Vin Diesel has an uncanny ability to turn almost any movie into a franchise, and then to keep any franchise going through sheer force of will and the staggering box-office drawing power of the sight of his lumpy body in a white tanktop. The Fast & Furious franchise is almost 15 years old, with a seventh film on the way. Even after the colossal failure of The Chronicles Of Riddick, Diesel still found a way to make last year’s Riddick. And for years, Diesel has said he’s going to make another xXx, the movie about a more “modern” James Bond-style spy who’s all aggro and cool and snowboards and has tattoos and drinks diet energy drinks and hangs out with Asia Argento unlike that loser 007 who’s so unhip and lame and hasn’t snowboarded since that time he basically invented the entire sport and doesn’t even have Asia Argento’s phone number. This despite the fact that xXx is already hopelessly dated, the Bond franchise is stronger than ever, and the second xXx, State Of The Union, was a big flop that didn’t even feature Diesel. He’s stubborn to the point of insanity. Who picks the xXx franchise as the hill he’s going to die on?
Vin Diesel that’s who! Promoting his role as a space tree who says three words (sometimes in other languages!), Diesel gave an interview with Collider, where he confirmed that after all that hinting and teasing, he’s definitely making another xXx. His quote:
“I am going to do the next xXx which will be filming in part in the Philippines, which I’m very, very, very excited about.”
“Very, very, very excited?” So is that, like, triple x-cited?
Apparently Diesel has a taste for properties whose cultural relevance ended years earlier, because the project Diesel is shooting before Triple-xXx (shortened from xXxxXxxXx) is a big-screen version of Kojak, the ’70s cop series starring Telly Savalas. Diesel has previously said he wants Ang Lee to direct his Kojak, because why not, but there’s no word on whether Lee will helm the film, or who else might do it if he’s not interested. But knowing Diesel, after it’s done, whether it’s a hit or not, he’ll try to make a Kojak 2.