Multi-Facial
Encyclopedia
Multi-Facial is a 1994 short film produced by and starring Vin Diesel
. The story depicts the professional and emotional issues faced by Mike (Diesel), a multiracial
(Italian
and African American
) actor
. The film was noticed by director
Steven Spielberg
, who would cast Diesel in Saving Private Ryan
(1998). The film was released on DVD
in 1999.
The camera shifts to reveal that Mike is at an audition for an Italian role. The casting director expresses interest and has Mike speak Italian before telling him they’ll get back to him. When the director asks Mike where the monologue came from, Mike says that it’s a true story that happened to a friend of his. Outside, Mike gets on a payphone and calls his manager without an Italian accent. He complains about the monologue (which wasn’t a true story), saying it was offensive and he worries that it will keep him from getting the job. Mike wipes the tattoo off his arm and goes on to his next audition.
At an audition for a commercial, Mike meets a fellow black actor in the waiting room and the two of them talk about their careers. Mike tells the other actor about the audition he just left, and again complains that he thought his monologue was offensive. The black actor tells Mike he has just landed a role in an international commercial, but Mike says he doesn’t want to do commercials because no great actors have had to do commercials. Before he can audition, the director tells Mike that he’s “a little too light” and not to bother auditioning. He suggests Mike audition for a Spanish role in a soap instead.
Mike goes to another audition and reads a Cuban accent with a Hispanic actress. The two of them are portraying an argument, but when the actress launches into Spanish, Mike is unable to continue. As they’re leaving the audition, the actress guesses correctly that Mike doesn’t speak Spanish. She suggests Mike try out for a soap that’s casting Hispanic actors, but Mike says he doesn’t want to do soaps because no great actors have ever done them.
Mike attends another audition, where the woman reading with him tells him that she really thinks he could do well. Mike does the reading with her in a heavy urban accent, but the casting directors cut the audition short, saying they’re looking for more of a “Wesley-Type” (presumably Wesley Snipes
).
Mike moves on to another audition, where they are expecting him from a previous audition. The casting director sees on his resume that Mike does rap and Mike launches into a hip-hop routine. Afterwards, Mike sits down and does a monologue about being a young man watching his father on stage in a performance of Raisin in the Sun. During his father’s performance, Mike came to believe that his father wanted him to be a great Black actor. Later, after his father died, Mike realized that his father wanted him to be more than just a Black actor. He wanted his son to be just an actor. When the monologue is finished, the casting director is impressed with Mike’s performance, but admits that they are supposed to be casting an actor with long hair like dreadlocks. Mike leaves with a promise that they will contact him if they can cast him instead.
The film cuts to Mike sitting silently and angrily at a booth in a diner. He can overhear an actress talking to another man about how frustrated she is to be typecast as a blonde bimbo. When the waitress comes, the actress orders coffee that's “not too light, not too dark.” The film ends with Mike chuckling to himself and mouthing the words “not too light, not too dark.”
Vin Diesel wrote a script for a feature film Strays, but as an unknown, was unable to secure financing for it. He decided to produce a short film instead and wrote the script for Multi-Facial in five days. He produced and directed the film, shooting it over the course of three days for three thousand dollars http://art-of-vin-diesel.com/aboutvin/biography1.php. Vin Diesel also wrote and performed music for the film. However, Diesel became disillusioned by the response to the film and stopped work on it. With encouragement from his stepfather, Diesel finished the final edit and screened the film at the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan http://www.vindiesel.hu/vindiesel/biography.htm. He received a strong response, and the film was accepted for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival
. The film was screened to standing-room only crowds.
In 1997, Spielberg saw Multi-Facial and wrote a role into Saving Private Ryan
specifically for Diesel as a result, giving him his first major film role.
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
. The story depicts the professional and emotional issues faced by Mike (Diesel), a multiracial
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
(Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
) actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. The film was noticed by director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, who would cast Diesel in Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
(1998). The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 1999.
Plot summary
The film starts with a close shot of Mike (Vin Diesel) with a tattooed biceps delivering a profanity-laced anecdote in an Italian accent. The monologue is about getting into a fight with another man in a restaurant for looking at his girlfriend. The anecdote ends with Mike saying that he discovered the man was a homosexual, so he beat up his girlfriend instead, and is surprised that she doesn't call him anymore.The camera shifts to reveal that Mike is at an audition for an Italian role. The casting director expresses interest and has Mike speak Italian before telling him they’ll get back to him. When the director asks Mike where the monologue came from, Mike says that it’s a true story that happened to a friend of his. Outside, Mike gets on a payphone and calls his manager without an Italian accent. He complains about the monologue (which wasn’t a true story), saying it was offensive and he worries that it will keep him from getting the job. Mike wipes the tattoo off his arm and goes on to his next audition.
At an audition for a commercial, Mike meets a fellow black actor in the waiting room and the two of them talk about their careers. Mike tells the other actor about the audition he just left, and again complains that he thought his monologue was offensive. The black actor tells Mike he has just landed a role in an international commercial, but Mike says he doesn’t want to do commercials because no great actors have had to do commercials. Before he can audition, the director tells Mike that he’s “a little too light” and not to bother auditioning. He suggests Mike audition for a Spanish role in a soap instead.
Mike goes to another audition and reads a Cuban accent with a Hispanic actress. The two of them are portraying an argument, but when the actress launches into Spanish, Mike is unable to continue. As they’re leaving the audition, the actress guesses correctly that Mike doesn’t speak Spanish. She suggests Mike try out for a soap that’s casting Hispanic actors, but Mike says he doesn’t want to do soaps because no great actors have ever done them.
Mike attends another audition, where the woman reading with him tells him that she really thinks he could do well. Mike does the reading with her in a heavy urban accent, but the casting directors cut the audition short, saying they’re looking for more of a “Wesley-Type” (presumably Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
).
Mike moves on to another audition, where they are expecting him from a previous audition. The casting director sees on his resume that Mike does rap and Mike launches into a hip-hop routine. Afterwards, Mike sits down and does a monologue about being a young man watching his father on stage in a performance of Raisin in the Sun. During his father’s performance, Mike came to believe that his father wanted him to be a great Black actor. Later, after his father died, Mike realized that his father wanted him to be more than just a Black actor. He wanted his son to be just an actor. When the monologue is finished, the casting director is impressed with Mike’s performance, but admits that they are supposed to be casting an actor with long hair like dreadlocks. Mike leaves with a promise that they will contact him if they can cast him instead.
The film cuts to Mike sitting silently and angrily at a booth in a diner. He can overhear an actress talking to another man about how frustrated she is to be typecast as a blonde bimbo. When the waitress comes, the actress orders coffee that's “not too light, not too dark.” The film ends with Mike chuckling to himself and mouthing the words “not too light, not too dark.”
Production
Multi-Facial was written, produced, and directed by Vin Diesel. The twenty-minute film is semi-biographical, drawing on Vin Diesel’s own frustration trying to find work as an actor of mixed ethnicity http://www.alternet.org/story/13863/. In the early nineties, Diesel returned from Los Angeles to New York, frustrated with his failures in Hollywood. Diesel’s mother gave him a copy of Feature Films at Used Car Prices, a book about producing low-budget movies. Diesel said that he found the book “truly empowering,” and it motivated him to make his own movies http://www.midnight-escape.org/vin/quotes.php.Vin Diesel wrote a script for a feature film Strays, but as an unknown, was unable to secure financing for it. He decided to produce a short film instead and wrote the script for Multi-Facial in five days. He produced and directed the film, shooting it over the course of three days for three thousand dollars http://art-of-vin-diesel.com/aboutvin/biography1.php. Vin Diesel also wrote and performed music for the film. However, Diesel became disillusioned by the response to the film and stopped work on it. With encouragement from his stepfather, Diesel finished the final edit and screened the film at the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan http://www.vindiesel.hu/vindiesel/biography.htm. He received a strong response, and the film was accepted for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. The film was screened to standing-room only crowds.
In 1997, Spielberg saw Multi-Facial and wrote a role into Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
specifically for Diesel as a result, giving him his first major film role.