Steven Spielberg told Vin Diesel that it would be a “crime against cinema” if he did not continue directing.
The Fast and Furious star began his career as a filmmaker, writing and directing the 1995 short Multi-Facial and the 1997 drama Strays. After watching both, Spielberg specifically wrote a character for Diesel to play in his 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.
In an interview with The National, Diesel said: “Speaking of Steven Spielberg, I saw him recently, and he had said to me, ‘When I wrote the role for you in Saving Private Ryan, I was obviously employing the actor, but I was also secretly championing the director in you, and you have not directed enough.’”
The monolithic Jawsfilmmaker then supposedly told him: “That is a crime of cinema and you must get back in the directing chair.”
“I haven’t directed enough,” Diesel confessed.
Diesel did return to the director’s chair in 2009, for Los Bandoleros, a short film set in the Fast and Furious universe.
For the past two decades, however, his primary focus has been acting.
Diesel can currently be seen in Bloodshot, with Sony Pictures set to release the film on demand early (24 March) to compensate for the widespread closures of cinemas due to the coronavirus pandemic.
