Vin Diesel sounds like he’s in love, and the object of his affection is ... Dame Judi Dench. It isn’t so much a romantic love, but instead, the kind one has for an idol.

Working with Dench on their new film ‘‘The Chronicles of Riddick’’ (see review, page 10) was ‘‘like a dream come true,’’ Diesel says from the set of his latest project, ‘‘The Pacifier’’ in Toronto.

‘‘People would ask me, ‘Who do you want to work with?’ five years ago and I’m saying, ‘Judi Dench!’ And they’re like, ‘Judi Dench? I thought you were going to say Michael Bay,’ ’’ he laughs.

It’s not the first time during the interview that he jokes about his public image. Clearly, there’s more than just an action star under Diesel’s bulked-up muscles.

Among other things, he’s an old Dungeons and Dragons fan who loves playing with kids and whose other dream project is directing a film about the Carthaginian general Hannibal.

‘‘Riddick’’ is the sequel to the surprise 2000 hit ‘‘Pitch Black,’’ one of the first films that brought Diesel to audiences’ attention.

Diesel, who is producing the film as well as starring in it, talked the English dame into taking the role of Aeron, a character that he describes as ‘‘a powerful presence in the film that opens it up and gives it a certain understandable significance.’’

During foreign press for ‘‘XXX,’’ the last film Diesel shot before taking a short break and entering the sevenmonth production schedule for ‘‘Riddick’’ (both ‘‘A Man Apart" and ‘‘The Knockaround Guys’’ were shot before ‘‘XXX’’), the actor flew to England to see Dench in a play with
Maggie Smith — ‘‘another brilliant actress.’’

‘‘I started the relationship by going out and seeing her perform and I guess, as an actor, that’s the best way to do it,’’ he says, adding that, after the performance he went backstage and ‘‘did my best to charm her.’’

Apparently, it worked. But as Dench came onboard, Diesel and writer/ director David Twohy realized that, in a way, the stakes had been raised. Now, Diesel says, they had an opportunity to create something really special.

‘‘Once you got Judi Dench, it just meant that you had to stay committed to making the script and each moment as soundproof as possible,’’ Diesel explains. ‘‘Just because it’s such a luxury, and for me a dream, and such a coup for the picture to have such a marvelous actress. If you were going to have that marvelous actress in the film, make it as incredible as you can — never stop thinking about it.’’

Fans expecting ‘‘Pitch Black 2’’ may be surprised to find a whole new mythology in place for ‘‘Riddick,’’ which explores the background of the optically enhanced character — but doesn’t follow the same structure of the first film.

‘‘We all know how shy I am about sequels — I’d be much richer if I wasn’t — so this couldn’t be ‘Pitch Black 2.’ There’s ‘Pitch Black,’ there’s no reason to do ‘Pitch Black 2,’ he says. ‘‘ ‘Pitch Black’ was about dealing with those characters in the present, under those very specific and immediate conditions. ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ is an exploration of everything outside of that one planet and that kind of mythology that lives in the future.’’

The partnership between Twohy, whose other credits include ‘‘The Arrival’’ and ‘‘Below’’ as well as the screenplays for ‘‘Warlock,’’ ‘‘Terminal Velocity’’ and ‘‘The Fugitive,’’ and Diesel is not likely to end soon. While Diesel wouldn’t say if a second sequel is confirmed, he did say that they have ‘‘two other stories’’ about Riddick that follow ‘‘Chronicles.’’

‘‘The cool thing about David and I working together is that David is a sci-fi guy and I’m a fantasy guy,’’ says Diesel. ‘‘David has written these incredible science-fiction pictures and I’ve spent my life playing Dungeons and Dragons and living in the world of fantasy.’’

But Diesel’s real baby is ‘‘Hannibal,’’ an epic story about the Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps to attack Rome in the 3rd century B.C., which the actor is not only producing, but will star in and hopes to direct.

‘‘I’m dying to direct this,’’ he says, adding that he’s going over conception art for the film. ‘‘I see the images in my head. When we have story meetings I end up acting out scenes — it’s my favorite story to tell.’’

The project is one that Diesel has been talking about since doing ‘‘XXX,’’ although it now has a screenplay courtesy of David Franzoni ("King Arthur,’’ ‘‘Gladiator’’), who adapted it for the screen from a novel by Ross Leckie. Until Diesel sets a start date for the project (and investors come on board), he is keeping himself busy shooting ‘‘The Pacifier,’’ Adam Shankman’s ("Bringing Down the House’’) new comedy about a Navy S.E.A.L. who is assigned to protect the five children of a recently deceased government scientist.

‘‘Literally, it’s heaven working with these kids because I’ll go through a whole scene with an 8-month-old baby on my lap, smiling at me and wanting me to play with him — it’s so adorable! It’s so easy to leave all the cool stuff behind when you’re playing with these babies because I’m walking around the set lifting this baby up going, ‘Whee!’’’ Diesel laughs.