“I came to Comic-Con 13 years ago with a little movie call Pitch Black with an actor nobody had heard of called Vin Diesel,” said Riddick director David Twohy as he came into Comic-Con’s Hall H. “I’m more excited than you are.”
Joining him were Battlestar Gallactica’s Katee Sackhoff (who plays mercenary Doll in the film) and an “actor nobody had heard of called Vin Diesel”, who’s called Vin Diesel. Twohy explains that the third part of the ongoing Riddick story sees Doll come to realise that though Riddick may be “the most dangerous thing on the planet, [but he’s] not the worst thing on the planet.”
The worst thing on the planet is probably one of the seemingly infinite bloodthirsty aliens that plague the world Riddick is marooned on. Bloodthirsty aliens that fully justify the “blood” in bloodthirsty, thereby helping Riddick earn that R rating that both Diesel and Twohy were so insistent upon. So insistent, in fact, that it’s not a big studio movie. This is an indie, released by Universal in the US, and E1 in the UK.
“Not having a studio was daunting,” said Twohy. “Creative meetings were in Vin’s kitchen. We knew we didn't have all the money in the world for this one, so we made it a survival story.” The footage shown sees Riddick temporarily chained up by the mercenaries there to kill him before the xenomorph-wannabes attack the tin shack they’re holed up in.
More than a couple of mercenary goons are dispatched by enterprising extra-terrestrials before Riddick, in a move that will live long in fans’ memories, kicks a machete balancing on his foot into the head of another expendable human to put him out of his misery (or just because he was about to kill him moments earlier, it’s hard to say). In short, it’s very much a successor to Pitch Black, though the audience assembled was promised more depth to the mythos brought about by Chronicles Of Riddick. The fans’ reaction in the auditorium was palpable. It’s good to have Riddick back.
And just as a bonus, here are few funny moments from the panel for you to enjoy. Fan: “What is it that drives Riddick?” Diesel: “GRRRRR.” Another fan: “Why is Riddick so scary?” Diesel: “Personally, now I have kids, I have guilt for having so a darkness in this character. ‘That wasn’t cool! He shouldn’t kill that guy!’”
Finally, there was the question on every comic book fan’s lips – the question concerning the rumours that after his meeting at Marvel Studios that he could be playing Vision at some point: “What is your vision for the upcoming Marvel movies?" Diesel: "I'll say this: big news at the end of the month..."
Mad Riddick: Furyan Road **Riddick **is out on September 6 in the US and September 4 in the UK.