In the upcoming film The Mechanic, Jason Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a contract killer who “fixes the problems” (sigh) whilst he trains an apprentice in the form of Ben Foster. Although Statham is known to most for his star-making appearances in Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smocking Barrels, he has achieved a lot for someone of only 42 years old, a lot that many people are unaware of.
Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1967, Statham was raised by his parents in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. His father was a market-stall trader, but, as it would turn out, Jason would not follow in his footsteps. He infact decided to pursue a career in the arts, but what many people don’t know is that before anything else, Jason Statham was a diver.
An Olympic diver to be precise, Statham was highly skilled and finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He was also a member of Britain’s National Diving Squad for 12 years. Seems there’s a bit more to him than just a face of sharp features and a gravelly cockney accent.
It was whilst training that Statham was scouted by a talent agent which soon led to a modelling career with French Connection. And that modelling career with French Connection soon led to a meeting with a little-known British director named Guy Ritchie. You know, that guy that used to be married to Madonna?
Guy gave Jason the opportunity to audition for the part of ‘Bacon’ in what was his upcoming production, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, by asking him to pretend to be a dodgy back-street trader trying to sell him jewellery.
No doubt taking inspiration from his father’s life on the market stalls, Jason made enough of an impression on Guy to nab the role, making him one of the main characters of what would be the most significant British film since Trainspotting.
After Lock Stock received a huge amount of success when it was released in 1998, Guy Ritchie returned in 2000 with Snatch, the story of which revolved around a diamond and the multiple felons who were after it. Statham must have done something right in Lock Stock, as Ritchie gave him the part of ‘Turkish’, again one of the film’s main characters.
Snatch also featured Vinnie Jones, Benicio Del Toro and most famous of all, Brad Pitt (as an incredibly hard to understand but convincing Pikey traveller). This performance sealed Jason’s career and handed him a one-way ticket to superstardom.
As you may have noticed, when his acting career began, Jason was generally cast as your quintessential British thug: cocky, mouthy and not afraid to get his hands dirty. And to be totally fair to the guy, he has the role as close to perfection as any director could possibly hope for. Action roles, however, seem to be where Statham feels most at home, and in more recent times increasingly so.
As well as being in films with Jet Li and starring in The Transporter trilogy, he is known to fans of the Crank series as Chev Chelios, who is probably the world’s unluckiest hitman (although he may be completely indestructible). Two Crank films have been released so far and in both Statham’s character has been faced with utterly absurd and impossible scenarios which he always manages to overcome.
Not for the faint-hearted, Crank is ation packed extremely funny when you get past all the blood and 'naughty' language. Although nothing has been confirmed as yet, a third instalment is a likely possibility considering the popularity of the others.
Most notable of all, however, is Statham’s role in The Expendables, the film where all 80s heroes apparently go to rest. Sylvester Stallone’s attempt at gathering every action hero in existence unfortunately didn’t make for a particularly fantastic film (unless you consider constant one-liners and countless explosions the ingredients of a quality movie), however, what it did do was assert Jason Statham’s position as an action star and showed that even the greats accept him as one. They even want him back for a sequel.
The Mechanic is released in UK cinemas on the 28th of January this year. A remake of a classic Charles Bronson film, expect Statham at his smooth-talking, sharp-shooting, butt-kicking best.
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