Not that I’m the nation’s #1 fan of the genre, but Vin Diesel is one of the new breed of action stars I have a hard time connecting with.
Sure, he looks and growls menacingly in his movies, but get him on Leno’s show and suddenly Mr. Kickass looks a touch nerdy. Heck, I’m watching them right now. Leno is seated next to the guy and is clearly bigger. On the screen, however, Vin Diesel looks bulletproof and 10-feet tall. Another observation: Somebody in the movie studios really jack up the bass in Vinny boy’s voice. To me, macho goes beyond physique. The Rock has it. Vinny doesn’t.
Conclusion: put Vin and me in a room and I kick his ass.
Well, Vin is definitely a big, strong guy who COULD kick your ass or mine, and who undoubtedly HAS kicked a lot of ass as a bouncer.
But remember, a good, successful bouncer doesn’t WANT to have to kick ass on a regular basis, and the owner of a successful nightclub doesn’t WANT to have his bouncers getting into scrapes every night.
Ideally, a bouncer should be able to intimidate potential troublemakers by his very size and presence. And if a patron at a nightclub gets a little too drunk and a little too rowdy, the owner the bouncer is both strong enough to walk the jerk outside (forcefully) with a smile on his face, and a pleasant, charming manner.
So, even though Vin Diesel may be something of a geek, he might’ve been a very good bouncer- strong enough to pick up a miscreant and throw him out on his ear… but amiable and charming enough not too scare ordinary, nice patrons who just want to have a few drinks and dance.
Well, he was a bouncer at several clubs in New York City before becoming a more successful actor. That isn’t very nerdy and I would imagine he isn’t afraid of a fight- which is a large part of being tough.
I’m surprised people here would be so quick to judge people by their appearance or put them into high school stereotypes. Being a “nerd” and a “tough guy” or “stud” is not mutually exclusive. The captain of my high school football team is a pretty big jacked-up guy (he’s in the Marines now). He’s still a little on the goofy side. One of my best friends from high school was like a super-stud frat guy in college. We used to go clubbing in Boston like every weekend. And every weekend I’d have to drag his Vanilla Ice looking ass away from Everquest.
Didn’t you guys ever see Rainier Wolfcastle in “Undercover Nerd”?
I’ve seen him on Leno a couple times and he does come off as rather goofy, probably a bit of leftover nerd nervousness in social situations. Women in the audience are always going ga-ga over him and I think he gets carried away by it and doesn’t really know how to respond so just ends up looking goofy. But he also one over a bunch just by talking about wanting babies, so maybe he’s not totally unaware.
I’ve heard these reports, but then remember the early reports about Jean-Claude Van Damme being a world champion kickboxer. Hollywood’s best PR flacks cut their teeth on juicing up bios.
Oddly enough, sitting next to Leno, he looked small. He’s usually wearing a very loose-fitting shirt that swallows him. (No joke there.)
I walked past a room in the community center today, containing a large number of jocks. They were gathered around a chalk board and I overheard one say" It is the ultimate nightmare, a D&D nerd with muscles. We must kill it before it breeds."
Don’t know much about Vin Diesel life outside movies but I have to say that Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick are two of the best films ever made. And if the guy is a bit a a geek, what’s wrong with that?
It’s good to have an action hero actor that can actually string a sentence together (thinking of a certain governor of California here).
Not being a giant myself, since when is 6’1" classed as being short?
