The Action Hero’s Launch Pad
Superstar Jason Statham is building an incredible success story. Here’s how he uses his home base to fuel his passions
By Mike Zimmerman Photos By Art Streiber
THE FAST TRACK
Careerwise, Statham has never taken a step back. Film work has been steady: two Transporter films, several others with his friend Guy Ritchie, 2006’s Crank, and most recently War, opposite Jet Li. (“He’s the world’s greatest martial artist and has been ever since Bruce Lee passed away,” Statham says.) There’s more to come, too, including a remake of the cult classic Death Race 2000. And that was his entire goal when he moved to Los Angeles 4 years ago. “I wasn’t coming here to schmooze and find out where the cool places are,” he says. “Screw that. I wanted to come out here and get some work done.”
Statham learned that lesson early. Born in a working-class family in London, he had his first job with his father and brother, demonstrating products at trade shows: car wax and carpet cleaner at car shows, for example. This was a big thing in the United Kingdom. Trade laws kept local shops closed on Sundays, so places like Wembley Stadium would host massive Sunday markets. Then the laws changed. “We had 10 years of good money,” he says. “Lucrative, cash, plenty of it. Then it all went away.”
Fortunately, Statham had created a backup plan without even knowing it. He’d been a competitive diver. A good one. Good enough to land on the British National team. Diving isn’t the easiest way to make money as an athlete, of course, but Statham’s gymnastic skills and conditioning habits unwittingly laid the foundation for his upcoming film career.
It was during these hard times that director Ritchie famously discovered Statham, asking him to audition by playing a street vendor and casting him in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. A film career was born—a career hot enough to let Statham indulge his automotive passions while still living very much by his intense working-class standards.
“I know that a good thing usually does come to an end,” he says. “You want to shovel as much under the mattress as you can, so if a rainy day ever comes, you can just drip-feed from that. You’ve got to handle things delicately. And my career has to be handled very delicately. If I don’t produce, they’re on to the next guy. So I’m always thinking like that. You’re never on safe, hallowed ground in this game.”
That attitude isn’t at odds with the purchase of six-figure autos as much as it appears to be. The more time you spend with Statham, the more you see that he is hardly extravagant by Hollywood standards. In fact, he’s done what many men try, and fail to do: arrange his lifestyle in such a way that it supports and streamlines everything he does. It actually helps him succeed, because it allows him to be happy and be himself. All that’s left to do is kick ass and collect a paycheck. And for Statham, that lifestyle starts at home.
