"I said, 'Give me a cast of talented unknowns, so I can keep the audience guessing as to who the real hero is, who the real villain is.'" -- David Twohy

"Once we realized that we weren't going to go after Bruce Willis, or one of those $20 million men, I said, 'Give me a cast of talented unknowns, so I can keep the audience guessing as to who the real hero is, who the real villain is,'" explains Twohy when asked about his little-known cast. "I said, 'If you allow me to cast like this, from the independent world, from the art world, just with the best available talented actors, then I can really entertain the audience and keep them guessing.'"

"We were fortunate in that we were a cast of no-names, at least in theory," agrees Diesel. "We were given this opportunity -- especially me -- to play such amazing roles, to be part of such a big project. While it's not big in Hollywood terms, it's huge for me." Another unusual experience for the cast was the set locale for the film, the remote Australian desert town known as Coober Pedy.

The fictional planet in which Pitch Black takes places is one of either brilliant sunlight or total darkness, and the desolate location provided a drastic change for the urban-based actor. "It was so far removed from any city and any kind of metropolitan land at all," says Diesel, who grew up in a Manhattan building roughly the population of the town. "It's like beyond rural, it's like a place on another planet."

Co-star David also shares great enthusiasm both for the movie itself as well as its exotic location. "In my younger days, it was always, 'Can I have this part?'" recounts the experienced actor. "It becomes a waste of energy. Now, if I have the job, I want to spend time and concentrate on it, do the best job I can. Try to get someone to stroke me and tell me I'm a good actor -- that's a waste of time. If I wanted to be stroked, I'd go down to a..." The actor trails off, grinning. "Yeah," he says of Coober Pedy. "Yeah, I had a good time. It was nice."

Overall, the actors' Pitch Black experience has enamored them to the sci-fi genre in general. "I enjoy going on a ride when I go to the theater," says Hauser. "I haven't seen a lot of sci-fi lately, but as far as Aliens is concerned, or Star Wars when I was a kid -- I like people's imaginations. It's a creative way of thinking about another world, and I believe that there are other places in this galaxy, other planets, maybe not with human beings running around. I like the idea of genre films and sci-fi, I think it's crazy, fun, kinda wacked out."

Diesel expresses similar sentiments. "I would love to direct a science-fiction film," he says. "My sci-fi acumen is not strong yet, I'm more about performances and story, and I don't necessarily understand the composition of the CGI and how to implement those elements. But those are things that you learn, you hire Patrick Tatopoulos and Peter Chiang," he says, referring to the FX team responsible for Pitch Black's soon-to-be-infamous creatures. "You hire these great masters of their own. I would be very excited to do it someday."

Director Twohy also shares this passion for continuing work in the genre -- with some reservations. "I tried to be intentionally vague about a lot of that stuff," he says, referring to the futuristic film's elusive backstory. "It's not Star Trek, I don't care, I don't want to be talked into a corner with, 'Hey, hyperdrive wouldn't be around if it's only a hundred years in the future.' I don't want to get into those conversations. So I'm just vague."

Much like a certain other sci-fi blockbuster, however, Pitch Black does hold a certain affinity for weapons -- lots of weapons. "A shotgun looks like a shotgun, a pistol looks like a pistol, a pickaxe looks like a pickaxe," the director cheerfully points out. Twohy is serious, however, when discussing the realistic, humanist nature of the story and its appeal beyond simple genre guidelines. "There's still uncertainty about whether I will do really good work in the future," he says, referring to his burgeoning reputation in the sci-fi community. "Some people think that if they give me a real budget, I'll do great things. But I hope it is that I do interesting stuff, and smart sci-fi."

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