Las Vegas Weekly

November 24, 2008 · 1:07 PM

Jason Statham is the center of attention, co-star’s dream is coming true, and Sly Stallone reveals film secrets

By Robin Leach

Jason Statham in front of Planet Hollywood.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

There’s something about rugged British actor Jason Statham that just brings out the wild in women. He was mobbed everywhere he went in Las Vegas over the weekend. From the moment he landed by private jet from a New York film set on Friday night until he flew back yesterday afternoon to be there first thing this morning, he was the center of attention.

In his new all-action, edge-of-the-seat-excitement movie Transporter 3, which had its world premiere at Planet Hollywood last week, Jason does his own high-speed stunts and first-rate fight scenes. In an exclusive interview before the red carpet madness, he told me: “I can’t even tell you how fast I drove for this. It was insane -- and illegal!

“There was a car chase in the woods that was much more dangerous than doing 180 mph on the straight road. By comparison, that’s not that dangerous. When you are doing 70 to 80 in between trees, it is much more hairy. Automatically you give respect to the rally drivers who do that for a living.

“I wanted to do it myself. That is where the fun is. The adrenaline comes from doing that. Everyone has tried it; if you are a chap, I am sure when you get your license, you are breaking the limits and weaving. Why do we do it? I don’t know. Why do we risk ourselves? It is living. It is plugging into the rush.”

Jason is currently remaking the respected black-and-white French film 13 on location in New York in English -- and in color with Mickey Rourke, Ray Liotta and Ray Winstone as co-stars. “I can’t tell you if I risk my life in this one as I did in Transporter 3,” he said. “It is hard without giving too much away. It is a build-up to the surprise at the end. Then I head off to Brazil for Stallone’s new film The Expendables with Jet Li.

“It is all action. You put us together, and you never know what you will get. I have always wanted to work with Sly. So it will be a dream come true. I always admired him when I watched all his movies as a kid. He’s always been my ultimate hero. I don’t know what being on a roll is because I’m always working, but I am now working a lot and that could be perceived as a good spell at the moment.

“A lot of people think all I do is drive high-speed cars and be a speed demon. But I did a movie called The Bank Job, which was a mile away from this Transporter film tonight. At the same time, I did early films where I wasn’t swinging punches. You have to do these kinds of real hard commercial movies filled with action and fighting in order to do other movies. I’ll be honest, though; I do love to do these kinds of movies.”

His co-star in Transporter 3 is Natalya Rudakova, who was discovered on a Manhattan street where she was working as a hairdresser. She is a natural -- and will easily see her dream come true of being a movie star!

“I always wanted to do that, but in Russia it is very difficult to become one unless you have a rich family. I was very lucky for this because I was walking down the street to where I worked, and they asked me if I would take acting lessons. My teachers were wonderful, and I wound up in the film,” she told me. “It is all a dream come true.

“Jason is a really great driver, so, even though I was frightened, I trusted him. I only asked him once after the cameras stopped rolling if he could slow down a little.”

Natalya, who hails from St. Petersburg, took acting classes when she was growing up there. Her mother brought her to New York where they now live. “I’ve lost touch with my friends there because I have been away from my roots for six years now. I can’t even tell them I am now doing big movies in America.”

Superstar Sylvester Stallone, who is serving as writer, director and actor in The Expendables, attended the Transporter 3 premiere -- he flew in specifically to meet the British star. Stallone told me, “You’re the first to know we also signed Dolph Lundgren today. We make up a really interesting group of mercenaries.

“I’ve been a great admirer of Jason, and he’s perfect for my movie with Jet Li. I wrote Jason’s part with him specifically in mind, but now that we’ve met, I can rework it a little and add to it before we start filming. I like the depth of storytelling that goes with the action. I like to get the emotion in, as well as the punches. I’m thrilled he’s always wanted to work with me. It will be a great film.”

Sly and Jason let me listen in as they talked about the script and the opening sequence where Jason will disguise himself as a gay criminal in order to kill off a Mexican drug cartel. “That’ll be a first,” Jason said. “Never done that before. Do I have to hold hands with another man?” Sly told me filming would start one month later than he’d planned because of all the other stars’ film commitments. The film will be shot entirely in Brazil for release in early fall.

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