Vin Diesel had to overcome some big obstacles to complete “Riddick,” the latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with his breakout role in the 2000 hit sci-fi film “Pitch Black” and 2004′s “The Chronicles of Riddick.”
The troubles began when Chronicles of Riddick failed to live up to the success of its predecessor. Produced on a small budget of $22 million, Pitch Black, turned a modest profit, grossing $53 million worldwide. On the other hand, Chronicles of Riddick cost more than $100 million, but only took in $116 million worldwide, railroading plans for expanding the franchise.
However a breakthrough occurred in 2006 ,when Diesel pulled off a smart move on Universal Pictures. He was asked by studio representatives, who wanted to revive the “Fast and Furious” franchise, to make a cameo in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.” The actor, who starred in the first installment, but opted out of the first two sequels, agreed to the cameo in exchange for the rights to the Riddick character.
Fast forward a few years to 2008, Diesel reunited with writer/director David Twohy and penned a script, which he later described as “the story of my life,” in an emotional speech at the LA premiere of Riddick.
The project was introduced in 2010 at Berlin’s European Film Market, where it was one of the hottest titles in the presales market.
But when the film lost funding and put Diesel’s passion project in jeopardy, the actor invested his personal funds, which included putting up his house as collateral.
“If it didn’t work out, I would have lost my house,” Diesel said. “Everything I had in my life was leveraged to make this movie. The producer role – the stakes were higher than any producer I know because the skin in the game was real, and I was so committed to answering this growing request from the social media fans to continue this character. The only way I could have pulled it off was by leveraging everything.”
The 46-year-old actor also revealed he had to push back the third installment of the Riddick series because he was having a baby.
“We were initially going to try and make Riddick before I did ‘Fast Five,’ and then I learned that we were expecting a child,” Diesel explained. “I didn’t think it would be fair to the child. I didn’t think it would be fair to the fans to go to that dark place while welcoming a life into the world.”
Today, it’s obviously it all worked out. Universal, which initially was all too willing to dump the franchise, took an equity position in the film and agreed to distribute, shoring up Diesel’s mission to resurrect his Riddick character.
Twohy directed Riddick, which also stars Katee Sackhoff, David Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Gerard Funk, and Karl Urban.
The film opens in U.S. theaters Sept. 6.
