"Pitch Black" collaborators Vin Diesel and David Twohy reunite for "The Chronicles of Riddick," a quasi-sequel to "Pitch Black" that finds Diesel's character, Riddick, battling the Necromongers in a world that's greatly expanded from the confines of "Pitch Black."

Only a couple of characters make the transition from "Pitch Black" to this $120 million-plus supercharged action film. Among the newcomers is Thandie Newton ("ER" and "The Truth About Charlie") who plays the devious Dame Vaako.

At the World Premiere of Universal Studios' "The Chronicles of Riddick," I had the chance to talk to Diesel, Twohy, and very briefly to the lovely Newton about the world of "The Chronicles of Riddick:"

VIN DIESEL ('Riddick'):

"The Chronicles of Riddick" has been awhile in the making. What's the fan reaction been like so far, and what's it like now that the process of making the film is over?
I'm just so excited. "Pitch Black" was a smaller movie and we held fast to the dream and hoped someday that we?d be able to open it up and expose the whole universe. It's surreal. [The fans] are incredible. I think [this type of response] would make anyone feel good. It?s a high. You work so hard to make a quality film, you work so hard to make a film that makes people feel good when they go in, and that allows them to escape for a few hours and get lost in the mythology and lost in the characters. And when you get a response like that, you know that you?ve done something right.

You do a lot of your own stunts in this movie. What would you say was the most difficult thing to pull off?
Jumping off the cliff, holding the rope, and flying through the air 50? off the ground ? suspended in air only to swing down to the ground.

How do you make an anti-hero people love so much, like this character? What is it about this character that?s so compelling to audiences?
I think that the anti-heroes allow people to invest in the character more so than the [perfect hero]. I think that the imperfect heroes allow us to go on the journey with you. When you go on the journey, they have something to invest in because none of us in the audience are perfect. So it?s easier for us to invest in imperfect characters and to go on that spiritual journey with the character.

Did you always intend to do the video game and all the side projects when you started working on ?The Chronicles of Riddick??
No, not years ago. Five years ago I was just worried about ? and dreaming to make ? ?The Chronicles of Riddick? and to follow Riddick into the universe, follow Riddick off of that planet and into the universe. Two years ago we started Tigon Studios just to help out, just to make the video game also impactful and to give the video game some consistency with the movie and to have some kind of authenticity. So there are elements in the video game that explain the movie, an aspect of the movie. It gives you a lot of information.

THANDIE NEWTON ('Dame Vaako'):

Unfortunately, my time with Thandie Newton was extremely short as "Riddick" star Vin Diesel was hot on her heels on the red carpet. Nonetheless, I did manage a couple of questions of Newton, who looked gorgeous and appeared pumped up about the release of "The Chronicles of Riddick:"

How do you get into a character this evil?
You know, it?s all in the script. It?s all there in the script. I didn?t do any extra research, not for a movie like this. It was all there. It was really well-written and it was really well thought out. My work, really, was just to make the lines true and have fun with it.

What was it like working with on this massive project and working with Vin Diesel?
He?s a sweet man. He?s incredibly warm and generous and this is his baby. We were all there together to create this.

WRITER/DIRECTOR DAVID TWOHY:

How collaborative was the effort between you and Vin Diesel?
When we started working on it? It was the kind of collaboration where I?d get phone calls at 11:00 at night, ?Hey, I got this idea.? Then maybe at 1:30 in the morning the phone would ring again, ?Hey, what about this?? 3:00 in the morning, ?Maybe I could be underwater, dragging rocks underwater.? ?Great, but how does that work in the story, Vin??

Were you ever tempted to change your phone number?
(Laughing) I moved three times but somehow he hunted me down.

Is ?The Chronicles of Riddick? the first of three installments?
You know, we thought about life after this one. But the fans will be the ultimate decider of that. It?s about how they embrace this. If they do, sure. If they don?t, no.

Do you have a script in mind for #2?
We?ve been noodling it.

How close is noodling it to actually setting down an outline?
When does this open ? June 11th?

Yes.
June 12th we?ll know for sure.

MORE INTERVIEWS FROM THE WORLD PREMIERE OF "THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK"
Alexa Davalos / Colm Feore / Producer Scott Kroopf / Yorick van Wageningen & Linus Roache / Christina Cox

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"The Chronicles of Riddick" Premiere Photos
"The Chronicles of Riddick" Production Photos, Credits, and Trailer