Directed and co-written by Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika) and set in the near future, Babylon A.D. casts Diesel as Toorop, a mercenary compelled to deliver a package from Eastern Europe to the United States in six days. However, the package is a young woman, Aurora (Melanie Thierry), whose safe passage—or death—may change the course of history. And so Toorop and Aurora, accompanied by her longtime protector, Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh), begin their dangerous adventure.
SCI FI Weekly recently joined reporters in interviewing Diesel and French actress Thierry about Babylon A.D. at a New York City hotel.
Vin Diesel, what interested you about this character Toorop, a guy who trusts no one, is on a mission and is banned as a terrorist in the United States?
Diesel: All that and more. Well, first off, coming from independent film, Multi-Facial and Strays [both of which Diesel directed], and the experiences of being in Sundance and the experiences of being in Cannes. ... In fact, in Cannes in 1995, it was the first time I'd ever been written up as an artist, and that same year [the Kassovitz-directed French film] La Haine had won in Cannes. So we were both there in 1995 and he'd seen Strays and felt some affinity with Strays and La Haine and these films that we'd done in our past, in the independent realm. So there was something interesting. There was something interesting about doing a film that had the trappings of an action film, but helmed by a French auteur. That felt unique. The Toorop character in Babylon A.D., playing a character that is that skeptical, a character that's a cynic and not trusting, I feel that there is a part of that in all of us. And to exercise that in the character to its fullest, that felt exciting. But it's also a good question: Why do we pick the roles that we pick? Again, it's never anything specific. It's usually a combination of things.
How much did it have to do with the genre? You have done nicely with SF films in the past. You seem to like these roles and these films ...
Diesel: You know, I've got to be honest. This was less about the genre. I was lucky enough to work with Sidney Lumet (Find Me Guilty). I work within the confines of Hollywood and rarely get the opportunity to branch out, and this (Babylon A.D., like Find Me Guilty) was one of those opportunities to branch out and (in the case of Babylon A.D.) to try something that was of the European mind.
There are rumors that a good chunk of Babylon A.D., maybe as much as an hour, was cut out of the film. Any truth to that?
Diesel: Really?
Is it just a rumor? Do you know anything about it?
Diesel: I'm gonna tell you, I just got off of Fast and Furious (both starring in the prequel and starring in and directing a 20-minute short film prequel to the prequel) ... and my point, the reason why I'm saying that, is I'm literally all night in the editing room now and I haven't seen the cut of Babylon A.D. in what, six, seven, eight months? So I don't know what the hell happened. You guys saw the movie. Give me some feedback.
It's 93 minutes long ...
Diesel: No, it isn't?!
It feels like pieces are missing, to be honest ...
Diesel: Ninety-three minutes? Am I in Babylon A.D.? [Playfully] Am I in the movie or am I on the cutting-room floor, goddammit?
You've wanted to make a movie about Hannibal the Conqueror for as long as anyone can remember. What's the latest on that?
Diesel: Oh, Hannibal. Hannibal, Hannibal, Hannibal, you beast. It's Moby Dick. I'm not going to let it [pass me by]. You know my love of animation, you know my love of the [Ralph] Bakshi films and how I was always a fan of that medium. I'm directing now an animated Hannibal that will serve as the prequel to the [live-action] film. So it's Hannibal as a boy. So it's like the boy and an elephant. It's for BET, actually, which will be great fun. Great, great voices [with Diesel voicing Hannibal].
Melanie Thierry, you've never done anything like this before. How daunting was it for you to sign on a big-budget, SF-action movie starring Vin Diesel?
Thierry: First of all, I just wanted to say I'm a bit nervous. It's my first interview in English, and I'm not used to it. You have to be patient, OK? I'm really, really sorry. It's gonna go well. It's always exceptional for a French girl to arrive on this kind of project and to have the opportunity to be on this kind of huge set and action movie, because we're not used to shooting action movies in France. It's very exciting, and it happens maybe just one time in your life. So I took it and it was great to have this experience and to work with Vin Diesel, because he's such a nice guy. I took a lot of pleasure, and it was just a great memory. I spent five months [making Babylon A.D.], and everything was a dream every day on it. It was crazy. It was huge. It was completely mad.
What was the toughest scene in Babylon A.D. for you to pull off?
Thierry: Every scene was a challenge for me. It depends. Each emotion is different, and it's always a different level of [being] nervous, anxious. I was very nervous about the marketplace. That was really hard. First of all, it was my first day of shooting, so I was very anxious and sometimes so nervous. It was huge for me, because we had the explosions, a lot of extras and all this stuff. I'm not used to that, so ... whew! But it went well. So it was really challenging. And, even if we don't see it, really, (Aurora's breakdown/seizure) scene in the submarine. It goes so, so quick in how they cut it, but we spent almost a day to do it. And to do fit however long, to go into the fit, it takes a lot of energy and you have to be concentrated because in each shot you have to do different angles and everything. It was very tiring. Well, it was a tough scene. It was a really tough scene, because you have to go beyond your limits and you have to abandon yourself. Sometimes it can be very dangerous to go too far away, so you have to find the good equilibrium.
You recently saw the finished version of Babylon A.D. What did you make of it, and is there any of your work that got cut out?
Thierry: No, I was very happy. We didn't lose anything.
Babylon A.D. is a tight 93 minutes ...
Thierry: Yeah, but everything is right on, [based on] what I was expecting.
