right on target
Tough guy Jason Statham tries on comedy and passes with flying colours.
WHEN director Guy Ritchie was looking for an actor to play a street corner con man, rather than cast a professional, he gave the part to Jason Statham, who at the time was selling perfume and jewellery on the streets of London.
Did that really happen? I asked Statham. “It did!” the actor replied. “That movie was Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, and it seemed to pay off, and we went on to do another, which was Snatch, and I found a career which I never thought I’d have.”
Before that, he pursued a sports career competing in diving at the Commonwealth Games and earning a purple belt in Brazilian ju jitsu.
Although he had no experience in acting, Statham comes from a family of artists.
“My mother was a ballroom dancer. My father and uncle were singers, my bother’s a guitarist. So there’s always been a performing element within the family blood.”
Thirteen years later, Statham is a bona fide star. This summer alone, he has two huge hits to prove it, co- starring in Furious 7 and the hilarious Spy in which he has a broad comedy role.
It is surprising to see you in a comedy film like Spy. How did you get involved in that?
You can blame the director Paul Feig. At one point in his career, he wanted to be a stuntman, so when I sat down with him we had this common ground. He’d seen pretty much every movie I’ve done, and he singled out Crank as being the one that inspired him to put me in this movie.
I was, at first, hesitant, but he said, “No, I want to get you to do something quite cool, playing it very straight”.
I thought, if you’re going to gamble at something, it may as well be with someone who really knows what he’s doing, and it ended up a real pleasure because you’re surrounded by the best actresses you could ever get. It was such an easy, breezy sort of way to go to work, and I love the final result.
Does it bother you to be pigeonholed as action star?
I don’t have any choice. If I go and do something else, people say, “Well, why aren’t you doing an action movie?”, and then when you do an action movie they go, “Why don’t you try something else?”.
So, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.
What is your best memory of Paul Walker?
We used to go to Willowsprings ( in California) to race up there; I used to have a GT- 2. He was very fond of racing around a track, and that’s where I met him. I remember him as being a very down- toearth, not very Hollywood type, someone who doesn’t have a big ego.
He was always about family and he did a lot for charity. He was someone you could admire and look up to, and have a lot of respect for.
You’ve made some movies in England, but your most successful ones were made in Hollywood. Is there any resentment there that you’ve deserted Old Blighty?
When I come through passport control, they hit me through the back of my head. ( Laughs.)
I try to do one ( movie in Britain) every two or three years if I can because that’s how I started my career. I do love working with the crews. There are some very talented people over there so I would never turn my back on them, ever.
Do they still think of you as a Brit?
Well I have to, because my passport says I am. But I know what you mean though, if you stay away too long, you get kind of snobbish.
How do you like living in Beverly Hills ( he and supermodel Rosie Huntington- Whiteley have just purchased a RM45mil mansion in Beverly Hills)?
I still live in England, but I spent a lot of time in Beverly Hills. I’m here for work and it’s good to be working, but my home is in Dulwich ( South London).
What do you miss most about England?
I miss my old pals, my friends that I grew up with, my mum and dad live back there, so I miss them. Family and friends is what you miss more than anything.
How do you and Rosie handle separation ( her workplace is London)?
Like anybody else. It’s just a fact of life, and you just have to deal with it.
How do you stay in touch, do you Skype?
Just natural things. There’s the telephone, there’s a lot of technology that can connect you.
You’ve been with your lady five years now. Are you ready to start a family?
I will take it one day at a time. I am not a big planner, I never have been; you never know what is around the corner. I am a big believer that fate has a bit of a play in things
Do you have to exercise every day to stay in shape?
That changes according to my injuries, but I try to do a little bit of something almost every day – Olympic lifts, fight training. I do a lot of sparring with a couple of friends.
I train at 8711, which is a stuntman sort of gym. I do a little bit at my house. I’ve got a garage and it’s full of weights and a few bags, that kind of thing.
Do you have a personal trainer?
I train myself. I’ve had only one trainer in my whole career year. He was a Navy SEAL. I trained with him for a while and he was just a machine. We used to push each other and it used to be great.
But after he went back to the military three and a half years ago, I’ve been training myself.
I feel I’m more in tune with my body and what I need to do. Training on your own allows you to start listening to that, and I have got some great results. I’ve fixed a ton of injuries that I was carrying around for years.
Have you ever refused to do any of your stunts?
I’ve never refused a stunt to this day ever. The only people that get in my way are the producers because they always are concerned about something going wrong; so there’s an insurance aspect.
Early in my career, I pretty much did everything. But now they’re a bit more protective, and it’s frustrating because I always want to do 50% more than the insurance will allow.
But you can stand firmly on the fact that I do 100% of every fight you ever see. There’s no one coming in and doubling for me in any fight scene.
In Spy you steal the scenes you are in. Where does your comedy chops come from?
My comedy chops, yeah. Maybe because there wasn’t a lot of pressure on me, I was not playing the hero. I came there to have a bit of fun. And it worked rather well.
Does comedy come easy?
If you have a great director, great writing. I would love to do more of it.
What makes you laugh?
Not to be mean spirited or anything, but I think sarcasm really is quite a funny thing. I really do.
How do your fans react when they meet you in person? Are they intimidated?
I am quite a friendly chap, and I get some good reactions from the fans and I always have.
What do you do in your downtime?
I do a little bit of surfing. I’ve picked that up over the years. I’ve got a little place of my own down in Malibu that I try and get to. I like the idea that you’re not living out of a suitcase.
Philip Berk, eight- time president of the Hollywood Foreign Press association, hobnobs with celebrities to report exclusively from Los angeles.