As the unofficial can't-miss kid of Sundance '97--and actor/writer/director of the $47,000 cruiser film Strays--Diesel returned home to New York a changed man. First, there was the sidewalk encounter with Robert Redford, his boyhood idol. Then he landed a Timex ad. And then Steven Spielberg called from the set of Amistad.

"He was shooting a scene with Matthew McConaughey, and he just held up the whole set and came over. We started talking about family backgrounds and personal stuff," says Diesel. "Next thing you know, I'm off to Europe for three months to shoot this film."

"This film," of course, was Saving Private Ryan, the überdirector's expected blockbuster about the WWII rescue of a stranded American soldier. And Diesel's in good company: He shares screen time with Tom Hanks, '97 Sizzler Matt Damon and fellow '98 Sizzler Giovanni Ribisi.

Thanks to the camaraderie he developed with the director, he even got to shoot "second unit" a couple of times--"I have shots that actually appear in the film. It's insane."

Not that he's giving up his indie roots too quickly. Around the same time as Private Ryan came up, Diesel signed to rewrite, direct and star in Doormen, a New York nightlife story, which meant that in the evenings after shooting Private Ryan all day, he'd go back to the hotel and write on his laptop.

That film goes into production later this year, but Diesel has already started work on a screenplay he plans to direct that, he says, is influenced by Serpico and Donnie Brasco. As for the movie that started it all, Strays will be in theaters in April, and an MTV series will follow.

Sounds like it's time to make his "can't-miss" status official.