Not so expendable
A poster of The Expendables 2; (left) Jason Statham
Whether it was as the taciturn Frank Martin in the Transporter films and the small-time boxing promoter Turkish in Snatch, Jason Statham excels in playing the “hard” leading man, the one who shows no mercy, until well, he does.
Jason has chanelled his unconventional good looks — the same good looks that got him started as a model for the brand French Connection, in the UK back in the early ’90s — and the superb physique and athletic prowess he developed as a member of Britain’s national diving team, to great advantage in his movies.
Jason is in fine form in The Expendables 2, in which he stars alongside nearly all the notable Hollywood action stars from the past decade — be it Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren or Jet Li. The high-octane thriller will hit Indian theatres on August 24, and Jason says working with an all-boys club was loads of fun. “It’s amazing to have such a line-up of stars,” said Jason over email to this correspondent. “These are people I’ve admired for decades — ever since I saw the first Rocky film years ago. Just to be there on the sets with them felt great.”
Despite the presence of these macho heavyweights, Jason says there were never any ego clashes while working on the film. “Each of these actors is equal in their own right, they’ve got a massive body of great work (in the genre). They’re also very charismatic individuals who wouldn’t do anything but make you feel at ease — and working with them, I sensed that right away,” Jason explains.
The film sees the “Expendables” reunite to seek revenge — old school style — when one of their friends is viciously killed. Jason returns to the role of knife expert Lee Christmas, a character Jason describes as an “everyday man, but one who can go in and do something special”. “We’d established my character in the first part so it was easy to come back and do the same sort of person because the situation doesn’t change,” he adds.
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