Despite the fact that nearly all the major players wanted nothing to do with the sequel, it would appear that a third film in the XXX franchise will reunite action-star Vin Diesel with director Rob Cohen. The project, however, will move from its home at Columbia Pictures to be financed by Paramount for a release in late 2011 or early 2012. Cohen will step back into the director’s chair, enticed by the promise of that oh-so-familiar gimmick, 3D…

“I feel what we did in the beginning of the decade was bring a different attitude to the action movie and a different kind of hero,” Cohen said. “With the new 3D instrument and the techniques I can apply, we can create a different kind of cutting-edge experience in 3D by shooting it that way from the beginning the way James Cameron did Avatar. This won’t be fantasy characters, it takes place on Earth in real time. That’s a new dimension to be explored, and I’m excited.”
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Vin Diesel is such a prima donna, his own publicity company can’t even deal with him anymore.

Diesel was scheduled to do a long press junket for his upcoming flick Fast & Furious on Sunday, but he infuriated the event organizers when he decided to show up late and act like a diva.

“No one could get a hold of him,” an insider told Page Six. “He didn’t pick up his phone and it wasn’t until a Universal executive called that he finally picked up and used the lame excuse, ‘I’m sick.’ ”
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