EUROPA

COVER VIN DIESEL
film, Multi-Facial, inspired by his own story.
«I would drive around Los Angeles with VHS
copies in the trunk just in case I bumped into
someone who could help me with my dream.»
And someone did. The short film was screened
at Cannes.
Then Strays arrived: a movie that Vin Diesel
wrote, directed and starred in. They say that
Diesel even served as the caterer, serving up
pasta dishes to the crew. The film never made
it to the big screen, but it fell into the hands
of Spielberg, who liked his performance and
wanted to tap him for his movie Saving Private
Ryan. Diesel had just made the big leap
to stardom, although he still had a long
way to go and needed, above all, to
find his niche in Hollywood. The films
of the early twenty-first century certainly
had no lack of a passion for
action, special effects and muscles,
but after those crazy years in which
Stallone and Schwarzenegger
seemed to star in everything, the
industry started to look for something
different than stars with
champion bodybuilder physiques.
Pitch Black, the first installment
of The Chronicles of Riddick, was
Diesel’s long-awaited opportunity.
The man who once declared «I
am the most ambitious person you
ever met» knew how to take advantage
of this first franchise and
The Fast and the Furious and xXx
immediately followed.
But fame and success also have
their drawbacks and not everyartístico:
Vin, de Vincent, su apellido real,
y Diesel por su alto nivel de energía. Aunque
no es del todo cierto eso de que no servía para
otra cosa. También trabajó, por ejemplo, como
teleoperador vendiendo bombillas, grabó un
vídeo en la adolescencia enseñando a otros
chavales a bailar break dance y hasta sabía muy
bien lo que era cobrar por subirse a un escenario:
«La primera vez que me pagaron por actuar
tenía siete años. Me daban 20 dólares a la semana
y me sentí como si fuera rico».
La afición por el teatro seguramente le venía de
su padre adoptivo, profesor de arte dramático,
mientras que su madre se ganaba la vida como
astróloga, aunque a él nunca quiso contarle
nada de su futuro: «Ella decía que estaba demasiado
cerca de mí como para ser imparcial».
O quizá es que la buena mujer vio lo difícil que
lo iba a tener su hijo y prefirió callarse. Y es
que, sus principios fueron duros. Tras ese buen
arranque de su carrera y los 20 dólares semanales
de la infancia, las cosas se torcieron. El
problema estaba, sobre todo, en su ambigüedad
racial, que echaba a muchos para atrás a la
hora de contratarle. Como él mismo ha contado,
era demasiado blanco para interpretar a
un negro y demasiado negro para hacer
de blanco. Lo bueno es que supo darle
la vuelta a la situación, vendió su
coche por 3.000 dólares y con ese
dinero rodó un corto, Multi-Facial,
inspirado en su propia historia.
«Conducía por Los Ángeles con las
copias en VHS por si me encontraba
a alguien que pudiera ayudarme
con mis sueños». Y algo sí que consiguió.
El corto llegó a proyectarse en
Cannes.
Después vendría una película, Strays,
escrita, dirigida y protagonizada por
él. Cuentan que Diesel hasta se encargó
de cocinar el catering a base de pasta.
No logró que se estrenara en cines, pero
sí cayó en manos de Spielberg, a quien
le gustó su actuación y quiso contar con
él en Salvar al soldado Ryan. Diesel
acababa de dar el gran salto para convertirse
en una estrella, aunque aún le
faltaba bastante camino por recorrer y
necesitaba, sobre todo, encontrar un
hueco en Hollywood. El cine de principios
del siglo XXI no renunciaba ni mucho
menos a la pasión por la acción,
bulbs, as a teen he was featured in an instructional breakdance video
for other kids, and he even had firsthand experience getting paid to
be on stage. «I was seven the first time I got paid for acting. They gave
me $20 a week and I felt like I was rich.»
His love for theater likely came from his adoptive father, a drama
teacher, while his mother earned her living as an astrologer, though
the actor never wanted her to do his horoscope. «She said she was
too close to me to be impartial,» he said. Or perhaps his mother saw
how tough a time her son was going to have, and preferred to keep
it to herself. And there is no denying that he had a rough go at first:
things fell apart after a promising start to his career and the $20 a
week he earned as a child. The main problem was his racial ambiguity,
which kept many from hiring him. As he himself has said, he was too
white to play a black man and too black to be white. The good thing
is that he knew how to turn the situation around: he sold his car for
$3,000 and used the money to make a short
Vin Diesel con su mujer,
la modelo mexicana
Paloma Jiménez. La
pareja tiene tres hijos. /
Vin Diesel with his wife,
Mexican model Paloma
Jiménez. The couple has
three children.
CORDON PRESS
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