“I could explore things in the games that I may not have been financially able to in the movies. Concepts in the game that would involve another $50 million in the movie were not practical for the movie. [But it's] a wonderful opportunity for me to explore in the game.”
It’s not every day that a game is more revered than the movie it was based on. But ask anyone who’s played The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay what their favorite part of the Riddick franchise is and they will almost always respond, “The video game.”
That’s good news for Vin Diesel, who has been drawn to Riddick’s world, story and characters from the beginning. “With characters that are that personal, there are a lot of reasons why you go back to playing them,” says the actor. “Sometimes you just don’t know why you gravitate toward a character. Why you feel compelled to revisit him and continue the story. But there is clearly something that is very dear to me about Riddick that compels me to further explore the character and the realm he lives in.
“I was intrigued by Riddick from the beginning because of the complexity of a character that would otherwise be viewed a serial killer. What’s interesting is that we are told he is the killer, we are told he is the criminal. And yet when we see him interact with other characters there’s always something behind his actions. There’s something about that that makes me go back to him. And not just in movies; I take great pride in the interactive universe of gaming.”
Since he brought it up, we just have to know: will there be a new Riddick movie? “Very good question and you probably know the answer to that,” Diesel responds, speaking in a tone that confirms the existence of a third film. “I actually can go into a little detail. David Twohy [writer and director of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick] is scripting the next Riddick movie as we speak. The story will return to a Pitch Black setting while servicing the mythology of Riddick. What we’re going to find is Riddick alone for the first part of the movie with carnivorous monsters all around trying to eat him. Man it’s so cool. This movie, I get nervous just trying to touch on it.”
