The “breakthrough” movie that inspired Vin Diesel’s career: “I no longer have to go beg”
Vin Diesel might be best known for his role as Dominic Toretto in the Fast and Furious franchise – a role he started playing in 2001 – but he actually got his start in the industry as a filmmaker.
Considering the fact that the actor has hardly directed anything since, instead becoming a well-known action star, this might come as a surprise to some, but Diesel wouldn’t be where he is today if not for two low-budget projects he made in the 1990s.
Desperate to fulfil his dreams of becoming a star, he realised that if he couldn’t land any significant roles, he’d have to take matters into his own hands. This resulted in his first short, Multi-Facial, which he made on a budget of just $3,000, taking on most production roles himself, even the score. However, Diesel might not have found the inspiration to start making films if not for a certain movie that had been released to acclaim a few years earlier, despite its minuscule budget.
Talking to The New York Times, the actor explained, “That was the beginning of the shoestring film budget movement. When El Mariachi came out — Robert Rodriguez made it for $7,000 — it was a gigantic breakthrough for me. I thought I no longer have to go beg someone for a spot. I can go bouncing and save up $3,000 and invest in my own story.”
So, that’s exactly what he did. Diesel worked as a bouncer, putting aside money to make his first film, and eventually, his efforts paid off. While his initial attempts to find funding for a feature failed, his decision to instead focus his attention on a short became the key to his success.
“One Christmas, I went home and my mother got me this book by Rick Schmidt: Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices. In New York, I felt there were more resources. There were nonprofit organisations that would help you make a film. So I started putting together a feature, which later became Strays,” Diesel explained.
Adding, “But I couldn’t get the money to make Strays then. This was 1995, and I did eventually complete it, and it was selected for competition at Sundance in ’97. So I went by a phrase very successful people say: ‘If you can’t do it all, do what you can.’ I wrote and filmed a short film called Multi-Facial. It was, in essence, my story about how hard it was to get roles as a multiracial actor.”
So, thanks to Rodriguez’s incredibly low-budget production, Diesel realised that there was a way for creatives without millions of dollars at their fingertips to still make films. El Mariachi was a huge success, and while it was made with just $7,000, when Columbia Pictures got hold of it, they decided to finance many post-production elements that would help it succeed at the box office. Clearly, all you need is a few thousand dollars and enough talent, and you might just go far.
Diesel was deeply inspired by Rodriguez, and with the release of Multi-Facial and Strays, Diesel kick-started his career. Steven Spielberg recognised the actor’s talents after viewing his feature and subsequently gave him a part in his hit 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.
