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Jason Statham talked today with IESB about The Bank Job, Crank 2, Transporter 3 and, believe it or not, Namor, the Sub-Mariner.
{sidebar id=1}Sitting down with Jason Statham, its hard to separate the man from his work. Thats maybe a blessing and a curse for an actor who seems to exude natural bad-assery. He joked with reporters earlier in the day that even when he gets straight forward dramatic roles, they always end up writing in a fight scene.
IESB: When you started acting, did you ever picture yourself becoming such an action hero superstar?
Statham: Maybe in a dream, one day. But no, Ive always been very motivated to take it as far as I can. The fact that you do a movie that people enjoy and that it has a certain amount of success is like a boost. You go Great, fuck, I did something that people liked. Then you think, fuck, how can we take it to the next level? Can we do something a bit bigger, a bit better. Give a few more good actors in. Youre always trying to top what you did the last time so youll never be content. I dont think youll ever sit on top of the mountain and go, You know what? Fuck, I did it. I did what I wanted to do. I feel Ive got a long way to go. I regard that as a motivating factor. So yeah, I made a couple of decent films. Ive made a couple of not-so-decent films. So the drive is certainly there.
IESB: Now when you say not-so-decent, are those still good experiences?
Statham: Yeah. I mean, you can only learn by your mistakes. A lot of the time youre not responsible for the way a movie finishes. Some of the time you have a certain amount of responsibility but, you know, you learn to be more rigid with your decisions and less risky. As the stakes get higher, you want to be a bit more careful, you know? I think now Im in a position where I dont want to take too many risks. I just want to work with decent people and I think to work with someone like Roger [Donaldson] was a real indication of that. When I finished the movie with him, it was like, fuck, hes so protective with something like that. He understands the narrative. He understands the characters. He understands where hes gonna cut and where hes not. You know, hes got it all pre-planned. Youre not wasting time shooting ten hours of coverage. He knows what he needs. You just surrender all your fears. They just disappear because youre working with someone you trust. The same thing happens when you work with someone like Guy Ritchie, you know. You just dont care because you know theyre going to make a good movie no matter what.
IESB: Speaking of Guy Ritchie, hes moving into directing The Dirty Dozen. Has he talked to you about appearing in that?
Statham: No, he hasnt. I havent seen Guy in a little while. But well get together soon enough. But Ill work with him until I cant even fucking walk anymore. You know, hes there forever in my eyes.
IESB: Do you have a dream project that youve always wanted to do?
Statham: Yeah, Ive got a few. I think my dream project would be to work with somebody like Michael Mann or Martin Scorsese and within that project there to be someone like Russell Crowe there. To do something where I could expand upon my other sort of area. I think thats what Id like to do. At the same time, Id like to do a dream action movie. Something that has enough of a budget, enough of a great script, enough great locations and a real character-driven action movie. Not just some bit of fluff to try and sell straight to DVD. Something that has a bit of longevity a bit of quality to it. An adult action movie. Not to say that adults dont go to see films like Crank and Snatch but Id like to do something thats a bit more of a thriller.
IESB: Are there any comic book characters that youd like to play in a film?
Statham: Yeah, absolutely. Thatd be another area of my wishlist. Id love to play one, yeah.
IESB: Anyone in particular?
Statham: Let me think Its funny, I took a meeting for Sub-Mariner. I dont know if Id look right running around in a tight speedo with wings on my ankles but theres so many cool fucking characters. The Hulk, Ive always been a big fan of but Ed Nortons doing that. And rightly so. Hes fucking amazing. And hes working with Louis Leterrier, believer it or not who did The Transporter. Im trying to think of what would be a good comic book character for me to play. You know, theres talk of them redoing The Crow. That was a good movie with Brandon Lee, although that was years ago. So if that one comes my way, bang! You know, theres so many comic book movies out there and most of the time theres only a handful of people who can do them any justice. Hopefully, theyll come my way for one of them.
IESB: What about getting on the other side of the camera? Ever wanted to write or direct?
Statham: Writing, no way. Directing? Yeah, I could see some possibility of that down the way. Ive made some silly home videos. You want to see them? (Laughs) Ive had a video camera since I was a kid. My buddies used to come over and wed make some videos. Some silly ones. Id edit them on my computer, you know. I-Movie and very simple linear editing. But yeah, Ive always had my finger in a pie in that sense. And I love photography so its just an extension of that. And understanding the characters and putting the story together. So yeah, I wouldnt rule it out. But Im having a lot of fun on the front side. When I get old and the joints stop working, maybe I should slip around the other side.
IESB: Now Guy Ritchie actually wrote a comic called Gamekeeper that hes talked about making into a film.
Statham: I havent looked at it but hes very excited about it. (Imitating Ritchie) Yeah, I really want to do this one. Its fucking going to be great. So yeah. Im sure theres a huge trend for this kind of film and Im sure hell do a good job of it.
IESB: So coming up next is Crank 2 and Transporter 3
Statham: Yeah, two franchises. Fucking hell. Its crazy because over the past few months, Ive had a ton of offers. You want to do something you want to do and you want to do something that people want you to do. You dont want to just do a movie to be different. Its like, does this work for me? Right? Its a character Ive played and the scripts okay but where do you score in that film? So you just have to put everything on the scale. Right at the time, Transporter 3 and Crank 2 made the most sense because theyre the characters people like. But people like to pigeonhole you into the corner of thats all you can do but theyre going to do that anyway. If you do something that is away from appealing to the public they go, Why didnt he just do Transporter 3? Everyone wanted to see that!. You cant fucking please everyone so you just have to please yourself. If everyone enjoys it, then great. You can never please everyone.
IESB: So youd like to work on smaller films, too?
Statham: Yeah, I did a film called London. I dont know if anyone ever saw it. Its a great thing. I filmed it in like 20 days. Theres pages and pages of dialogue. Its great. I can really sink my teeth into that kind of stuff. But not a lot of people go to see those films. Theyre very art-housey. Theres a fine line. You cant keep making too many of those. You have to strike a balance between something not too ridiculously commercial and something that will win the attention of the people out there and at the same time give you a little bit of credibility. I think that The Bank Job catches both sides there. Its entertaining, isnt it? Its fun. Itll be interesting to see how The Bank Job does.
The Bank Job opens on March 7th.
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