TORONTO -- Move over, Arnie. There's a new Terminator in town, and he's taking on more than a few lousy humans with pea-shooters.

Filmmaker and actor, Vin Diesel, is kicking some alien booty in the sci-fi flick "Pitch Black", which hits theatres this Friday.

The New York native plays Riddick, one of a handful of space travelers who survives a crash-landing on a heat lamp of a planet (actually Coober Pedy, Australia, where Mad Max was filmed) on which some nasty creatures prowl after dark.

Equipped with cat-like eyes that allow him to see in total darkness, Riddick is a certifiable psychopath, held under lock and key -- until tragedy strikes. Despite that insignificant flaw, he may be the only one who can stop the alien hordes from snacking down on the imperiled crew.

The film's tag line -- "Fight Evil With Evil" -- says it all.

"I like playing with the idea of who really is the hero, who really is the villain," Diesel said in a recent interview with JAM! "And, despite the fact that this character has been vilified in the first hour, your only choice is to rely on this guy. That's cool! That's what was attractive about the project".

Screened at select sci-fi conventions, "Pitch Black" has received more than its fair share of praise on the Internet.

In issue six of "11th Hour Magazine", critic Sarah Kendzior wrote: "Over the past three or so years, there have been a few sci-fi movies which have simply swept me away with the pure imaginative scope of the fictive worlds they depict -- films like 'Dark City', 'The Matrix', 'Princess Mononoke' and yes, 'The Phantom Menace'. 'Pitch Black' is another to add to the list."

Brian Koukol from CHUD.Com agrees, saying in his review that " 'Pitch Black' is a solid sci-fi entry with some good actors battling great beasties with some great deaths interspliced."

Diesel is completely taken aback by the adulation. "The hype it's getting just completely blows my mind," he said.

After providing the voice of the title character in last year's animated hit, "The Iron Giant", and a starring role as Private Adrian Caparzo in "Saving Private Ryan", Diesel is busting out in a big way.

He actually got his start in the movie business as an independent filmmaker ("Multi-Facial" in 1994, "Strays" in 1997). Initially, it was hard for him to give up the director's reins and let someone else put their head on the chopping block. The new role took a lot of getting used to.

"It's hard to allow yourself not to be fully responsible, because as you go into these projects as a director, you bring a responsibility to the picture," he said. "The first thing to do is to convince yourself that you aren't responsible for the overall picture. The second thing is to make it understood that you care about the film because, as director, you learn to care about the overall project. You learn to be truly invested. I know, as a director, I want actors who are completely invested in the overall project, not actors who are solely concerned with their own performance."

When it comes to dedication no one on the set of "Pitch Black" could question Diesel's. In order to appear to have cat-like eyes, Diesel was fitted with a pair of special contact lenses. The first time they were applied, they wouldn't come off. The producers had to fly in an optometrist to remove them. Diesel was then shipped off to a local hospital, suffering from a serious abrasion to one of his eyes.

"Pitch Black"'s alien predators were also a handful for Diesel and his fellow actors to deal with. The fearsome monstrosities created by Patrick Tatopoulos, Peter Chiang and John Cox (who received an Academy Award for his work on "Babe") were a challenge to act with , especially if they were going to be added in later by computer. Sometimes, the actors had nothing to react to and had to improvise. Luckily, director David ("The Arrival") Twohy delayed that tricky bit of filming.

"What was great about the way we did this is David Twohy held off on doing any of the CGI elements of the film until the last three days. So it never affected character development or relationships or the dramatic drive," reflected Diesel, who began his acting career doing theatre work at the age of seven.

Next up for Diesel is the Feb. 18 release of "Boiler Room", a gritty stock-market movie about rebel day-traders, which he filmed alongside Ben Affleck, plus Diesel's own production of "Doormen", a film based on his life as a bouncer in New York City.

"Right now it gets kind of confusing because there are so many good projects, and I can't do them all at once," he said.

What's even more confusing is that moviegoers will be seeing double: Both "Boiler Room" and "Pitch Black" are being released this weekend here in Canada.

Competing against himself at the box office, Diesel is in a rare win-win situation. Whether the suit-and-tie Diesel or the scummy-space-criminal Diesel wins out, one thing's for sure: We won't be saying 'hasta la vista' to Diesel. He'll be baaaack and with a vengeance.


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