December 2007 | blackfilm.com | features | REVOLVER

REVOLVER
An Interview with Jason Statham, CONTINUED
By Brad Balfour

December 17, 2007

Q: It's not really a commercial film though.

JS: Sure. I don't think Guy ever made this to be "Transformers" or something a bit more commercial. This is… he's never going to make a movie like that, Guy does something a bit different. Even "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock" were never going to be frontrunners to steal the weekend.

Q: Has this film enlightened you in any way?

JS: God yes.

Q: Please elaborate on that.

JS: Well I think it's sort about awareness, you know? If you're being a bit of an idiot, or being a bit too selfish, if you're aware of that, you're on a good side. I know a lot of people that have problems, whether it be with gambling, drinking, drugs, women, infidelity… whatever their problem is… horses… everyone's got a weakness, and you best acknowledge that. Don't think you haven't…. I think you all might have something you might be susceptible a bit, have a bit of a weakness towards. And I think if you understand you have that vulnerability within you, and understand where that comes from, then you can only become a better person from that.

Q: Are you glad the film has finally made it to American audiences? You've seen a few versions of the film now…

JS: Yeah, I've seen about two versions now. This one I particularly like. I mean, I like the other one as well, but I think this one is a little more concise, a little bit easier. And hopefully everyone will see that too. Have you seen the English one?

Q: What was cut out?

JS: Well, the story about the three Eddies, basically the story about these guys, what I used to do for Dorothy Macha, how I used to do a lot of this trading, a lot of this conning. But it was just an additional piece that didn't really have to do with the real the story. So really it was just a bit of extra fluff. So now it's tightened up, and there's a different ending, which I think is a bit more of a whallop at the end. So, yeah… I like both versions, but I think this one is a little quicker.

Q: Everyone has seen you in these action roles, and I think everyone loves to see you kick ass, but do you intend to do anything different, a comedy, a family film, a musical?

JS: With my Gene Kelly shoes? I'd love to, I used to watch musicals all the time when I was a kid. I loved "Singing in the Rain" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," and "West Side Story." I grew up on them, my mom and dad were fanatics on musicals. I don't think they work now, although the romantic-comedy side of me hasn't been exposed… I don't know why they're not making them anymore. Can anyone answer that?

Q: Vincent Pastore, your co-star is in "Chicago" on Broadway.

JS: "Chicago" is fantastic, I really do like "Chicago." But it's not like they're making a lot of them, is it?

Q: It's been said you are doing "Crank 2"—have you seen the script for it?

JS: Yeah, I have read the script, that's why I said I'd do it. And I have to say that it's completely fucked up.

Q: You die at the end of the first, how are you going to be back?

JS: I'm not going to tell, they told me they'd skin me alive. [Laughs]

Q: Will it be more over the top than the first one?

JS: It's so over the top, so over the top. But in a [Mark] Neveldine [the co-director of Crank" way. It's so over the top.

Q: And what's happening with the Brazilian Job?

JS: It's been on ice for a long, long time. I don't know what's going on with that.

Q: Do you have any preferred opponents onscreen? You've said in the past you liked working with Jet Li?

JS: You know, I've never had success doing a movie with Jet and I don't know why, he's like one of my favorite martial artists, and both the movies I've done with him have been so disappointing. I don't know why, it's such great potential, but there's more reasons to another that they haven't worked. But we won't go into that.

Q: What kind of martial arts training have you done?

JS: I used to do a lot of kickboxing, my dad used to box. I do a lot of grappling now. And you know, the movie martial arts, if you like.

Q: I heard you ran a marathon on a dare once…care to talk about it?

JS: I regretted it. I ran it in 3:50. But I couldn't walk for four days afterwards.

Q: Did you do anything to pay him back?

JS: I had to buy him a beer, he's one of my best mates. But again, it was my ego getting the better of me, 'Oh yeah, I can run a marathon, sure.'

Q: Are there other challenges you want to meet?

JS: I'd love to jump off of… do some free falling from a cliff, a base jump. First of all I'll try a parachute from a very high airplane.

Q: Your character in the film has a fear of elevators. Do you have any phobias yourself?

JS: No I don't have any phobia, no. I mean I get anxiety about things, but when you get it, you can reason with it. You can shut the window, you know?

Q: How do you combat your own weaknesses?

JS: Daily. [Laughs] I won't tell you what they are…. I think…. I had a four month spell, I had gone to Canada to train for Death Race and I never touched a single beer. There was no alcohol, that was the cleanest I've ever lived. And you know, you'd have people going out and they'd say, 'Come on, just come and have a beer,' and there's a weakness there, because I come from England, but I wanted to try and stay on the tracks. I wanted to work really hard at what I had disciplined myself to do. But there's always someone tugging on your back saying, 'Come, let's have a drink,' and you've just got to be strong.

Q: Did you use a lot of your training for "Death Race" [a sci-fi adventure directed by Paul W.S. Anderson]?

JS: I did a lot of physical training because I played a convict and we went up to Kirkham Prison, we saw the state, the physical shape of these people, and they are dangerous, they're like training to… it's all segregation, not a happy place. Prison in the U.S…. Well, prison in any part of the world is not a good place. But you go into a prison and you see how segregated everyone is. You've got the blacks here, and the Aryan brotherhood, and the Mexicans. And they're just literally waiting to go to war against each other. And it's just a horrible place.

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