Good old Jason Statham has had a pretty recognizable face for years now, thanks to films like The transporter any Italian work.
However, it was Crank: poison in the blood the film that catapulted him to a higher level, reinforcing his image as a daring actor and leaving behind one of the most dangerous stunts he has ever performed in his career.
During an interview at the promotion of Operation Fortune: The Great HoaxStatham recalled what was one of the riskiest moments of his career.
During filming of Crank, He shot a scene hanging from a real helicopter, without green screens or digital effects..
“We were in a real helicopter,” he made clear.
As he explained, at that moment he was in the helicopter staging a fight, a trick he defined as “realistic and quite complicated”.
In the film, the actor plays a professional killer who was poisoned with a substance that inhibits his adrenaline. To survive, you must maintain it to the maximum.
This race against time culminates in a helicopter showdown where this extreme scene was filmed.
Next, the camera moves very abruptly and at several moments opens into the void to show that the helicopter is actually in the air.
Later, when the scene transitions to digital effects, the transition is so obvious that it reinforces the authenticity of the earlier material.
This contrast between real risk and digital exaggeration sums up what made the films iconic. Crank: that ability to act to the limit.
Either way, these stunts took their toll. In the same lecture he assured that he has “a lot of injuries” and that he is now trying to act with “a little more head”.