One of the greatest action movie stars of all time, Jason Statham is also among the few actors who performs dangerous stunts on his own.
Stunts may not come as anything out of the ordinary for the English actor. He is, after all, a trained diver. He was a member of Britain’s national diving team and competed for England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. He is also a practitioner of Chinese kickboxing, karate, wing chun and other forms of martial arts.
On the screen, he embodies the tough, gritty and skilled action hero. His athleticism, fighting skills and no-nonsense attitude make him believable and exciting in action sequences. No wonder several of his films have been major box office hits, starting with his debut in the Guy Ritchie film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). In fact, his films have grossed over USD 1.5 billion to date, not only proving his commercial appeal but also solidifying his status as a bankable action star.
The stunts he performs are certainly a major draw. They add authenticity and intensity to his action scenes. This dedication to performing several of them on his own further reinforces his image as a bona fide action hero.
He is also a strong advocate for more recognition for stunt work in films. In a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair, he said that stunts are an overlooked category at the Academy Awards.
“I think it is an overlooked category,” Statham said, especially considering “how much responsibility these coordinators have for some of the greatest entertainment in action movies. I mean, all of the stuntmen—these are the unsung heroes. They really are. Nobody is giving them any credibility. They’re risking their necks. And then you’ve got poncy actors pretending like they’re doing [the stunts].”
“For me,” he continued, “it’s a total injustice.”
Statham is also all praise for some of his co-stars, particularly Sylvester Stallone, for doing stunts on their own in many instances.
“He’s got a roadmap of injuries over the course of his career,” Statham said in another interview. “A lot of the things we do, it’s because our ego gets in front of us, and we want it to be authentic. We want people to see that that’s us doing it. We want the audience to go for the ride.”
Given his stature and voice for stunt work, it won’t come as a surprise that he did the stunts in his latest film, The Beekeeper. In fact, he also learned bee-keeping to get into the skin of his character, Adam Clay, who is a beekeeper in the film. He reportedly didn’t get stung even once during filming.
“He does his own stunts, he’s an athlete. He has so much action history, so much physical ability, and an understanding of how to make it look good on camera. I’ve done a lot of action, but he took me to school. But off duty, Jason is a nice, normal, down-to-earth dude,” David Ayer, the director of The Beekeeper, told Variety about Statham’s work.
