Michael Jai White Talks ‘Vigilante Diaries’, Spawn and Horror Movies

Andrew Hawkins
Movies
Movies

Michael Jai White stars in the new action movie Vigilante Diaries as a mercenary villain bent on changing the world. The film is a fun, testosterone filled thriller featuring performances from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Michael Madsen, Jason Mewes. Vigilante Diaries has plenty of high-octane fight sequences and shootouts to keep any action fan happy, and Michael Jai White told us all about being a part of the movie and everything else he’s been up to lately.

Fandom: What is Vigilante Diaries?

Michael Jai White: It’s an action flick where a vigilante is trying to take out bad guys from all over the globe. Paul Sloan, who plays the Vigilante, goes up against the Mexican Cartel and Armenian Mafia, and it involves the CIA and certain mercenary forces. It’s a movie that’s all over the place and it’s not something you’re supposed to think too deep about. You just take the fun ride, laugh and watch cool action stuff.

Fandom: How did you get involved in the film?

Michael Jai White: I was asked by the director to join on. He had already shot 80 percent of the movie. They showed me some very cool clips and I think they created the character for me.

Fandom: You’ve got some of the best fight scenes in the movie and you even go toe-to-toe against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Michael Jai White: It’s fun for me because Quinton and I work out together sometimes whenever he’s getting ready for a fight. We’ve done three movies together and we have a movie coming out later on this year called Cops and Robbers where Quinton and I play brothers.

Fandom: Are you looking forward to doing more movies with Rampage?

Michael Jai White: Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. He does a cameo in a movie I directed called Never Back Down: No Surrender and there’s a little running joke in the movie that Quinton’s a part of. The fans are getting a kick out of that.

Fandom: Your Count Chocula bit in the movie is hilarious. Did you improv that?

Michael Jai White: Yeah! To be honest, all of the stuff shot with that actor was shot before I was even a part of the movie. I had no idea what he even looked like, and I didn’t even know who I was talking to (laughs) but it seemed like everything fit.

Fandom: There’s even a moment with you Danny Trejo and Michael Madsen.

Michael Jai White: That was really fun. I’ve known Michael Madsen for over a decade and this was the first time we’ve worked together. We were both a part of Kill Bill, but my segment got cut down tremendously. Our sons went to school together and we’ve been friends for quite some years.

Fandom: You’ve been busy recently with a lot of movies and Black Dynamite.

Michael Jai White: I have a number of things that I’m working on. I’ve become more active in creating my own stuff and producing, writing and directing. There’s a number of things I’m excited about doing in the future.

Fandom: You’re the original Spawn. What’s your take on current superhero movies?

Michael Jai White: I’m a fan of the more dark stuff and if we were to do another Spawn I’d love it to be closer to the comic book; something that would be more of a hard R.

Fandom: Are there any other characters you’d like to play from DC or Marvel?

Michael Jai White: I don’t even think about it. Being that Marvel and DC are their own universes, I’m only concerned with things that I can control.

Fandom: Should we be expecting more Black Dynamite soon?

Michael Jai White: Absolutely. There’re some other things in the Black Dynamite universe that I am in the process of getting done. These are the things that excite me that I have an audience for and I have a yearning to put out.

Fandom: There’s a running joke in Vigilante Diaries about the Universal Monsters. Are you into horror movies at all?

Michael Jai White: I’m actually not. I’m not designed for horror movies. I’m such a vigilante myself that I can’t enjoy them because I’m so focused on thinking of ways to kill the monster. I absolutely don’t have a good time because I become so aggressive and so obsessed with wanting to kill the bad guy.

It’s a weird thing. My desire to kill the bad guy or the slasher will last longer than the movie. The threat of somebody doing that unnerves me so much that I’m obsessed with killing them. Maybe it’s something from my childhood, but ever since I saw Michael Myers all I could think of were the ways I would kill that guy.

Fandom: What are you a fan of?

Michael Jai White: I’m a fan of a lot of the classic martial arts movies. I love what Donnie Yen has been doing. I’m a big fan of his. Enter the Dragon, Five Deadly Venoms, Shogun Assassin; these are some of my favorite martial arts movies I watch anytime they come on.

Vigilante Diaries is currently available on Blu-ray, DVD, iTunes and VOD.

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Andrew Hawkins
Andrew Hawkins is a producer and publicist known for Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, Jan Svankmajer’s INSECT, and Athanor: The Alchemical Furnace. Follow him on Twitter @mrandrewhawkins