- Title: UK: I'd like more emotional characters, says Jason Statham at London premiere
- Date: 17th June 2013
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 17, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WRITER AND DIRECTOR, STEVEN KNIGHT, SAYING: "I think he's Robin Hood, is the answer, and he's trying to do the right thing and he's trying to get justice, and I think people recognise that, in a world where sometimes if you're weak then you can't get justice, that he's someone who uses his str
- Embargoed: 2nd July 2013 13:00
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- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA68X7AU0I34L33A6PV0D9P38PG
- Story Text: Action-movie A-lister Jason Statham says the emotional aspect of his character in new violent London gang thriller "Hummingbird" is the type of role he'd like to explore more, especially in the British capital, at the film's premiere in Leicester Square.
Jason Statham, known for his hard man action parts in Hollywood blockbusters like "The Expendables", on Monday (June 17) said his new role in "Hummingbird" was a more emotional role he'd like to explore further in future films.
Once a seller of cheap jewelry and aftershave on the streets of London, today Statham earns millions as one of the hottest action stars in Hollywood.
But his role in "Hummingbird" as Joey Jones sees him move from an ex-soldier living on the streets of London's West End to becoming a macho enforcer in the employ of the Chinese mafia, with a score to settle for the murder of a girl he loved.
Speaking at the London premiere of the film, only a stone's throw from many of the filming locations for the movie, Statham said "Steve Knight is such a great writer that he, you know, that he can provide a character that is a lot different to the ones I normally get presented with."
"So yeah, it's obviously something I want to pursue and it's not that I don't enjoy what I'm already doing, but it's always good to push yourself in different areas and this sort of come that way," Statham, added.
Statham has admitted before that he would do a romantic comedy movie -- a genre almost antithetical to his well-trodden action path-- if asked by Steven Spielberg, and has attempted to move beyond the action genre with movies like "Bank Job" in 2008.
"Hummingbird" is screenwriter Steven Knight's directorial debut, and forms the last part of a trilogy that began with "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Eastern Promises", both written by Knight but directed by Stephen Frears and David Cronenberg respectively.
Knight said it was an attempt to show audiences that, despite the difficulties many people live with -- in this case on the streets of London -- there are others out there trying to do good where they can.
"I think he's Robin Hood, is the answer, and he's trying to do the right thing and he's trying to get justice, and I think people recognise that, in a world where sometimes if you're weak then you can't get justice, that he's someone who uses his strength to get that," Knight said.
Much of the movie was filmed on location in the West End of the British capital around Covent Garden, Chinatown and Soho, involving the crew spending over four straight weeks of night shoots at one point, and the streets, sights and even the river Thames are characters as well as metaphors throughout.
The title "Hummingbird" refers to the surveillance drones used by armed forces and is a metaphor for observation and judgment throughout the film, in Statham's character's case observation and judgment of himself as well as of the city.
Statham, who spends much of his time in the U.S. and Hollywood, said the film was a fantastic chance to reconnect with London -- a place that's very close to his heart.
"There's nothing better. Some of the best films I've ever made have been made in my home country, so it's something I'm always looking to do. I want to come back and keep fixed into that area. You know, the crews are different, it's a whole different sort of feeling," he said.
"For me it's the first and most attractive of all the films I make, is to make a film back home," he told Reuters television.
The film's main characters Joey Jones and a nun called Christina, played by Polish actress Agata Buzek, try to wrestle with troubled pasts and their own versions of redemption over a three month period, in which Jones manages to get off the streets by occupying an apartment vacated for the summer.
But Buzek said despite the intense nature of an often violent thriller -- occasionally interspersed with lighthearted jokes -- the point that was made on set and something audiences should take away is something a lot harder to pin down -- the importance of the moment.
"Sometimes you get on a train with somebody and you spend six hours with him, but it's the most important six hours you ever had because somehow everything brings you to open your heart, to say things you've never said before and somehow you don't have this tension, it's just now," she said.
"So it's just now, you do what you feel like doing, and I think this is something that's important in the film and I hope people will take it with them," Buzek added.
Knight said the film's ending, with a few twists, looks to draw out a question for the audience to leave with.
"Well I'm hoping that it's an equivocal conclusion and that even though Joey makes himself better, at the same time he can't escape from his past and Christina can't escape from her past either, so it's a question of can you ever escape from your past?" he said.
"Maybe, maybe not," he told Reuters television.
The film was originally scheduled for release in May and has had its UK release date pushed back twice, now coinciding with its release in the U.S. -- albeit under a different name there, "Redemption".
"Hummingbird" is scheduled for general release on June 28. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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