Vin Diesel Swapped ‘Fast And Furious’ Cameo For The Rights To ‘Riddick’

Vin Diesel loved the character he originally portrayed in David Twohy’s Pitch Black so much that he made a very unusual arrangement with the folks at Universal Pictures.

Although the character has only appeared in three feature-length movies since his debut in the 2000 sci-fi flick, the actor developed a strong attachment to the guy. In order to make sure he retained the rights to Riddick, Diesel struck a deal with the Hollywood studio.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Chronicles of Riddick star agreed to make a cameo in Justin Lin’s Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift if he could retain the rights to the character. Instead of an appearance fee, the actor walked away with Richard B. Riddick.

Unfortunately, Universal Pictures balked at the idea of making another movie featuring everyone’s favorite intergalactic anti-hero. Since Chronicles didn’t set the box office on fire when it landed in theaters back in 2004, Diesel and Twohy decided to bankroll the flick the hard way.

During an interview with The Associated Press, Vin Diesel explained that he traveled around the world in hopes of finding people to finance Riddick. The actor even leveraged his own house to make sure they could complete the picture.

Why would Diesel take such a risky gamble on a character with a questionable box office track record? According to the star, making a Riddick movie is like going home again.

“No matter what part of the world we’re in, whether it’s the Australian outback where we shot ‘Pitch Black,’ or Vancouver where we filmed the second movie, or inside an old train depot in Montreal where we shot ‘Riddick,’ it just feels like home when we’re together making a Riddick movie,” he expalined.

Vin Diesel will reprise his role as the character once again this weekend. Riddick is slated to hit theaters across North America on September 6.

[Image via Universal Pictures]