When it comes to movie stars doing their own stunts, Tom Cruise is usually the first person who comes to mind. His death-defying acts are the stuff of legend, but he isn’t the only one out there willing to put their life on the line for the sake of our entertainment. Action superstar Jason Statham is another actor who does the majority of his own stunt work, and while he’s managed to walk away unscathed most times, there was one particular incident that almost killed him.
The moment came while Statham was filming The Expendables 3, the 2014 action sequel that also starred the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Terry Crews, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Talk about an incredible ensemble, right? Taking in $214 million at the box office, the film wasn’t as well received as the previous two, but it was still a good popcorn flick.
At one point, Statham was supposed to drive a three-ton truck at a high rate of speed, and brake before the vehicle plunged into the Black Sea. It was a fairly straightforward maneuver, especially when you consider that the star has a background in competitive racing and could probably perform it with his eyes closed. That being said, the brakes on the truck failed during the stunt, which caused it to fall 60 feet into the water with Statham still strapped behind the wheel. As it began to sink, Statham had to act fast to avoid drowning.
How Did Jason Statham Escape the Truck?
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If it were a normal man in a normal truck, chances are slim that they would have been able to escape in time before their lungs began to take on water. Statham is no ordinary man, though, and this was no ordinary truck. Speaking with The Mirror UK during the premiere of The Expendables 3, Stallone was asked to comment on the stunt, and explained that the vehicle had one all important feature removed from it:
“Luckily we had taken the doors off before. If anyone else had been in that truck we would have been dead because we were all wearing heavy boots and gun belts. We would have drowned. But because Jason is an Olympic-quality diver he got out of it.”
Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Crews further explained what went wrong from his point of view, mentioning that he and a few others were supposed to be on the back of the truck, but were instead “sipping smoothies” while Statham was doing a run through. “There was a big accident on the set of Expendables 3 where Statham got in a truck and the brakes went out, and he went off the dock into the Black Sea,” Crews said, adding:
“All of a sudden, bubbles come up. He got himself out of the truck underneath the water. I’m like, this dude’s going to the hospital, he’s done.”
Surprisingly enough, Crews continued to say that Statham didn’t need medical attention at all, but instead just changed his clothes and kept filming. “I had to re-evaluate my tough card after that,” he joked. “Let me tell you something, Jason Statham is a true bad, bad dude.”
It’s all part and parcel with being a huge action star, and for his part, Statham brushed off the whole incident as no big deal by telling reporters later on that the biggest injury he sustained on the set of The Expendables 3 was when he “snapped a shoelace in the very first scene.” What a guy.
The Expendables 3 is now streaming on Peacock.
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