Entertainment Magazine

THE PACIFIER

MOVIE PRODUCTION NOTES

Diesel as Daddy: How Vin Diesel Tackled the Role of a Father Figure to Five Kids on the Set

As production of THE PACIFIER began, no one knew quite what to expect as the buff and tough action star Diesel was joined on the set by screaming infants, cranky toddlers, moody teens and a misbehaving pet duck. The kids were especially nervous, uncertain of just how intimidating it might be to approach the larger-than-life action hero better known as a bone crusher than a baby lover.

“The really interesting part was that Vin turned out to be someone completely different than we all thought,” sums up teenaged Brittany Snow. “All my friends wanted to know ‘Is he scary?’and ‘Is he big and mean and does he want to fight everybody?’ But he wasn’t like that at all. He’s wonderful and he’s like this ball of energy that never stops moving and he’s something else that nobody would ever expect: he’s really funny. Of course, he can also do all the incredible action stuff, but he does something different in this movie.”

“Vin turned out to be amazing,” continues producer Roger Birnbaum. “He was always sweet and loving and attentive with all the kids, and I think that helped everyone to be more comfortable. He’s actually a pretty sensitive guy underneath that tough exterior.”

Adds Gary Barber: “On the set, we all had to get used to a whole new Vin Diesel, an adorable Vin Diesel. The minute the camera turned off, Vin would turn from Navy S.E.A.L. to total kid, playing with the children, hugging the babies, and what’s great is that the wonderful chemistry and sense of playfulness that developed between him and the kids really come through on screen.”

Indeed, Diesel developed a whole new reputation on the set. “Whenever the babies would cry, they’d call me to duty,” he explains. “They started calling me The Baby Whisperer.” Sometimes the babies had to be pried from Diesel’s arms.

“He wouldn’t put them down and I would have to wrestle them away from him on the set when it came time to shoot. I had to say, ‘Hey, I’m the nanny, can I have the baby now?’” recalls Carol Kane.

Still, there were more than a few challenges presented by the mix of children, high action and comedy situations. “Feeding babies, changing diapers, making sure homework got done, we were constantly juggling all of these,” recalls Adam Shankman.

“Shooting some of the action sequences, despite their complexity, was sometimes a welcome break from dealing with baby spit-up!” For Diesel, however, working with the children became the highlight of his days.

“I was just always in a good mood on this film. Usually the roles I play are the dark, brooding, stoic characters, and here it was a completely different atmosphere. I was running around playing video games, throwing babies into the air, being chased by a 3-year-old. It was just so much fun that, really, it didn’t even seem fair. It was a breath of fresh air.”

While Diesel got along famously with the children, he did have his qualms about Gary, the Plummer family’s pet duck. “I was wondering: how am I going to relate to a duck? Luckily, we had some amazing duck trainers, although there still were some mishaps.”

Gary the duck was actually played by six different ducks. In addition to “Whitewater,” the primary duck and one of the film’s unexpected heroes, THE PACIFIER also recruited the skills of five specialist ducks, each particularly talented at one skill, such as flying, retrieving, quacking and sitting still. Still, the training wasn’t foolproof, as was demonstrated when Diesel was nearly done in by one angry duck.

Faith Ford explains: “Vin and I were doing this very emotional scene where I’m talking about my dead husband and the duck is supposed to walk into the scene and nip Vin on the ear, which is pretty funny. Well, on the third take, the duck apparently didn’t think he was doing the trick correctly, so instead of nipping Vin’s ear, that duck took hold and wouldn’t let go.”

“Whitewater was just trying to do his best,” says trainer Ursula Brauner, “but he went a little overboard. When he grabbed Vin’s ear, Vin jumped up but carried the scene right through to the end of the dialogue.Once Adam yelled, “Cut,” the crew could barely contain themselves. It was just one of those spontaneous funny moments that happen on a set that can never be duplicated. Vin was such a trooper. No matter what anyone says, he really is a tough guy.”

“They assured me the duck would never draw blood, but the next thing you know, the duck is chomping on my ear,” laughs Diesel.

“I think Vin felt a bit like a ‘sitting duck’that day,” sums director Shankman, “but happily, Diesel and duck were treated and released.” As with any comedy, director Shankman found that the key to allowing really funny stuff to unfold was giving his entire cast—adults, kids and even animals—the freedom to let it all hang out and let spontaneous humor erupt out of the situations.

“One of the great things about Adam is that he’s very trusting, very open to discovering things and completely willing to let you try out any ideas you might have,” says comedy veteran Brad Garrett, who experimented, with raucous results, with his own character, Vice Principal Murney, especially in his outrageous wrestling scenes. “He allowed for a lot of improvisation from everyone that resulted in lots of funny moments.”

“We got to ad lib a lot,” comments 11-year-old Morgan York, “and we were constantly cracking up because of it. I especially liked doing funny scenes with Vin because he made it so easy to laugh. I mean, seeing the way this big action hero dives into a pool of rubber balls, searching for a dirty diaper, really had everyone on the floor.”

Diesel found that comedy came naturally to him, especially when surrounded by so many truly funny people. “The comedy acumen of Adam Shankman and the entire cast really helped me to feel comfortable with venturing into this new genre,” he says.

“It wasn’t something I was sure I could do at first, but I remember that on the set of ‘Saving Private Ryan,’Tom Hanks gave me a valuable piece of advice. He said: ‘Vinny, pick the roles you’re afraid of.’I admit I was somewhat nervous about this role in the beginning, about doing a Disney family comedy, which is something that was hard for anyone to imagine me doing. But I gotta say that Tom Hanks was 100 percent right. It was an amazing experience, and it turned into something that I think is going to be really memorable and fun for families to share.”

NEXT: THE CAST