Vin Diesel may have skyrocketed to fame thanks to roles in major franchises like The Fast and The Furious, but he’s also spent his fair share of time in the recording booth. The action star made legions of fans fall in love with Groot, but he recently reminisced about his first voice-acting gig: the titular role in The Iron Giant.
Vin Diesel first joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Groot back in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, and he’s still going strong. He just popped back into the studio to record some new lines for the walking, talking tree, and he got the chance to look back at one of his early voice-acting roles. Check out Vin Diesel's video message below:
Vin Diesel can be seen giving a shout-out to Doc Kane, a sound mixer and engineer who has worked on multiple high-profile films including Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. But the first time the duo worked together was on Brad Bird’s animated feature The Iron Giant, which featured Vin Diesel as the eponymous metal robot. The character was originally meant to have a computer-generated voice, but the production team opted for a more personal touch and ended up casting Vin Diesel.
The Iron Giant was released in 1999, and, as Vin Diesel points out, Doc Kane actually recorded his lines for that film over two decades ago. The film didn’t do particularly well at the box office, thanks to a botched ad campaign, but it managed to become an enduring classic in the animated canon. The Iron Giant may have even helped Vin Diesel nab his role as Groot, considering that his only other voice work was for a few one-off animated Riddick films.
Fast forward to 2022, and Vin Diesel and Doc Kane have reunited to resurrect Groot for several upcoming Marvel projects. Groot has quickly become one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, and Disney will capitalize on that adoration with a planned series of shorts entitled I Am Groot. The show doesn’t have an official release date, but can probably be expected to hit Disney+ sometime in 2022. It’s also probably safe to say that Vin Diesel will return as Groot in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, also set to premiere in 2022. The Iron Giant may not have a sequel, but Vin Diesel’s voice will continue to ring out.
You can relive The Iron Giant now with your HBO Max subscription. Catch Vin Diesel as Groot in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will hit theaters on July 8, 2022, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is set to grace the silver screen on May 5, 2023. Can’t get enough of the multiverse? Check out more upcoming Marvel releases in Phase Four.
