Vin Diesel Quotes

• "Every single character that I've ever played has some similarities. I did telemarketing, so I did it for a living. It's the same thing as selling stocks, but instead of stocks you're selling inadequate tools. The whole reason why I did this film was to redeem myself for a shameless job."
• "I am flattered that they think that many people would enjoy my work. I don't approach any genre a different way than I may approach another one. I treat every role I do like a role worthy of applying whatever kind of tactic, process and talent I have."
• "Cole Hauser and my co-producer bought me a didgeridoo for my birthday when we were there. And I did learn to play. I was lucky because the aborigines treat it as a very sacred instrument, and one of them took the time out to actually teach me how to do it."
• "I don't know if I could ever get Hannibal greenlit if I didn't have the box office response that we hope that we'll get from XXX and that I've gotten from The Fast and the Furious."
• "I haven't had that many weird encounters with fans, thank God."
• "I hope the fact that I do films like Knockaround Guys ensures that I won't get pigeonholed. It's not the worst thing in the world, you know."
• "I love anti-heroes and I've explored anti-heroes and I have played anti-heroes. Maybe I don't necessarily know if I understand what an anti-hero is. This is a guy who lives by his own code. There is no changing point for Dominic. He is the same guy in the beginning as he is in the end."
• "I pulled from all that harbored anger we all have and lock away in a vault and keep it there locked so we can function."
• "I try to do as much of my own stunts and then my stunt performers come in and emasculate me and do the impossible. What's funny as hell is the only time I really work out is when I'm not working. So, if I look big, I'm unemployed."
• "I was a bouncer for nine years, and when you're a bouncer everything you say has to be reinforced with an unspoken threat that the situation can be handled in a physical manner-if I can quote the great Stone Cold Steve Austin!"
• "I was walking around with the babies so much that when I got to the Sidney Lumet picture, I would be on set in between takes and I'd be rocking back and forth. Just standing like this rocking back and forth, and Sidney would say, Why are you walking like that in between takes?"
• "I'm flattered because the whole action-hero term is such a new term. Steve McQueen and Sidney Poitier and Kirk Douglas, they weren't considered action."
• "I'm not really afraid of the dark, except if I'm walking. The thing that scares me the most is the possibility of walking into a wall and busting my lip."
• "I'm not that car-oriented, like I couldn't build an engine. I grew up in New York City, so I guess I am more familiar with subways."
• "If you had asked me back in grade school what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said my first choice was an actor, but if I couldn't be that, I'd want to be a superhero."
• "If you take my performance or my understanding of the role and my appreciation for story and then dress it in CGI, that I guess becomes an action film."
• "If you're the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams, you've gotta be resourceful to make sure you can do it. I came out to California when I was 21, thinking my New York credentials would take me all the way. I came back home a year later all dejected and a failure."
• "It was interesting to do a completely fictional piece. You know, Saving Private Ryan was not a fictional piece! So the challenge was: How do you incorporate real emotions? How do you incorporate aspects that people are going to be able to identify with?"
• "It would be flattering to call it a modern Dirty Harry, but I think this film deals more with the loss of his wife than the traditional revenge vigilante films."
• "It's really cool to go back to Riddick when the studio's excited about doing it, making a trilogy out of that character. That's a really gratifyingly cool experience."
• "Jordana Brewster and I had to kind of synchronize being brother and sister and to do it right. We had to kind of synchronize our personalities and our understandings. She actually reminds me very much of my sister."
• "My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you."
• "The more you know about the Dungeons and Dragons, the more you'll see the thought process that went into the Chronicles of Riddick mythology."
• "The thing that stood out above and beyond all the experiences was this relationship with the nine-month-old baby. On weekends, I'd be thinking about going back to set on Monday just to see the baby."
• "The video game culture was an important thing to keep alive in the film because we're in a new era right now. The idea that kids can play video games like Grand Theft Auto or any video game is amazing. The video games are one step before a whole other virtual universe."
• "The whole year I was in LA I got into telemarketing and learned how to make money. Five years later that skill helped me make my first film."
• "There's going to be a time in the next 18 months when I go to shoot this Hannibal character, and I'm going to do my best to channel the character, not even play the part, but literally channel it, this general, this third century B.C. Carthiginian general. I'm going to be channeling a lot of anger."
• "We all deal with being unfairly judged."
• "What was the toughest stunt in XXX? All the stunts were difficult for their own reasons. What I found particularly difficult was, I was standing up on Ahab, in the river in Prague. That was very, very difficult because if I would've slipped off, I would have died of hypothermia in 10 minutes."
• "When I was about 7, there was a blackout in Manhattan, and I grew up in this huge building with around 365 apartments, and it had long, long halls. We were playing tag in this building, and I'm running around on the ninth floor, and I ran straight into a wall and busted my lip."
• "You can walk on set and walk by Vin Diesel and that nine-month-old co-star having a conversation that you couldn't understand. Lotta goo goo ga gas."
• "You get a little excited walking on a set and this nine-month-old baby knows you're there. Not thinking Vin Diesel, just thinks of the big guy who's always taking care of him. It had a dramatic effect on me."
• "You know when something feels so good but you're afraid to feel good about it? So you kinda hold back? Everyone says, Congratulations, you must be so happy. And you say something stupid like, I'm just doing what little I can with what little I have."
• "You live these three months in this reality, in this dark reality. You don't want to do those films every year because they're taxing. I started smoking a lot of cigarettes."
• "It doesn't matter if you win by a second or a mile, winning is winning!"