Since Vin Diesel announced a couple of months back that he was set to meet with Marvel Studios, there’s been a tonne of speculation as to which character the Fast & Furious and Riddick star could be portraying in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Two favourites appeared to be The Vision and Thanos, but this week we learned that Diesel will instead be lending his voice to Groot, the tree-like member of Guardians of the Galaxy, and the actor has offered a few thoughts on the role during an interview with Hero Complex.
“I’m an actor. I can do whatever the… I want,” said Diesel when asked why he was interested in portraying Groot, who is known for being a tree of few words. “As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice. And sometimes, the best thing you can do — as far as Steven Spielberg and his advice — is to defy expectations. So if everybody thinks you’re going to go for this one thing and you flip it entirely and go for the strangest Marvel character, it’s interesting. And when something is interesting, it’s inspiring.
“The audience wanted Vin and Marvel, Vin and Marvel. But I’m too busy to do a six-month role. So what Marvel came up with was really interesting… I am watching a social wave influence and in some ways guide their thinking… The audience wants Marvel and I to do something, and I don’t know why it’s so important. For six months, I wasn’t able to answer this growing request. Maybe they think of Dom [Diesel’s character in the Fast & the Furious movies] as a plain-clothes superhero? There’s something multicultural and interesting about that gravitas to bring the Marvel universe. I don’t know. Maybe because I’m the kind of guy who will put up a post [on Facebook] that’s different.”
Guardians of the Galaxy is set to open on August 1st, 2014, with a cast that includes Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) as The Collector, Lee Pace (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) as Ronan the Accuser, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Nebula, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as Korath the Pursuer and Glenn Close (Damages) as the leader of the Nova Corps.
Originally published August 14, 2013. Updated April 10, 2018.
