New Role: Vin Diesel's Star Rising

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday July 31, 2001 01:00 PM EDT

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Vin Diesel is entering the spy game, most profitably. The hulky speed demon of "The Fast and the Furious," 33, will receive in the neighborhood of $10 million to star in the urban spy thriller "XXX," which is scheduled to begin shooting by year's end for a July 26, 2002, release, says the Hollywood Reporter. Written by Rich Wilkes ("Airheads"), the project reportedly concerns a tough extreme-sports player who is co-opted by the government to infiltrate a crime ring. "Just like you can't have 'Dr. No' without Sean Connery, you can't have 'XXX' without Vin," said director Rob Cohen, who also is responsible for "The Fast and the Furious." "What Sean was to the '60s, Vin is to the 2000s. In the Kennedy era, Sean was an image of masculinity, charm, vulnerability and sexiness. Vin represents that for this new millennium." Reviewing "Fast and Furious," PEOPLE critic Leah Rozen wrote, "The dialogue is so laughably earnest that the actors (including Vin Diesel) are reduced to crash-test dummies."