The 'Transporter' actor talks about doing his own stunts for action movies and how he has accumulated 'so many injuries' over the course of his acting career.
- Mar 5, 2023
AceShowbiz - Jason Statham had suffered "so many injuries" over the course of his acting career. The 55-year-old actor has done multiple stunts in various action films over the years and has ended up with injuries such as a torn bicep and almost "faceplanted" the ground at a speed of 30mph.
"There have been a couple of situations. I think when we shot 'Crank', we were hanging out of a real helicopter. A lot of the things we do now - with 'The Expendables' - anytime you're on a helicopter it's usually on a green screen," he told Collider.
"But with 'Crank', we were actually in a helicopter. We're shooting a fight scene where I was standing on the skids, we have a small pick there. So it was a real stunt, you know, that one was pretty tricky. There [were] a couple of jumps in that movie, over this car park, I was hanging on a gold tail, it's quite almost like a blind jump."
"There [were] a few things in that gig that were pretty tricky. I did a little jump in the 'Transporter 2', or a jump from the back of a jet ski onto the back of a bus. It wasn't a very safe stunt. I shouldn't have done it, there was no safety wire, but I just did that. I mean, if I'd have missed the back of the bus, it would have been a faceplant at 30 mph into the concrete. Just silly things that I've done."
"Most of the most annoying things, like I've had a torn bicep, you have to try and finish the movie. Most of the things are just real niggles and problems with your soft tissue and your joints. You know, I've hurt my neck, I've got so many injuries that have accumulated over the past just doing stunts and hitting the ground."
The "Wrath of Man" star - who trained as a kickboxer in his youth - went on to add that he is "nursing" a lot of ailments from his long career but insisted that the pain is worth it because he wants things to come across as "authentic" on screen.
He added, "I'm nursing a lot of bad injuries... 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. A lot of the decisions, I think I'm getting a bit smarter now. I think I'll try and be smart because of the necessity to be smart as my body is wearing out a little bit. Some of the niggles."
