Riddick and Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel spent an awful lot of time this year teasing the fact he’d met with Marvel Studios about a role in the Cinematic Universe, before it was finally revealed that he’d be lending his voice to Groot, the tree-like member of the cosmic superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course, being that Groot is a man thing of few words, it won’t come as much of a surprise to Marvel fans to learn that Diesel has but one line in the movie.
“My father taught me there are no small roles, only small actors,” says Diesel in a video posted on his official Facebook page. “I have one line in the movie, but that doesn’t mean anything. I’m still going to make it the best thing I possibly can. Even if it means taking Andy Serkis to a whole other level, which is what we wanna do with our motion capture.”
Guardians of the Galaxy is set for release on August 1st 2014, with James Gunn (Super) directing a cast that includes Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) as Rocket Raccoon, 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, and Glenn Close (Damages) as the leader of the Nova Corps.
Originally published October 16, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
