‘Fast and Furious 7′ Star Jason Statham Talks His New Villainous Role
Spoiler alert! If you're a fan of the 'Fast and Furious' franchise but haven't seen 'Fast and Furious 6,' you're kind of out of luck. We'll be delving into 'Fast and Furious 7' a bit here, specifically in regards to Jason Statham's impending bad guy. So if you fall into that unlikely group, stay away.
Everyone else certainly remembers how the end of 'Fast 6' saw the reveal of Jason Statham as Owen Shaw's (Luke Evans) brother, a man bent on revenge after the death of his sibling. Intriguingly, Statham was originally offered the role of Owen, but turned it down. Apparently, he didn't want to be a villain if the character wasn't good enough. So what changed?
Here's what he told Empire Magazine about the bad bloke he'll be portraying in 'Fast and Furious 7':
I didn’t really want to play the villain, but there are certain moments where you think it might be a good time to do that. I’m not saying I’m the full-blooded … I’m not going to tell you too much about what I’m going to do in the film, but if it’s a good villain, there’s obviously some consideration to be made, but there are some really bad villains out there, and I don’t want to get myself wet with that shit.
It’s just not written that well sometimes, and it’s always about the writing. So we’ll see. But I am excited to be a part of it, it’s got some of the best car action I have ever, ever seen. Justin Lin has just been exceptional with what he does with that vehicular action.
As Empire notes, Statham makes it sound like he's not the uber-bad guy we were assuming he was. (Notice how he hesitates after saying, "I'm not saying I'm the full-blooded ...") This also jives with a previous statement he made in an interview with ComingSoon: "'Wait, are you gonna be the villain? The guy who threatens the world and wants to blow everything up?' No."
We'll see just how bad "The Stath" is when 'Fast and Furious 7' comes out July 11, 2014, but at least his work here won't interfere with filming 'Expendables 3.' "We've worked it out," he said. "I'm gonna be able to do the two back-to-back."