Jason Statham is a bona fide action hero, and with that status comes certain responsibilities. First, you have to have the constitution of a top athlete and second you have to do your own stunts.
Being a former elite-level diver, Statham definitely has the former, but now, in an interview with Collider, The Expendables and Fast and Furious star has revealed how he has also done his own stunts over the years – sometimes at great risk to his health.
‘I did a little jump in the Transporter 2,’ Statham explained. ‘I jumped from the back of a jet ski onto the back of a bus. It wasn't a very safe stunt. I shouldn't have done it, there was no safety wire, but I just did that. I mean, if I'd have missed the back of the bus, it would have been a faceplant at 30 mph into the concrete.’
In the same interview, Statham shared how he's torn a bicep and really screwed his neck up doing stunts, which in hindsight he probably should have used a green screen for.
He also explained that his experience of making action movies is nothing new. His co-star in The Expendables, and one of the greatest action heroes of all time, Sylvester Stallone, also has a catalogue of battle scars from years of beating himself up for our viewing pleasure.
‘He's got a roadmap of injuries over the course of his career,’ said Statham. ‘A lot of the things we do, it's because our ego gets in front of us, and we want it to be authentic. We want people to see that that's us doing it. We want the audience to go for the ride.’
