The legendary action movie stars that inspiredJason Stathamto become an actor (and the lack of comic book movies on their respective filmographies) explain why he will never do a superhero film.Statham has enjoyed plenty of success in franchise filmmaking, having starred in theTransporter,The Meg,The Expendables, andFast & Furiousseries, but he’s never appeared in a comic book movie. In an age when revered thespians like Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, and Angela Bassett have all been snatched up by the superhero genre, Statham has managed to avoid it altogether.
There are a few hard-edged superheroes that Statham would’ve been perfect for, like Daredevil, Wolverine, or the Punisher, but he has yet to star in a superhero film. Some of his more absurd action sequences, like his hand-to-hand fight with a megalodon inThe Megor his battle on the outside wall of a skyscraper inHobbs & Shaw, wouldn’t be out of place in a superhero comic,but he’s never donned a cape. WhileLeonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet avoid comic book filmsto maintain their prestigious arthouse edge, Statham has a very different reason for avoiding the genre.
Jason Statham Is A Fan Of More Grounded Action Movies
He Prefers Movies Like The Beekeeper Over Movies Like The Batman
In an interview withVarietyto promoteThe Beekeeper, Statham was asked why he’s never done a superhero film. With a chuckle, the actor said, “I don’t have a big appetite for a costume, with cape and tights.”Statham said that his taste lies more with “old-school ‘80s movies,”and that he was inspired by the films ofSylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. From John Rambo to John Matrix, Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s characters often bordered on invincibility — Schwarzenegger’s Terminator is literally indestructible (unless he’s lowered into molten steel) — but they never played a bona fide superhero.
The cinematic heroes that Statham looked up to weren’t costumed superhumans like Superman and the Incredible Hulk; they were gritty, street-level antiheroes like Dirty Harry and Frank Bullitt.
Going back further than that,Statham named Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Clint Eastwood as even earlier influences. He said, “I just couldn’t see any of those guys putting on a cape and a mask and going around on wires.” McQueen, Newman, and Eastwood all played renegade action heroes with witty one-liners and magnetic charisma, but they never put on a pair of tights. The cinematic heroes that Statham looked up to weren’t costumed superhumans like Superman and the Incredible Hulk; they weregritty, street-level antiheroes like Dirty Harryand Frank Bullitt.
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Statham told the interviewer thathe prefers more “grounded” action movies over superhero movies. Instead of telling a story about a billionaire in a robotic suit fighting an alien with a gauntlet full of magical stones, he’d rather tell a story about a mortal human like a cop or a mob enforcer being pushed to the edge and seeking revenge for his murdered loved ones. As soon as a superhero puts on a costume, they distance themselves from the audience emotionally. Statham’s antiheroes, dressed in civilian garb, are much more relatable (even if they do pull off some superhuman feats).
Jason Statham Is Aware That His Movies Aren’t Exactly Grounded
Statham Knows His Movies Are Unrealistic, But They’re Not Avengers-Level Unrealistic
Statham is well aware that his movies aren’t exactly grounded. The interviewer notes thatas soon as he used the word “grounded,” Statham laughed as he remembered some of the wilder action scenes he’s been involved in. InSafe, he singlehandedly takes on the Russian mob, the corrupt police force, and the Chinese Triads, and manages to emerge without a scratch. InCrank: High Voltage, the final fight is reimagined as a dream-like hallucination of a kaiju showdown.InMeg 2: The Trench, he impales a megalodonon a broken rotor from a crashed helicopter.
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After recalling some of these ridiculous action scenes, Statham clarified what he meant by “grounded” action. He added thathis definition of “grounded” is “an element we inject into the crazy world that we’re in.”His films might take place in a heightened reality where megalodons fight krakens, he drives a car off a freeway on top of a train while he’s on fire, and he can come out of an intentional head-on collision with Vin Diesel unscathed. Butthere’s always some human grounding, like his love for his landlady inThe Beekeeperor the surrogate father-daughter relationship inSafe.
Jason Statham Doesn’t Have Anything Against Superhero Movies
Superhero Movies Just Aren’t What He Wants To Do
Plenty of Hollywood stars like Jodie Foster, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, and,most notoriously, Martin Scorsesehave openly lambasted superhero movies. But despite avoiding them in his own career, Statham has no ill will towards the superhero genre. He said, “Cinema is like music. Some people like country and western; others like heavy metal.”Just because superhero movies aren’t up Statham’s alley, he doesn’t think they’re the death of cinemaor they should stop making them. There are all kinds of genres for all kinds of tastes, andJason Statham’s taste is drawn to “a grounded kind of action.”
