Vin Diesel says Spielberg urges him to get into direction

Vin Diesel, who had written, directed, and produced t in the self-starring 1997 movie Strays, said Steven Spielberg has been encouraging him to direct more often.

Los Angeles: Hollywood star Vin Diesel could be calling the shots as a director more often if filmmaker Steven Spielberg has his way.

Diesel had written, directed, and produced t in the self-starring 1997 movie Strays, in which he played a drug dealer looking for a better life. Earlier, he had also directed and starred in the 1995 short film Multi-Facial, which had led Spielberg to give him a role in his 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan.

In a recent interview with The National, the 52-year-old actor said director Spielberg has been encouraging him to direct more often, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"Speaking of Steven Spielberg, I saw him recently, and he had said to me, 'when I wrote the role for you in 'Saving Private Ryan', I was obviously employing the actor but I was also secretly championing the director in you, and you have not directed enough. That is a crime of cinema and you must get back in the directing chair.'" Diesel said.

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He added: "I haven't directed enough."

The star went on to say he hopes to complete a planned film series about famed Carthaginian military leader Hannibal Barca, who fought the Romans during the Second Punic War around 200 BC.

"I haven't done it yet. As much as I am grateful for the accomplishments, there are moments when I go 'God, you promised the universe, very specifically, the Hannibal Barca trilogy, and you haven't delivered it. You travelled all over the world'," he said.

With inputs from IANS