Actor Jason Statham is often used to playing tough action heroes in films like The Transporter and Crank. But Staham joked that he might’ve felt a bit out of his league when working alongside The Expendables cast.
How Jason Statham reacted to teaming up with ‘The Expendables’ cast
Stallone originally wrote The Expendables with only a couple of action stars in mind. He already tapped actors Jason Statham and Jet-Li to join his group of fictional mercenaries. But he didn’t consider expanding The Expendables roster of action stars until developing the film even further.
“Then it began to build with that and I started getting rid of other characters. One time I was thinking of Ben Kingsley as the bad guy and Forest Whittaker. Then I thought, no, it’s not going to fly. Let me just try to go really old school,” Stallone once told News Shopper. “So I called Dolph and of course he accepted immediately. He was very gracious and Jason was already on.”
Statham was pleased to discover how easy Stallone was to work with.
“It’s a situation where you get to know the real man behind the camera. It’s not the film maker any more, it’s a regular guy. To me, that was the best part of working with Sly. It was about getting to know him as a person and there’s no substitute for that,” Statham said.
Still, Statham admitted that acting alongside the action legends of the past could be quite intimidating.
“It was the first time – ever – that I’ve turned up on set and felt like a pussy,” Statham once told GQ. “Only Sly could bring all those legends together. It’s strange to know they could tear you apart with their bare hands, but they are all so friendly – great mates to have in your back pocket.”
Sylvester Stallone once shared that Jason Statham survived an accident on set that most of the cast might have died from
Shooting The Expendables wasn’t without certain real-life dangers as well. Statham may have come slightly close to death during a stunt where he was driving a truck. Somewhere during the take, the truck Statham drove malfunctioned.
“He was test-driving a three-ton truck and the brakes [went] out,” Stallone once said according to Mirror.
This resulted in Statham plunging 60 ft into the sea. But it was here where Statham’s background as a diver might have helped save his life.
“Luckily we had taken the doors off before,” Stallone said about the truck.
The Rambo star was also convinced that Statham was probably the only one among the cast who could’ve survived the mishap.
“If anyone else had been in that truck we would have been dead because we were all wearing heavy boots and gun belts,” he recalled. “We would have drowned. But because Jason is an Olympic-quality diver he got out of it.”
Sylvester Stallone recently shared the latest ‘Expendables’ film will heavily feature Jason Statham
The fourth Expendables movie will be hitting theaters soon with a few new actors added to the cast. But The Expendables 4 will also be welcoming back familiar faces as well such as Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham. But unlike previous Expendables movies, Stallone recently shared that this next ensemble film will be heavily focused on Statham.
“Jason Statham is 80 percent of it. He’s happy with it,” Stallone told The Hollywood Reporter.
According to Comic Book, Stallone posted a video hinting that his days with his Expendables may be over. And he was making way for his co-star Statham to take center stage.
“This will be my last day,” Stallone said. “I’m enjoying it, but it’s always bittersweet when something you’ve been so attached to – I guess since, well now it’s been about 12 years – and ready to pass the baton on to Jason in his capable hands. The greatest thing is being able to provide films that somewhat entertain and maybe there’s a little message in there because what I try to convey in my successful films is the human touch.”