Diesel never says die

The Chronicles Of Riddick isn't the biggest franchise out there. But it has some diehard fans, including Vin Diesel himself.

In spite of massive indifference from large swaths of the movie-going public, he perseveres with the latest instalment of Riddick, a back-to-basics M18-rated actioner.

Unlike its predecessor The Chronicles Of Riddick, which came with an expensive price tag of US$105 million (S$133 million), Riddick was shot at a much more cost-effective US$38 million and is primarily geared to satisfy fans.

Why did you make this movie?

For a few reasons.

One is that it's a character that has always been close to me; it was my first big character in Hollywood. I think Riddick, the character, is so interesting and dynamic and the idea of playing a quintessential anti-hero is something that I can relate to.

But most importantly, it was listening to an audience that said, "We want the next chapter."

A lot of them said, "We want it rated R," and also many said, "We don't care what the rating is, we just want to see this character come back."

Ironically, by making it rated R, we didn't have to spend US$200 million to make the movie, which led us to being able to pull it off.

The short answer is: I made it because the request for it was loud and clear.

Where does this film pick up in the storyline and what is Riddick about?

This film picks up after 2004's The Chronicles Of Riddick. We know what situation our character is in at the end of The Chronicles Of Riddick. We are not expecting to know what happens to our protagonist in this movie, but that speaks of the unpredictability of this universe in a nice way.

Can you talk a little a bit about what training you put yourself through to play Riddick?

This training was different because first of all, there is the mental training and building the core of the character, which came from isolating myself for several months upstate in the woods.

I stared at the moon late at night thinking, "This is my character work right now; I'm talking to the moon!"

As one of the first celebrities to have a million fans on Facebook back in 2009, there's a very direct approach in the way you reach out to your fans through social media. Embracing something like that, is it ever scary for you?

I think there is something scary when talking to a group of people anyway.

We all feel that little bit of anxiety before speaking to a body of people. It's no different on Facebook.

I embraced it differently than others did earlier on, when no one had a million fans and it was all new.

I looked at it as an opportunity to be able to hear the audience's thoughts and reaction to my work, films I have done or characters I might not have done.

For example, Riddick. I feel like if I didn't have social media, I don't think I would have even pushed to make Riddick at the same level.

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