[IMG:L]It takes many people to pull off a good heist. There’s the brains, the muscle, the techie and many others–often 11 or more in a team. The Bank Job tells the true story of a 1970s bank robbery in London in which, despite many blunders on the thieves’ part, the police never apprehended the robbers. The stolen loot ultimately included safe deposit box contents that compromised many wealthy Brits, including the royal family themselves.
Jason Statham leads the gang of thieves in The Bank Job, a reenactment of these events. He has been making quite a name for himself in the action/adventure genre, with franchise characters like The Transporter, and even Crank spawning a sequel. Statham reveals his real-life team of conspirators in making the film and guiding his career in Hollywood.
The Stoolies: Jason Statham is too young to remember the real-life events, but even his parents couldn’t rat out the details.
“They couldn’t remember much about it. My parents go, ‘Oh yeah, maybe there was something that I do remember.’ But literally there was three days of exposure and then it was all like hush-hush. There was a whole blanket put upon the press. So unless you were around reading the papers on those particular three days, you wouldn’t have heard much about it, and it’s quite interesting. Not many people that I knew remember, and I certainly don’t remember, because I was yea big.”
[IMG:R]The Dead Ringer: One of the surviving robbers, now 75-years old, actually looked like an older Jason Statham.
“People said, ‘Is that your dad?’ He was walking around on set, and we were told that we were not supposed to say who he is. I think there were three of us, me, [director] Roger [Donaldson] and [producer] Steve [Chasman], that’s the only people that knew what his job really was, or used to be. Anyway, so people would ask me, ‘Who’s that guy that you was talking to? It’s not your dad, is it?’ Literally, so it was a common feeling throughout the set that people thought I was talking to my dad.”
The Real Deal: Though he had a technical advisor, Statham did not want to grill him for the nitty gritty details.
“You know, you try and pick their brains as much as possible, and you try and give them a certain amount of respect. I mean, you find yourself in a position where you don’t want to be, ‘So tell me about this, how many years did he get? And did he get nicked? What did you steal? Where are all the jewels?’ I mean, you don’t want to go down that line and behave like a bit of an imbecile and a bit of an idiot. So you try and make them feel comfortable about the fact that they’re even talking to you about such a thing. I think he’ll be at the premiere. It’ll be nice to see him covertly, might be in a disguise.”
[IMG:R]The Rival: Action legend Sylvester Stallone recently claimed that Rambo could take The Transporter.
“I’ve always liked Sly’s sense of humor. You know, the fact that he’s even talking about me makes me very happy. I mean, I’ve watched his movies for years, and to think that he would even know who I was would be very cool. I love his films and I can’t wait to go and see his new one. I’m better without the gloves, though.”
The Stylist: Statham has a perfect five o’clock shadow throughout all of his movies. Finally, he reveals the secret.
“Yeah, you see, I’ve got such sensitive skin that I can’t have a proper shave because I get a rash. No, you have to have one of those beard trimmers, if you really want to look like that, which I’m sure you don’t. I was trying to compensate for the lack on top, just grow a bit more hair–it sort of balances everything out.”
The Mavericks: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor won’t let a little thing like the main character’s death stop them from making Crank 2.
“They said to me, ‘You know, we’ve written Crank II. And I said, ‘There’s no way!’ And they literally sent it over. They write very, very quickly and they sent me the script and I was thumbing through it with a box of tissues just laughing and crying, going, ‘This is absolutely silly. When do we make it?'”
[IMG:R]The Breadwinner: The Transporter is still Statham‘s surest fire hit, so Transporter 3 is on the way.
“I’m not going to say too much about it but it’s in a spot that I’m very happy with if that makes sense. It’s got a bit for everybody in it. I think it’s a decent script.”
The Mogul: Statham is already looking ahead to more franchises he can lead.
“There are a few cool things that I know that I’d be really good for. There’s a possible chance that they might come my way and if they do, then both of them have a great potential to be great franchises. It’s always good to do franchises, all the big action stuff. Sly’s done a few. They work well. The Die Hards, the Lethal Weapons. You get a good one and you can keep ‘em going.”
