Long before Brad Bird was an Oscar-nominated director, he helmed an underappreciated animated classic called The Iron Giant. Strays was Diesel’s feature film directorial debut, and he once again starred as the main character, a drug dealer named Rick who began searching for meaning in his otherwise empty life.ĭiesel reportedly made Strays for only $10,000! It wasn’t a widely seen film, but it paved the way for his future successes.Īccording to Hollywood lore, Steven Spielberg asked that the script for Saving Private Ryan be rewritten so that he could cast Diesel as Private Adrian Caparzo.Īlthough Diesel’s role in the film was relatively small, it was his biggest showcase to that point in time. In many ways, Diesel owes his career to this short, as it caught the eye of director Steven Spielberg, who later cast him in Saving Private Ryan. In response, Diesel wrote, directed, and starred in the short film, Multi-Facial, a semi-autobiographical story about a mixed race man who finds that he doesn’t fit the preconceived notions of any casting director. Early in his career, Vin Diesel struggled to get roles.
