Vin Diesel Will See You Now

You Asked for It. Like Millions of Rabid Action-movie Junkies, You’ve Been Waiting Years for the Triumphant Return of Skydiving, Snowboarding, Rail-sliding, Womanizing Superspy Xander (“Do I Look Like a Fan of Law Enforcement?”) Cage—aka the Character Who Turned Vin Diesel Into, You Know, Vin F#@%ing Diesel. Well, Guess What? The World’s Biggest Action Hero Is Back. And He’s More Extreme Than Ever.

- Josh Dean

THERE’S A SLIM POSSIBILITY THAT THE PERSON ATTACHED TO THE PARACHUTE IN THE distance, which just alighted from a knobby brown peak high above Malibu, could be—just maybe—Vin Diesel. Fifteen years after he introduced the world to extreme sports star turned reluctant secret agent Xander Cage—who shot bad guys while doing motocross stunts and once escaped gunfire by rail-sliding down stairs atop a sterling silver waiter’s tray—Diesel is finally bringing back the role that made him an action-movie superstar.

So it wouldn’t be completely outrageous for him to arrive at our photo shoot—at a spectacular Spanish-style mansion on a hill overlooking Malibu’s beach—by, say, paragliding into the pool. The heads of assistants, stylists, and photographers all turn up as the yellow- and white-striped parachute soars down the side of the mountain, swings out over the house’s stucco roof, and drops straight toward the yard—then past the pool, over a tree, and out of sight, as the chute vanishes over the hill on its way down to the beach.

Because of course it isn’t actually Vin Diesel. But the fact that we even considered it says a lot about the man, who seems to be about as close to an actual superhero as we still have in Hollywood today.

Diesel arrives a few minutes later in his own Mercedes party bus and laughs when told that he just missed such an on-brand stunt opportunity. “You’re shitting me?” he says, from under a black baseball cap, its flat brim cocked to the side. “Oh, my God. That would have been great. A hero’s entrance!”