Welcome to the Legion!

This weekend marks the return of our favorite eXtreme sports loving agent, Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) who fans all assumed was killed off when Ice Cube took over the franchise in the sequel to the first film from 2002. Well, we would have all lost that bet as Xander is back with a fully diverse cast of characters. This cast is insanely entertaining to watch both on screen and in person, with Vin being the ring leader of it all. We sat down with the cast for their take on the film and how different it is than your average Hollywood action flick.

 

Vin Diesel: I needed to do xXx for myself, because I needed to play a character to be able to laugh again and smile again and really enjoy myself. There’s something so cool about the idea of going into other film markets and recruiting their celebrated heroes and incorporating it into this franchise. In addition to that, I don’t think people have been having that much fun in movies. That’s why right now. don’t think people have been having that much fun in movies. Are there political parallels? I don’t know. More than anything, the world needed a movie to just have fun!

Ruby Rose: There’s a conversation here that needs to be had. These women are just so unique and different in their own ways. It’s so necessary and organic. The only thing I had trouble with was trying to pretend to not like Deepika [Padukone] for two months because we clearly liked each other. We have this amazing scene where we realize that, not only are we going to be strong if we join forces than to be separated, and it also gets rid of that pitting women against each other that a lot of cinema does. We join forces! I’m so glad people love all the relationships together.
[When asked if there were any additional choreography techniques he introduced to the set]
Donny Yen – I just came in and had fun. I knew working with Vin would be really exciting and it was. He’s a very warm individual and a talented producer.
Ruby Rose: Donny would come in so chill and relaxed and I look at what’s on the schedule for the day and see that Donny has some crazy, intense stunt and I’m like really?… Are you real?… You’re amazing.
Tony Jaa: It was an honor. Thailand is really spiritual and wonderful country. I wanted to say thank you Vin Diesel my wonderful friend. You’re my lucky charm.
[What kind of training did you have to go thru to master the fight choreography?]

Deepika Padukone –  Every weekend we’d have sessions with the stunt team. We had an amazing action and stunt team, I remember Ruby went out to shoot a couple of times, she’s a sniper in the film and, how do you get comfortable enough to stop thinking about it and think about it as a seperate device in your hand actually. How do you say dialogue and load the gun and point and shoot and do all of that, it’s truly incredible. Yes, I wasn’t speaking my native language and it was fun doing all of those action pieces in character. When you have an amazing team that makes you feel confident, if your teacher tells you that you can do it, it gives you such strength and confidence. We had an amazing team. 

Vin Diesel: It’s impossible for me to separate groups of people. Maybe because I was raised in New York City which is this melting pot–everyone at home was the same. The whole point of my film career has been to same everyone is the same, we’re just one race. For me and my existence–If anything– I’m inclusive with everyone and we are just one and I hope that Global Harmony is what’s seen in this movie
[When posed with the question of “what do you do when fear gets in the way of going after your dreams”]
Ruby Rose: I would ask fear, ‘What have you ever done for me in the past?’ and so you look to all the positives in your life, like, the fact that you are the only person in the world that is you. You’re given everything you’ve been given for a reason and purpose to follow what you want to do. Fear is just a strange voice that you’re creating yourself.

Vin Diesel started the conference by quoting his son who said, “This movie is just fun, Daddy.” No one could have said it better.

The film stars Vin Diesel, Ruby Rose, Deepika Padukone, Donny Yen, Kris Wu, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Hermione Corfield, Toni Collette, Nicky Jam and Samuel L. Jackson.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage explodes into theaters Friday!

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Jonathan Graves