It was previously rumored and now Vin Diesel has confirmed with the Los Angeles Times he will indeed play the extraterrestrial, sentient tree-like creature, Groot in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Accompanying the news, Diesel gave some weird quotes about this being interesting and inspiring and not the most obvious choice. I’m not sure if he’s referring to the character or to his decision to take on a Marvel movie where he plays a tree, but here’s the quote:
I’m an actor. I can do whatever the… I want. As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice. And sometimes, the best thing you can do — as far as Steven Spielberg and his advice — is to defy expectations. So if everybody thinks you’re going to go for this one thing and you flip it entirely and go for the strangest Marvel character, it’s interesting. And when something is interesting, it’s inspiring.
He’s apparently referencing Spielberg’s implosion of the industry theory and trying to combat it, but I’m not sure I’m willing to get on board with his reasoning.
The whole interview is a little… off? You can read it right here and see how he suggests his fans may have wanted him in a Marvel movie so he could bring his level of “gravitas” to a character. Okay, but you’re still just playing a tree right?
Diesel joins Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibond, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Benicio del Toro and Karen Gillan in the film which is currently halfway through production for an August 1, 2014 release.
