Actor Vin Diesel is definitely in as the voice of the CGI tree character Groot in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Diesel has been dropping hints and posting images via his Facebook account, a cryptic process that teases and excites fans. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex, Diesel reveals why he is playing Groot and not a different Marvel character. This is what he had to say.
So why Groot?
Vin Diesel: I’m an actor. I can do whatever the … 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.
Why did you post a picture of the character on Facebook this weekend?
Vin Diesel: 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.
Marvel is notoriously secretive about its movies, and you’re very open. Isn’t it mad you’ve been dropping hints about “Guardians?”
Vin Diesel: 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.
Chris Pratt just tweeted that they’re already halfway through with production on the movie. When would you film this?
Vin Diesel: That’s the thing — 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.
Why have your fans been so passionate about you being part of a Marvel movie?
Vin Diesel: It’s a weird thing. 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. Maybe because I’m the kind of guy who will put up a post [on Facebook] that’s different.
Here’s a brief storyline for the film.
U.S. pilot Peter Quill ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” is eyeing a production start date this month and will be released on August 1, 2014. The film stars Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldaña, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, Dave Bautista, Ophelia Lovibond and Enzo Cilenti. Chris McCoy, Nicole Perlman, and James Gunn wrote the screenplay based on the Marvel Comic by the same name originally created by Gene Colan, Arnold Drake, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning. James Gunn directs.
Sources: Los Angeles Times Hero Complex, Vin Diesel