�XXX� Press Conference

The carpet in the ballroom of the Shinjuku Park Hyatt is crisscrossed by a sculpted X pattern and the lights illuminating it from the ceiling are arranged in an interlocking X configuration.

What better place for brawny Vin Diesel to plug �XXX,� his hyper-extreme, hyper-grossing action opus?

Actually, the press conference was less an overt bid to hype �XXX� than an opportunity for Diesel to talk about the finer, philosophical points of what he's trying to do with the action genre and Xander Cage, the hero he and director Rob Cohen have created.

In what might very well become his trademark -- a deep, raspy voice -- Diesel first explained what coming to Japan meant to him. "It's proof of a dream come true," he said after removing a pair of black sunglasses from his clean-shaven pate. "For an American actor to come out here and be introduced to such a powerful, film-loving audience and film-going market [is] testament to some achievement."

The $130 million �XXX� has made in the United States is certainly testament to something, primarily Diesel's post-�The Fast and the Furious� drawing power, and bodes well for his future projects, which he said will include �The Chronicles of Riddick� and �Hannibal the Conqueror.� A star, however, is only as potent as his promotional machine, and Diesel's has been chugging along like the Terminator on speed. In �XXX,� Xander Cage has been positioned in the market as "a new breed of secret agent." But does this really mean anything, apart from his streetwise savvy and aversion to tuxedos and diction? Diesel thinks it does.

Cage is "a proletariat hero, a nihilist, a character who has a disregard for government the way that our youth culture has," he explained. "That character, at some point, could be called into duty. I think that's more realistic now. Unlike James Bond and so on and so forth, he doesn't want to be a secret agent; he doesn't want to save the world."

This explanation was partly in response to what, for better or for worse, has become a staple question for celebrities: "How has 9-11 affected your life and art?" To his credit, Diesel didn't drone on about ideology or get mired syrupy patriotism. Instead, he personalized the event then applied it to how he approached �XXX,� which is essentially about terrorists with biological weapons.

"I grew up less than a mile away from [the World Trade Center]; my mother and father saw the second plane go in from my living room window," he said matter-of-factly. "Right after September 11, everybody felt [that they] wanted to do something, to be proactive, to be involved. When you take a character like Xander Cage and show through the story how he learns to appreciate patriotism or learns to understand the value of duty, I think that's how you create a successful hero."

Diesel sincerely believes Cage is more than a tattooed, ass-kicking slab of muscle and attitude: He represents something new and important. The character, he claimed, transcends fiction and is relevant on many different levels in today's world.

"I [think] that the hero archetype has changed in this new millennium. I think the whitewashed heroes of the '80s are no longer effective. I don't think they're realistic. Kids nowadays don't care about Batman. Does that make sense?" (Uh, maybe not, Vin, given that �Spider-Man� has raked in more than $400 million. But your point's taken.)

It goes without saying that the plot of �XXX� isn't a foray into unexplored territory. It is, after all, an action flick. Still, Diesel's no-nonsense disposition and devotion to his character, coupled with what's obviously a talented and acute mind, invites attention and investigation. "I think that individuality is what has allowed me to come this far," he offered. "I'm definitely a new breed."