The role of Caparzo in Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan (1998) was written just for Vin Diesel after director Steven Spielberg saw Diesel's independent film Strays (1997), which was also his directorial, writing, producing and lead acting debut.
To finance the film, Vin Diesel worked as a telemarketer for a year and raised a total of $43,000 dollars.
Because of the limited budget (around $50,000), Vin Diesel the top notch catering company he used to work for catered for the cast and crew.
Mike Epps's acting debut