Jason Statham is primarily known for one type of role: He plays the classic action star in almost all of his movies, who always has to be cool
. It seems he is aware of this himself, as he explained in an interview.
Who is Jason Statham? Jason Statham is an actor best known for his action roles. His first film was Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. He often collaborated with director Guy Ritchie, including for Snatch in 2000 and later for Cash Truck in 2021.
However, Jason Statham found his niche in the film business fairly early on. In 2005 he played the lead role in The Transporter. The film was specifically written to create a new
Bruce Willis. This also marked a turning point in his career. Since then he has often played the same type of hero.
He is always the competent and precise action hero who can execute any mission. Statham doesn’t even speak much in his roles, but when he does, it’s usually with cool one-liners and a cheeky smile.
He seems to know this himself, as he revealed in an interview.
You can’t open a sushi restaurant and then put cheese on toast on the menu
What does Jason Statham say about it? In an interview with The Guardian in 2013, he spoke about his film Hummingbird. It was also mentioned that he is always cast in similar roles. He is aware of this but also recognizes why.
You can’t open a sushi restaurant and then put cheese on toast on the menu, because then they would say: “Why did you do that? We came here to eat sushi.” […] You can’t blame these people for wanting to make money. It’s show business.
He would also like to play more dramatic roles but knows that his well-known character types sell better. People wouldn’t invest if he wanted to play different roles. The audience knows what to expect from Statham, and they don’t want to change that.
He describes his character type quite accurately in the interview: He gets in the car, hits someone on the head, and shoots someone in the damn feet.
In the interview, Statham also explains that he actually wanted to become a stuntman. He even trained as a diver for that, but nothing came of that career. Afterward, he worked as a jeweler in London until he was suddenly discovered by director Guy Ritchie. After all, he still deals with stunts a lot to this day.
Does he really always play the same role? Of course, there are also films where he plays different roles. One example would be the mentioned Hummingbird. Even in the early Guy Ritchie films, he had more facets. But it must also be said that his roles have hardly differed in recent years. In Meg, Fast and Furious, or Expandables, he plays almost the same character. Even in his latest film, he shows little variation: As a huge fan of John Wick, I watched the new revenge film with Jason Statham: Entertaining but lacking substance
