Forget the debate over whether Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo is superior to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. One successful actor-producer might argue that The Fate of the Furious is the finest film to ever roar out of Hollywood.
That man is, of course, Vin Diesel.
USA Today film writer Bryan Alexander recently asked Diesel about his boasts that The Fate of the Furious – the eighth installment in the popular car crash franchise – was not only worthy of an Academy Award, but was the best movie ever made. (Visualize our Danny Thomas spit-take here.)
The 49-year-old action star was asked during the Straight Up Hollywood podcast by Alexander why The Fate of the Furious was better than Citizen Kane, which does not have a single car chase.
“Do you think Citizen Kane is the best movie ever?,” Diesel incredulously asked Alexander. “In 2017, you think Citizen Kane is the best [expletive] movie ever? Bull–! Bull–! Bull–! You don’t believe that ? … You DO believe that?!!”
Diesel asked Alexander whether he thought Citizen Kane was better than The Godfather and was stunned to learn the interviewer preferred Welles’ 1941 movie to Francis Ford Coppola’s mob masterpiece.
“You’re so in film school … The same film school that you went to that told you that Citizen Kane is the best movie ever…,” Diesel told Alexander. “C’mon Bryan, be fair. That’s so nostalgic. You have your feet dug in so deep.”
(Diesel is not a film school grad, having left Hunter College after three years as an English major there to pursue what has turned out to be a highly successful acting career.)
While The Fate of the Furious will never get the respect of Citizen Kane or The Godfather, that probably doesn’t matter to either Diesel or Universal Pictures.
Despite mixed reviews, The Fate of the Furious took in nearly $125 million in its first week at the box office.
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