Is this Scotch?' asks a thoroughly-knackered looking Vin Diesel, staring blankly at a glass of what appears to be apple juice. In London to promote the release of his new flick Pitch Black, the massive Diesel touted in some quarters as the face of action cinema's future is in fine spirits but visibly frazzled shape.

Eh, I'm doing well, thanks, I'm just discovering the effects of jet-lag. I flew in from Sydney or Melbourne yesterday and I've had no sleep and I'm just in pieces, he explains, almost by way of apology, before embarking on a none-too-coherent soliloquy about his lack of enthusiasm for press conferences: As an actor, you travel all over the world doing press, and the questions aren't always the same but the answers seem to be.
You may not be familiar with Diesel yet, but it's odds-on you soon will be: the owner of a rippling brick-shithouse physique and a voice that makes Johnny Cash sound like Jimmy Somerville, New York ex-bouncer Diesel looks a fair bet to assume the action-hero mantle that Messrs. Schwarzenegger and Stallone must eventually relinquish as Father Time eats relentlessly into their weary bones.
Diesel first sprang to attention two years back with an impressive bit-part in Saving Private Ryan, and has now gone on to make a fine fist of the lead villain role in the new alien-adventure movie Pitch Black: the movie itself is unlikely to break any box-office records, but its imposing hero is definitely one to look out for in the years to come.
Diesel becomes most animated when talking about his youthful adoration for the Terminator and Mad Max series.
Oh absolutely, I grew up a huge fan of all that stuff. I've been acting as long as I can remember. When I say I was an actor, I mean real acting I wasn't doing commercials, or sitcoms or anything. So I always grew up with a huge appreciation of the art of acting, an appreciation of the dramatic. But at the same time I always felt empowered by the Mad Max characters, and the Terminators and any of those characters that were larger than life anti-heroes.
I was talking to my mother on the phone just there, and we were talking about the similarities between my various roles. How they all somehow touch upon the evaluation of good and evil and morality. When I was a kid, if you'd asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd have said a superhero. I think that pretty much describes it.
Was your background such that it was unlikely that you'd become an actor?
Not at all I come from an artists' house in Manhattan, in the Village. My father taught years before he had to start raising a family. In New York at the time they had this amazing experimental government-subsidised program, they offered these amazing lofts to artists that made no money. And I grew up in this artist's complex, it was like 400 apartments and none of them made any money. But I always knew that I was going to be an actor.
Because I was surrounded by actors who were over 65 years old and were brilliant actors and never made any money, and never reached any simple level of success, I was always content with the process. I have to say deep down inside I always felt I'd be successful.
How does Diesel quantify success: is it in monetary terms, or in artistic terms?
Very good question, he deadpans. I think that, for the most part, people quantify success with the ability to make a living. Unfortunately, society probably thinks that if you're making big-bucks, then you're successful. I think that the way I viewed it was I wanted as many people to take part in my art, to witness my art, to appreciate my art. But if my mother were here I'd probably just go Oh, success just means that you're happy . I have very high expectations now; the second that I get to a certain level, the level that I want to aspire to distances itself somehow.
My ideal goal would be to be in the position of Mel Gibson, the ability to make a film that the studios might not deem to be profitable. And get it made at $70m, and do it brilliantly. And if you know the studio business or the film business you can imagine going into the studio and saying I want to make a film about a Scottish folk hero, no guns and no sex, and not have the big cachet director and the big cachet stars that's cool.
Do you think much about what you're going to do next and how it might fit into your career sequence?
So much. To a fault, I think I think too much. I think I'm obsessive, I lose sleep over it. I think constantly about how I've been lucky; I had Saving Private Ryan come out, I had The Iron Giant come out. And Pitch Black came out and all have proven to be the right move. You can't help but think that you're going to be knocked on your ass. But then, I guess I was on my ass for 20 years prior to that to make up for it.