Features and Columns · Movies

25 Things We Learned from Rob Cohen’s xXx Commentary

“I wanted to use this movie to show that smoking will kill you.”
Xxx Vin Diesel
By  · Published on January 26th, 2017

Welcome to Commentary Commentary, our long-running series of articles exploring the things we can learn from the most interesting filmmaker commentaries available on DVD and Blu-ray.


Vin Diesel’s XXX: Return of Xander Cage is in theaters now, so we thought we’d take a listen to the commentary track on the franchise’s starting point.

xXx (2002)

Commentator: Rob Cohen (director)

1. Cohen got the script a few weeks before The Fast and the Furious opened in theaters. He thought the idea of mashing up extreme sports and spies “was probably the greatest fucking idea that I’ve ever heard.”

2. He loves the James Bond movies of the ’60s and ’70s, especially when paired with the values of the Kennedy era, and thought “if we can somehow do a Tony Hawk 720 and pirouette right off that tradition and into a new world we would make a film that was in fact original.”

3. The opening scene with the spy in a tuxedo isn’t meant as a “put-down” towards Bond. “A man in a tux trying to deal with a tattooed, dirty, dangerous, uncivilized world was the perfect metaphor for the beginning of this film.”

4. He points out that Yorgi (Marton Csokas) is drinking Absinthe. “It’s illegal in the United States, and it’s drunk by strong men and women everywhere.” The ban was lifted here in 2007, and I’ve had the drink since then. I recommend it to fans of licorice.

5. Cohen thinks spy-adventure movies “are aligning correctly in the zeitgeist of our time, and that these are going to be our heroes as we realize that security is very much instrumental, and that the intelligence community is our key to secure our first line of defense.” I’m interpreting this as he’s pro-NSA wire-tapping of American citizens, but to be fair this was recorded just a year or two after 9/11 so maybe he’s evolved since then.

6. He was excited to work with Samuel L. Jackson (who plays Agent Gibbons), but the actor reminded him they’d worked together before. Turns out Jackson was a location scout ‐ and a “starving actor” ‐ on a film Cohen produced in 1975 called The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings.

7. He alternately describes Vin Diesel (who plays Xander Cage) as “the icon, my friend, and the most amazing new star on the whole international scene… like a bear, he’s cuddly and fascinating, but if he gets up on his hind legs you’d better run.” This made me laugh, mostly because Diesel is the least threatening action star since Weng Weng.

8. The bridge they jump the car off is the Forest Hills Bridge near Sacramento, CA. It’s the third-highest in the U.S. and was built in expectation of a dam project that never came to fruition. Diesel was sick so the stuntman who did the jump (in a Diesel mask) also doubles him on the ground.

9. His style of shooting/editing action is something he calls “the Cubist approach.” It involves shooting action with multiple cameras and then editing it to show the action outside of real time “so you get more of that experience.”

10. He says the X-Games subculture has “revolutionized American society.”

11. Cohen avoids a spoiler during the diner scene as he thinks someone might be watching the film for the first time.

12. His thought in casting Jackson opposite Diesel would be a pairing of “the king of cool and the prince of cool.”

13. Cohen cameos as the guy on the horse after Cage lands at the South American airport. He also does a phone voice later on, and then his son cameos at 1:05:10.

14. Diesel is supported by harnesses and wires during the barn scene that were digitally removed, but it still wasn’t pleasant as “all of the pressure of his body weight was suspended on his balls, to be blunt.”

15. The helicopter attack sequence at the drug farm was the producer’s least favorite due entirely to the massive cost involved.

16. Xander’s arrival in Prague is paired with some music from The Third Man which is Cohen’s nod to Carol Reed.

17. One of the two large guys at the club is played by Petr Jákl, was an Olympic competitor in Jiu Jitsu and casually mentioned that Dragon was a huge inspiration to him after suffering a back injury. He had no idea Cohen had written and directed the Bruce Lee biopic. “It’s not how he got the part however.”

18. He’s hoping the film does well so he can make a sequel called XXX Squared.

19. There were $3 million worth of Ferraris in that garage. They had guards on-site to prevent crew members from getting too close.

20. They auditioned 500 actresses before settling on Asia Argento to play Yelena.

21. “Vin kissed Asia so deeply that her lip was covered with saliva.” They had to digitally erase it so that “it would look more graceful.”

22. They brought in Zak Penn (Elektra, The Incredible Hulk) to punch up some scenes including the dialogue exchange in the opera house.

23. Cohen recommends re-watching the avalanche sequence once without sound and then again with the sound restored. He wants viewers to appreciate both the impressive visual effects and the “sound symphony” he promises will “make your intestines rumble.”

24. The Czechoslovakian government offered their entire air force to use in the film. You can see them all getting into their jets.

25. Aerial stunt coordinator Harry O’Connor died while performing the stunt in the third act where Xander paraglides behind the speeding boat. He reaches a bridge and flouts beneath it, but in reality O’Connor slammed into the bridge and broke his neck. The film is dedicated to him. “We had 500 stuntmen involved with this picture. 499 didn’t get a scratch.”

Best in Context-Free Commentary

“He’s riding the upthrust of the changes in American society, and this makes him an incredibly potent force.”

“Obviously Mary-Pat’s legs are not beautiful.”

“Sometimes I just say it’s faster and furiouser.”

“And now, one of my favorite scenes, the torture barn.”

“‘Bitches come’ is probably a phrase that will come into our language and make sure that feminists are on my case for the rest of my life.”

“Xander does not belong in a rice rocket. Xander’s a big guy. He deserves to be in a muscle car.”

“The only thing more beautiful than Asia at rest is Asia in motion.”

“I’d rather give you an experience than a story.”

XXX 15th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]

Final Thoughts

Cohen knows how to shoot action, and while XXX isn’t a great movie ‐ blame Diesel and the script ‐ it’s never a dull one. His commentary is a mix of the technical and the entertaining as he describes how shots were achieved and why decisions were made while also sharing anecdotes and fun asides from the production.

Related Topics: , ,

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.