Open Mike transcript

Transcript of Vin's appearance on the Open Mike Show

<Mike> Our first guest tonight was last seen in Saving Private Ryan and last heard in The Iron Giant. He has two new movies coming up Pitch Black and Boiler Room which both open in theatres on February 18th. Please welcome Vin Diesel! Nice to have you here Vin. I know this afternoon you were interviewed by Larissa Harapin (sp?) at Star TV.

<Mike> She's a beauty huh?

<Mike> Yeah. And now you're ending your day looking at me. Pretty sweet huh?

<Vin> I don't know if it gets any better.

<Mike> I don't think it does. Now I saw Pitch Black on Friday, I went to a screening. And let me tell you it was one

of the best science fiction flicks I've ever seen.

<Vin> Thank you.

<Mike> And I tell you, it was wonderful. You turned in a great performance. Why don't you tell the folks what the film's about?

<Vin> I knew you were going to ask me that. I really don't know how to describe this, but it's about a group of marooned travelers that are shipwrecked on a planet and they think that my character is the worst that they have in store and then they find out that there are creatures on the planet that come out in the dark and devour everything. Kinda like you guys at nightclubs.

<Mike> Let me give you my synopsis, if Gilligan was a bad guy.

<Vin> Hi Skipper.

<Mike> Now you shot that film in where? Coober Pedy?

<Vin> Coober Pedy, it's a opal mining town in Australia. It's in the outback, uh Mad Max and Road Warrior and Priscilla Queen of the Desert were shot there.

<Mike> Were all filmed there, yeah. What's it like shooting there?

<Vin> It's actually a remarkable place. It's an aboriginal sacred ground so -

<Mike> Yeah but if you pay them enough money they'll allow you to shoot there.

<Vin> No we had to -

<Mike> That's the thing with you Americans. Just show 'em the dough.

<Vin> Heeeeey. Ohhhhh.

<Mike> Show 'em the dough and you're shooting on a grave.

<Vin> Let me take care of that for you Mike...

<Mike> Alright...

<Vin> That's our forte, what are we supposed to do?

<Mike> I know, I know...

<Vin> Aboriginal sacred ground? Here's a hundred bucks...do me a favor?

<Mike> That's an aboriginal chair...how about twenty?

<Vin> Oh...American or Canadian money? I only have...

<Mike> Whatever! So you shot the film out there and lived on location didn't you?

<Vin> We lived at Coober Pedy, it's an opal mining town, there's 3000 people in the town. And I come from New York, I grew up in a building with 3000 people. So it was a little bit of a culture shock.

<Mike> Yeah, I bet. I bet.

<Vin> You live in these caves that have been excavated and they paint the walls red so it looks like people have been trapped there for like 30 years and tried to claw their way out. Looked like blood, actually helped the character. So when you go -

<Mike> So this was low budget huh? No hotel? Didn't get that star treatment?

<Vin> It felt like that.

<Mike> I bet. Now you brought a clip of the film? Do you want to set that up?

<Vin> This clip is...the killer's been recaptured and he's being contained and the captain comes down to offer a deal. Let's go look at it.

<Mike> Very intense. You first came to attention in Saving Private Ryan. It was a great character you played, the soldier who saved the child. How did Spielberg go about catching that because I heard it was an interesting story?

<Vin> I directed a film, a short film, called Multi-Facial and I come back from Sundance, I directed another film, I came back from Sundance and my agent calls me on Saturday morning and says "Steven Spielberg just saw your short film." And of course I'm going through the roof, I'm ecstatic and everything. She says "Vin, he wants to write a role in Saving Private Ryan for you." And that's like unheard of, that's like a Hollywood fairytale.

<Mike> Did you play hard ball with them? Did you say "no?"

<Vin> I said "How much?" No, I first said "What's Saving Private Ryan?" "It's only the most highly anticipated film of the decade."

<Mike> I hate it when people talk like that to me.

<Vin> Can you believe it? So I go to meet Spielberg and he says "Oh this is great, this is going to work out perfect.

I think we should have you meet Tom." And I say "Tom who?" And he goes "Tom Hanks, but I like that, that you're not...that's good, no that's great." And uh...Thank god you're laughing.

<Mike> Many nights, I'm the only one. Tonight's no exception.

<Vin> It gets cold up here. I'm feeling it, it's either hot or cold.

<Mike> So you met Tom Hanks?

<Vin> Met Tom Hanks, did the boot camp experience with him, which was a real character defining moment. And that was the first commercial film -

<Mike> Boot camp is where you find out if you got what it take to play a soldier in a movie.

<Vin> Yeah, absolutely. There was a lot of guys quitting and throwing up, I won't mention any names.

<Mike> There's nothing like that eight and a half hours of movie boot camp.

<Vin> No, no! Whoa, heeeeeeeeey. Let me set the record straight.

<Mike> That's that scary voice you used in Pitch Black, I'm listening.

<Vin> Boiler, Boiler Room? Alright. Boot camp was actually a very very hard experience cause we slept three hours a night, it was raining, it was cold, we had to sleep in these pup tents and we weren't able to eat anything but cat food for a week -

<Mike> Well, boo hoo, well I live in a box.

<Vin> You don't know how hard it is Mike, I can't go on anymore.

<Mike> Well, I want to thank you very much for coming by. And you got two movies opening February 18th. Pitch Black, I recommend very highly one of the best films I've seen this year and Boiler Room as well. Boiler Room is a fantastic film, completely different subject matter but I highly recommend both of them and believe me, you have no idea how much fun I've had, I've sold at least ten tickets.

<Mike> Yes. Vin Diesel ladies and gentlemen!

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