Jason Statham is known for his action films, which mostly follow a similar formula. However, he wasn’t always as big as he is today. A cult director gave him a chance after he had a bad experience with Bruce Willis.
Which director is it? Most likely, the French director and screenwriter Luc Besson is known for The Fifth Element or Léon – The Professional. As a writer, he, along with Robert Mark Kamen, is also responsible for the action film The Transporter.
Before this, Statham was known from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch. However, in 2002, The Transporter was released and was practically the blueprint for the films he has been making ever since. Even in the film The Beekeeper from 2024, one can recognize patterns from The Transporter.
According to Kamen, Jason Statham exists as a transporter only because Luc had problems with Bruce Willis on The Fifth Element.
You can see a trailer for the film here:
We have to create our own film star
What happened between Luc Besson and Bruce Willis? In an interview with the entertainment site UPROXX, screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen spoke about The Fifth Element and The Transporter. It was mentioned that Bruce Willis is said to be a difficult guy. Although he doesn’t specify what went wrong, the relationship between Besson and Bruce Willis apparently wasn’t good:
He was very difficult, and Luc dealt with it. But Luc wasn’t used to it. After he did that, he came to me and said, “We have to create our own film stars.”
Kamen then said that they had to create a star for themselves, and in this case, it was Jason Statham in The Transporter.
Luc Besson also spoke about the problems with Bruce Willis with Screen Rant. There, he explained that he made a deal with him to work only 4 days instead of 5 on the film. Luc Besson is not the only director who had problems with Willis.
How did The Transporter perform? The Transporter was a success. Looking at the numbers on Box Office Mojo, you can see that the film grossed almost 44 million dollars worldwide on a budget of 21 million dollars.
The film developed into a series with 2 sequels, a reboot, and a series.
What happened next with Luc Besson? After The Transporter, he also worked as a screenwriter on Taken and made Liam Neeson a big action star. As a director and screenwriter, he worked on films like Lucy with Scarlett Johansson or Valerian with Cara Delevingne. His latest film was released in 2023. That was the quirky Dogman with Caleb Landry Jones. You can find more action tips in this list: 5 action movies rated 18 for hardcore film fans
