(Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/AP Photo) For the third installment in the “Riddick” series, Vin Diesel not only stars in the latest film but produced and funded the action flick.
It’s been nine years since Diesel has taken on the role of the dangerous predator battling space aliens and guns for hire, and without a big studio backing the project, the “Fast and the Furious” actor had to lay it all on the line to release the movie.
“I had to leverage my house,” Diesel told the Hollywood Reporter at his L.A. premiere on Wednesday. “If we didn’t finish the film, I would be homeless.”
The AP reported that “Riddick” cost somewhere between $35 million and $40 million.
Related: A Rough Road Back to ‘Riddick’ for Diesel
Why risk it all when just around the corner Diesel has “Fast 7? and another “xXx” movie coming? Well, put frankly, he did it for his fans after they told him, “We want a rated-R movie and we’d be willing to pay $10 each. Surely you’d have enough to make it then.”
His fans were referring to the PG-13 sequel, “Chronicles of Riddick,” that most critics and zealots of the series panned as too commercial after a successful first movie.
“Something about that comment made me think, bless their heart, and if I can do anything with this newfound success, if I could do anything at all, I could deliver on that wish, ” Diesel said.
“Riddick” hits theaters on Sept. 6.
