. In other words, that was probably the most important aspect of my character. It allowed me to do everything I did with the character, and you’re with him the whole way. You would think that love is the catalyst for all art, I would imagine, or the antithesis of that hate in someone.

EI: Dominic says he’s tired and doesn’t want to run anymore.  Where do you see him now? 

VD: I don’t think Dom has a choice. I think he is that quintessential anti-hero. We’re probably not allowed to give away where the continuation goes, but I will say that, in times like this recession we’re going through there, these fables are borne out of times like these.

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker

EI: So you’re saying there is a fifth one and you’re pretty sure it’s going to happen? 

VD: Well, you know me. [Laughs] I’m telling you that Hannibal is going to be out every year and I dread coming here the night before because I know it’s going to be like, “Haven’t seen Hannibal yet…”

EI: Paul [Walker] talked about the ideas of a fifth one going to Europe and things like that. Are you already thinking of another one after this one opens? 

VD: Yes, I’m always thinking. You probably know that about me. I think a few pictures at a time. If you remember, with Chronicles of Riddick, I wanted to do three films at the same time. I’m ambitious like that. So I try to work out stories in service of what I was just talking about and in the way that I approach sequels — in that Coppola way. I try to think out the story even before we got to shoot the film that’s at hand. So yes, I have been thinking about it. I actually brought up the idea of shooting both of the movies back-to-back to Universal, with the precedent of Universal. He was like, “What?! We’re just getting our feet back together.”

EI: Were you relieved to see what you saw with this final product at the screenings? We had to tell Paul that they were pumped. 

VD: You probably saw it in a different environment. Paul and I saw it at a Hollywood screening. Let me tell you the atmosphere at a Hollywood screening. You’ve got a percentage of people there that are just wondering if they’re going to keep their jobs. You got another percentage of people who are self-conscious about the work they did. You have another percentage of people that are jealous of the studio that has this film that’s a hit and are downplaying their excitement. All this amounts to usually not an overly excited crowd. In fact, when I was leaving yesterday, I was telling my family, “I ask one thing. Enjoy it. Allow yourself to enjoy it and don’t get hung up on the fact that you’re at the studio premiere.” 

EI: I was at the premiere last night and it got a good reception. 

VD: Well, that’s cool. It did get a good reception — you’re 100% right. It did get a good reception, but in comparison…

EI: I even saw it a month before that and it got a fantastic reception from a regular crowd that just loved it. 

VD: That’s right. That’s evident, and you just confirmed it. You saw the difference. I don’t know why it’s like that.

EI: Does that get you excited about making another one? 

VD: I’m not the studio. The studio gets excited about making another one. There’s a difference.

Vin Diesel with one of the cars from the film (Getty Images)

EI: You’re not excited? 

VD: I get excited about the appreciation of the work, first and foremost. When I’m thinking about going back and doing Dom Toretto so many years later, after everyone knows that I said “no” the past two times, it’s loaded. If you guys were my reps, it’d be an interesting conversation. It’d be like, “Well, I don’t know, Vin. Do you really want to take that chance? You said ‘no’ so many times. To come back now, you’re setting yourself up, and the odds are going to be stacked against you.” We’ve had that conversation. So am I relieved that people enjoyed it — that feels good. The studio deals on that getting relieved kind of thing.  I revel in the idea that people appreciate the work. I revel in the idea or love it when someone says that they pick up on a subtlety or a nuance or a spirit or theme in a character, or when someone can pick up on the comment on society. All those things are riveting to me and charge me, but not in a relieved kind of way. Although, as I just said to you seconds ago, if we were all talking about this before the fact and we were all representatives -– managers, agents and publicists –- we’d be thinking, “Huh. You want to really go for this one, Vin? You said ‘no’ to the other ones. You dragged it out this long and now you’re going to tell everyone that you’re ready?”

EI: If this is a big hit, will that enable you to get Hannibal off the ground, and does that come into your thinking at all when you take a project like this? 

VD: Very good question. We hope, right? I mean, in theory, yes, but I don’t know if it’s really that. To be 100% honest — and this is really candid — I think the studio might be a little bit, as I can understand, apprehensive about giving me a budget that big to direct. So the question has been — and probably what’s held the film back from being realized — is do I have to direct it? That’s the age-old question.

EI: And…? 

VD: I would ask you that. Do I have to direct it, or do I produce it, get my voice on it, put my mojo on it, and let someone else direct it that a studio would feel comfortable with that-size budget, understandably. I haven’t ever done something that big. I’ve directed independent films.

EI: And an 18-minute short. 

VD: Have you heard about this new short? Justin [Lin] calls it the “Anti Fast” with pride.

EI: Did you make that while you were making this? 

VD: The day after we wrapped here, we went down to the Dominican Republic. We were working on the film program — the One Race Global Film Foundation, which is basically a foundation that I started to bring film education to underdeveloped communities and get inner city kids and, in four weeks, teach them how to become filmmakers. That all spawned from the, I guess — success that I’ve had that followed Multi-Facial, that first short that I did, and essentially giving these kids a voice. We’ve gotten some really interesting films out of these kids. Part of that, in that whole thing, was me telling the president of the Dominican Republic that I would bring a franchise film down there, which is why Dominican Republic is even mentioned in the film in the first place. It was all part of the deal, which is why, when you saw the cameo, Los Bandaleros is playing when I come onscreen. It’s deliberate and leads into this film, now that you’ve seen the film.

EI: The next Riddick, you’ve mentioned as Rambo-like, on a smaller scale than the other films. Would that close the trilogy? Are you still planning another?

VD: Well, when I talked about Riddick, I talked about it being the fellowship, like in the [J. R.] Tolkien series. I was using Pitch Black as The Hobbit, the book that’s the independent story that introduces you to the world of Middle Earth, and then taking The Chronicles of Riddick and treating it as a trilogy that goes from the story that you saw to the Under-verse and ultimately to Furia in the third film.

Vin Diesel

EI: Now the third is currently being written? 

VD: He [Rob Cohen] is currently writing the third, yes. It’s hot. But to answer the question specifically, about the scale-down situation, yes. There is a scaled-down portion of this that goes back to the Pitch Black style of telling the story.

EI: But it’s still the second one and not the third? 

VD: Absolutely, yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Think of Pitch Black as an introduction to the world. If you think about Lord of the Rings, and I’m just using that as a parallel, but you think about that as three books — a trilogy — you would think of The Chronicles of Riddick as the first of that trilogy and there would be two more to follow.

EI: There’s also talk of reviving Xander Cage and “XXX.” How hard would that be to do, since they blew your scalp off? 

VD: [Laughs] [Singing] “Ain’t that America…” That has been rectified. Rob Cohen found a way to incorporate that into the story years ago, and it’s just now that he’s implementing it. It’s now that he’s using it, but it’s a good question.

EI: Will “XXX” III happen?  

VD: Should I do it?

EI: I think you should.  

VD: That’s all I need to hear. Can we give you an Executive Producer credit? [Laughs]

EI: Would you allow someone else to direct Hannibal? You didn’t answer that question. 

VD: The reason I didn’t answer the question — you’re 100% right — wasn’t because I was skirting it, but I was waiting on your answer.

EI: You should do whatever it takes to get it done, at this point. 

VD: Okay, that’s real. Talk to me. 

EI: I think you should make the movie. That’s the bottom line. 

VD: It is the bottom line. That’s what my father would say.

EI: Make the movie that way you want to make the movie. 

VD: That’s the other thing. It’s those thoughts… I don’t know. You have to help me with this thing. If I can fold…if it’s not folding and it’s in service of telling a great story, there’s merit to that. There’s something about that, because at the end of the day, you just want to see an incredible Hannibal. You want to see it realized. You would hope that, even if I’m not directing it, all of that work, the development that’s been put into it will shine and you will see that and it will speak to you — the message and the integrity behind the story and the passion I’ve held onto and that you know has driven me to hold fast to telling that story is present. The hat trick is, if we’re going to be really picky about it, how can I maintain that and make a studio feel comfortable?