Vin is Groot: Vin Diesel’s Role In Guardians of The Galaxy Made Official

So when I saw my comic news wire blowing up earlier today with the news that Vin Diesel was portraying Groot in the upcoming James Gunn directed Guardians of The Galaxy, I was honestly surprised. Not that Diesel was playing the role, but that the fact that he was playing the role was news.

Seriously: there were rumors months ago that Diesel was in talks with Marvel to do something with them, and I follow Gunn on Twitter, so I was pretty sure I had read Gunn reference Diesel in there somewhere along the line. And normally someone only references admiration for Vin Diesel when they are working with him, or else accompanied by the word, “homoerotic.”

So I have taken it for granted for months that Diesel was playing Groot… but apparently I had no basis for that opinion because yeah: now it’s official.

Here’s the word from Marvel:

Vin Diesel is Groot!

The star of the Fast and the Furious and Riddick franchises will lend his voice to Groot in Marvel’s live-action “Guardians of the Galaxy,” rounding out the team that includes Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista).

… In addition to lending his voice to several video games, Diesel’s received great acclaim for his voice work in the celebrated animated film “The Iron Giant,” directed by Brad Bird.

So yeah, it’s important to remember that Diesel has done some pretty acclaimed voiceover work in animation before so this casting makes as much sense now as it did, well, yesterday, when I completely took Diesel’s involvement in the movie for granted.

But the question is: how important will Diesel’s work be for a character who only ever says, “I am Groot”? Well, Gunn chimed in on that:

Yep it is completely official. AND he’s amazing. I never knew someone could say I AM GROOT so many different ways and with such feeling (and that sounds like I’m kidding but I’m not!)

Actually, with that information, it kinda makes sense that Marvel Studios has only just made this news official. Because picturing poor Vin Diesel spending hour upon hour in a lonely recording studio muttering, “I am Groot” over and over again, I imagine that they wanted to give Vin a complete evaluation to determine if he would be willing to support the film, or if he preferred the sweet release of death.

Guardians of The Galaxy opening on August 1, 2014.

(via The Mary Sue)