Diesel
HOLLYWOOD -- Vin Diesel is going to get animated.
Diesel's One Race Films production shingle is partnering with Blur Studio to make a CGI feature based on the indie toon house's short "Rockfish."
Thesp will voice a lead character in the sci-fi actioner, which will likely be aimed at a more mature audience than most studio-produced digitally animated pics.
One Race is now seeking independent financing for the production, which it hopes to bring in for under $30 million.
Diesel will produce with One Race partner George Zakk and Blur creative director Tim Miller, who wrote and directed the short and will helm the feature.
"Rockfish" short is about a man on an alien planet trying to catch a giant "rock fish" that lives underground and disrupts the planet's miners.
CGI production will be created entirely at Venice-based Blur, which was nominated for an Oscar for its short "Gopher Broke" and has worked on Disney direct-to-video pics and videogame animation.
"Rockfish" first came to Diesel's attention due to work Blur did with thesp's Tigon Studio vidgame production company, which may produce a game connected to the feature.
" 'Rockfish' came our way through Tigon, and as soon as Vin and I saw it, we knew this is a movie," said Zakk. "We want to go the indie route on this, although we'll definitely entertain offers if a studio wants to step in."
One Race and Blur are currently finishing a treatment on the project, after which they will hire a scribe and move into production.
Diesel provided the voice of the giant in WB's critically acclaimed "The Iron Giant."
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