Playing Groot In Guardians Of The Galaxy Helped Vin Diesel Grieve Paul Walker
Vin Diesel starred in James Gunn's 2014 film, "Guardians of the Galaxy," as the voice of Groot, a humanoid tree made of moss and bark. Groot is only capable of saying one phrase, "I am Groot," which his closest friends seem to understand — Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) seems to interpret this phrase liberally. Diesel managed to do a lot with only three words of dialogue, adding sentimentality to the character that, in conjunction with the motion capture performance provided by Krystian Godlewski, won the hearts of many fans. As of 2023, Diesel has played Groot or Groot's offspring, Baby Groot, in four different "Guardians" projects, in two "Avengers" films, in "Thor: Love and Thunder," and in the animated series "I Am Groot."
Famously, Diesel played Groot in every non-English language dub of the above projects as well. He was deeply committed to the role.
In a 2014 interview with the Independent, Diesel revealed why. It seems that he was using the role of Groot to cope with a personal tragedy: the death of actor Paul Walker. Walker and Diesel had appeared together in seven of the massively successful "Fast & Furious" movies together since 2001, and had grown very close. Walker tragically died in a car crash in 2013, in the middle of filming "Furious 7," and most of the world immediately mourned a reportedly kind human being and dazzling movie star.
Diesel said that playing Groot was a "therapeutic" experience for him that allowed him to grieve a friend properly.
'The most innocent character'
Vin Diesel seemingly took a great deal of inspiration from Groot's gentleness. While the alien tree person did occasionally help out on a battlefield, he seemed blissfully relaxed most of the time, taking in the world the way a child might. In the "Guardians of the Galaxy" sequel, Baby Groot was literally a child. For an actor like Diesel, whose stock in trade had become playing tough and grizzled characters, Baby Groot was a change of pace. Additionally, the role allowed him to be gentler and more emotional than he had ever been before. The gentleness let the actor appreciate life — and the life of a friend — more openly. He said:
"When we deal with death, our appreciation for life is represented in so many ways. [...] We appreciate everything that's alive ... And this character celebrates life, in so many ways. It's the most innocent character I've ever played, clearly, which is why I've kind of been so silly. I'm not talking about heavy issues that I'm usually talking about with the movies I make ... I get to have fun!"
As one can imagine, playing just the voice of Groot — a character who can only say three words — was a challenge Diesel had never encountered before. He was facing the same challenges as Ikue Otani, the actor who plays Pikachu (who can only say one word). With such a limited instrument, Diesel had to find new ways to express emotion. He said:
"I was being challenged as an actor, as a thespian ... the idea of playing a character without any facial mannerisms or allowing your body physicality to play into the character, and being limited to such a small vocabulary."
Pretending Paul was there
Prior to playing Groot, Vin Diesel had faced an even more difficult acting challenge on the set of "Furious 7." Because Walker died during production, the film had to be changed to accommodate the departure of his character. The movie ended with Diesel saying a very emotional goodbye to Walker's Brian, whose presence was facilitated by stock footage from earlier "Furious" movies. In the film, the farewell scene was clearly for Walker and not for his character, who was merely retiring from the super-spy game.
Diesel found the scene to be difficult, as he had to essentially act as if Walker was still there. Given the sadness he felt, the scene was immensely emotional. Diesel said:
"[It] was the hardest film to do — and blessed, because there was such a sense of family and coming back. But surreal. [...] You would never imagine that you would ever have to mourn someone so close to you, and simultaneously pretend that they're sitting next to you. It's kind of a strange thing to have to do as an artist, and as a human."
Diesel has gone on to appear in three additional "Furious" movies since Walker's passing. Each film is careful to state that Brian is alive and well. Thankfully, none of the increasingly contrived and elaborately plotted movies have tried to bring back Brian in a crass, action-movie manner. In a way, the "Furious" movies allow audiences to remind themselves that Walker's legacy lives on and that Brian is living a happy life.