Action star Vin Diesel has signed up for another science fiction film, titled Soldiers of the Sun. The project was written by Arash Amel, who wrote Nicole Kidman’s Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is being envisioned as possibly another sci-fi franchise for Diesel, who already has the Riddick/Pitch Black series as well as Universal’s Fast & Furious films. It’s another post-apocalyptic story, about a squad of soldiers fighting in Mexico during a war with the alien Orcs. During their tour of duty, they decide to search for a legendary gold city.
The spec script was picked up by Universal, which has assigned Jeff Kirschenbaum and Jay Polidoro to oversee. One Race Films’ Samantha Vincent and Lorenzo di Bonaventura are teaming up to produce.
This is the second big news of the week for Diesel. He is also in talks to join Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, voicing Groot. He practically confirmed the news himself with a post on Facebook.
He was recently asked by The LA Times why he was interested in voicing a talking tree.
"I’m an actor. I can do whatever the … I want. As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice," Diesel explained. "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."
So far this year, he’s already had a huge hit with Fast & Furious 6, which grossed $782 million worldwide. His next film is the latest Riddick release, titled Riddick. That opens on Sept. 6.
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