Coming off of a blockbuster as successful as The Fast and the Furious was, were you worried that about the expectations for your followup? XXX had a lot riding on it, both as your next collaboration with Vin Diesel, as well as the start of a possible new franchise.

Yes, there was the possibility that after the success of The Fast and the Furious that people would say that Vin Diesel and I were sort of flashes in the pan. We clicked in that one movie, but we won't work any other time. So there was a certain amount of psychological pressure. But there's so much pressure just surviving making a film that I couldn't give it too much thought. Every time you roll the dice for a movie you're in a tight corner and you're either going to get out of it and do something really positive, or you're going to get snowed under the avalanche of it all. That avalanche is a very good metaphor for how a film director feels, every single day. Something big and ugly is always behind you, chasing you...

How much of a challenge did the locations add? You mention in the DVD extras how cold it was, and it sure looks like it. Was XXX your most extensive shoot in those terms?

No, I was in Rome longer on Daylight, which was a 113-day shoot. This was an 82-day shoot on multiple locations. I think the Czech winter was a big factor. And of course, it was none too toasty in the Austrian Alps, where we did the snow sequences. But that's just part of it. It's part of the challenge and the fun of it. I don't have any regrets or any complaints. I knew what I was taking on. I needed the snow. I wanted to be in Prague. We needed to shoot in the winter to get it on the screen for the summer. So, it was a very fast process.

How much of an influence did the spy thrillers of the past have on your take on the genre? Were you at all concerned that you had to compete with not on the new James Bond but the old, and maybe even Austin Powers? That's certainly affected how audiences perceive the whole spy genre these days.

I think that obviously the field was thick with antecedents. But I didn't worry about that because I felt the conventions are a great place to begin. You honor the conventions, and then you destroy them. That's the fun part of making a subversive kind of upstart version of these other films. I think that where as Bond plays it tongue-and-cheek yet is totally earnest in it's approach, and Austin Powers is the wonderfully, deliciously insane vision of Mike Myers XXX brings a punk, rock'n'roll sensibility to it. So, there's something for everybody. But certainly the audience, knowing all the reference points, can add a lot of in-jokes and kind of cool riffs on the ideas, which wouldn't be possible if it was a totally empty genre.

I noticed in the film a rather overt political text, such as Vin's rant against the corrupt politician near the beginning of the film, when he plunges his car over the bridge. Was that theme in the original script, or something you and/or Vin brought to the project in rehearsals or in developing the characters and story?

No, that was all written. We worked on that all together. Vin was part of the story meeting about that, but it was basically that, if this guy was going to do these kind of crazy Internet movies based around his own stunts, I didn't want him to be just like, you know, Jackass. I didn't want him to just be doing shit to be funny. I actually wanted him to say something. So (screenwriter) Rich Wilkes and I worked on that scene to have him (Xander Cage) say something that we believed in. That Joe Lieberman and all these people getting all hyper about video games, it's just politicians in search of an issue. The issue is world peace, boys. Wake up before it's too late.

In terms of the Xander character himself, how much of him was on the page, and how much came out of your collaboration with Vin? Especially his visual look, with all the tattoos and body markings?

I wanted him to be heavily body-tattooed, but I wanted it to be decorative. It wasn't in the script other then he had three "X"'s on the back of his neck. That was in the script, but the larger idea of a personal history expressed via tattoos was something that I worked out in pre-production.

Now, about Asia Argento. How did you find her? II thought she was terrific, but she is rather unknown here in the States, so it was perceived as a possibly risky choice.

I found her through the casting director, Ron Acrest, who got a call from Kate our casting director. She said, "Do you know Asia Argento?" I said I know Dario Argento. So she explained that this was his daughter, who's a very good actress and kind of exotic, but has got a reputation as a difficult person. At that point I was so clear that I didn't have anyone that I loved. I had candidates, but they all had problems. So I said yes, I would meet her, and not only that, but I'm going to screen test her without meeting her first. Because she was doing a film in Portugal and she only had a brief time - a weekend - to do it on.

I figured she'd come and just test and that would be it. But that Sunday night before the Monday test she arrived, and I called her at the hotel, and the minute I heard her voice I already was sure it was her. The next morning when I tested her - she was the second actress I've put on screen - ten lines into the scene I wanted to call of the rest of the testers and just give her the part. I still had to go through the motions, but I gave her the part at lunch.

She has a huge job. She has to hold her own against Vin Diesel, which is no easy task.

No, it isn't. Vin is very charismatic, and he does tend to beat up the screen.

I was listening to your audio commentary, and you talked quite a bit about "Cubism
and your approach to shooting the action scenes. I think you are probably regarded as one of the top action directors working today...

Oh, thank you.

The audience certainly thinks so! But what kinds of films influenced you as a young filmmaker, in terms of filming action and making it exciting?

Oh, let's see. The Road Warrior. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Going back a bit, Lawrence of Arabia. You know, that correct balance between action and character. And just in the action zone, the original Gone in 60 Seconds, for the car work…

You have a fascination with cars. Don't you? (laughter)

Yes! Bullet, French Connection. That's a pretty good spectrum.