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CINDY PEARLMAN
NYT Syndicate
In the lobby of a Beverly Hills hotel, someone asked Jason Statham for his fitness secret. It's a fair question, because the 48-year-old actor, broad-shouldered and trim in a black jacket, blue shirt and dark jeans, looked nothing if not fit. Statham paused in thought, and finally answered in his trademark grim, gravelly voice.
"Diet and exercise are the thing if you want to get in shape," he said.
Uh, is that it? Statham smiled, and suddenly his hazel eyes danced merrily.
"I always had this deadpan voice that makes whatever I say seem extra-serious," he said.
Yes, in real life Jason Statham is a kidder. It's not the persona he usually displays onscreen, where he specialises in action extravaganzas such as Mechanic: Resurrection, which will open on August 26.
Statham reprises his role as Arthur Bishop in The Mechanic (2011). Again he's a man who has put his past as an assassin behind him, only to be forced to come out of retirement when the love of his life is kidnapped by one of his past foes. Bishop is forced to travel the globe and complete a seemingly impossible list of assassinations targeting the most dangerous men in the world.
"We really turned up the volume with this sequel," Statham said."The key is that each death must look like an accident. I only have so many hours to go through the list, or my girlfriend will die."
The recipe for the film, which co-stars Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Yeoh, isn't a complicated one.
"You take some moments of tension, give it a splash of visual fun and a little drama," Statham said."That's what gives an audience your money's worth."
The 2011 film was based on The Mechanic (1972), in which Charles Bronson played an aging hitman who mentors a younger professional killer (Jan-Michael Vincent).
"We just gave it a modern twist for today's audiences," Statham said.
The stakes are higher in the sequel, he added, because Bishop's emotional life is on the line. The emotional scenes were, to him, as important as the stunts.
"I just approach them in different ways," Statham said."The physical is second nature. It's pretty much pain-free if you do them right. When it comes to the dramatic moments, I put my faith in the hand of my director.
"I've also had the good fortune to work with great actors that inspire me," he continued."When the cameras roll, it's about inspiration and commitment to get me to that emotional place."
None of which should be taken to suggest that Mechanic: Resurrection doesn't include some epic action sequences, with Statham front and centre for most of them.
"I started doing my own stunts in the early part of my career ” out of necessity, because I did movies where we couldn't afford to hire other people," he recalled."It was all me. I drove the car on top of the train in The Transporter (2002), I fought the guy on the helicopter in Crank (2006).
"Now the audience expects me to do the stunts," Statham continued,"which is a double-edged sword. You want to do something bigger and badder each time."
"People want to actually see me in the fights and big action scenes," he said."When they sit in the dark with their popcorn, they have expectations of it, which is fine. It's part of my job.
"If I don't want to do the stunts, then I shouldn't be doing this anymore."
Statham is a native of Derbyshire, England, where his mother was a dancer and his father a street merchant and singer.
"I grew up in a movie-loving family," he said."My mom and dad always came home to tell me, 'You've got to see this film right now.' I was encouraged to check out every genre at the local cinema, and there were so many movies of quality in those days."
Statham was always athletic, and was particularly good at diving. He was a member of the British National Diving Team, competing in the 10-meter platform and the three-meter springboard. He finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992.
After his diving career ended, however, Statham was at loose ends. Keeping in shape by studying martial arts, he bounced from job to job, including stints as a model and as a street salesman.
"Sales were a great way to learn about acting," he said."You're playing different characters each day."
A modeling gig for French Connection led to an audition for director Guy Ritchie, who cast the novice actor as a street vendor hawking fake jewellery in his gangster film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). The two clicked, and Ritchie also cast Statham in his next film, Snatch (2000).
His martial-arts training made Statham a natural for action films, and The Transporter was his passport to stardom. He has gone on to star in such films as The Italian Job (2003), Transporter 2 (2005), Crank, Hitman (2007), Death Race (2008), The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), Parker (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014) and the blockbuster Furious 7 (2015).
"Action films are one of my favourite genres," he said."I knew that my body had to be one of my acting tools."
Statham stepped out of his comfort zone to co-star with Melissa McCarthy in the comedy Spy (2015).
"Being in a comedy was a bit intimidating," he admitted."I didn't want to be too conscious about being funny. I was given pages of dialogue before we did it. That didn't allow me to do too much thinking about it."
Next up for Statham is Meg, in which he'll play a former Navy captain and expert deep-sea diver. The title character is a carcharadon megalodon, a prehistoric great white shark that is the largest marine predator ever to exist. The film also will star Ruby Rose of Orange is the New Black.
Also in the works is Furious 8, Statham's third outing in the Fast and Furious franchise.
When he's not fleeing explosions or dangling from helicopters, the actor lives in the Hollywood Hills and Malibu with his fianc`e, actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who is best known for Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). The two walk the red carpet when necessary, but Statham says that they prefer laid-back evenings at home.
"I'm not the fanciest of guys," he said."I'm more a hang-out-in-jeans guy."
A good night for them, Statham said, is spent watching old movies.
"I'm a massive fan of old movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and The Sting (1973)," he said."I love Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood and all of the action stars. Give me anything with Natalie Wood or Steve McQueen.
"I could watch Charles Bronson a hundred times," Statham said."All of my favourite movies are the ones from yesteryear."
