Jason Statham Is Toughest Man in Hollywood for Men’s Journal, February 2011

With a new movie opening this past weekend, “The Mechanic,” British actor Jason Statham has some promoting to do. He’s featured in the February 2011 issue of Men’s Journal, where he’s labeled “the toughest guy in Hollywood.”

In the accompanying interview, the actor talks about his time on the streets, his girlfriend Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a Victoria’s Secret model now making her acting debut in the latest “Transformers” film, and making action movies.

Unlike countless action stars out there, Statham doesn’t believe in shooting scenes against a green screen. On the contrary, he wants everything that appears in the film to be the real thing.

Which is precisely what he did in “The Mechanic,” he says, a movie where he plays an elite hitman who takes on an apprentice, only to find out later that he (the apprentice) is connected to one of his victims.

Statham is all about action scenes, which is why he’d include a clause in his contract never to force him to shoot against a green screen, he says.

“It makes my blood boil. I’m almost at the point of a contractual bind saying, ‘I’m never, ever allowed to do green screen, ever’,” Statham says.

Shooting against a green screen means making an unnecessary compromise that will eventually come to do damage to the final product, the film as a whole. So why make it, he asks.

“Like, if they ever bring up the subject of a freaking CG shot, they’d better do it over the phone, so they’re out of arm’s reach. It’s to the point of killing something that’s really cool,” he says.

“They should just take extra insurance out or something. In The Mechanic, did you see me jump off the bridge? That’s a real stunt. Free fall! I love [stuff] like that!” the actor gushes.

As for his girlfriend, who is also being introduced to action movies as we speak, Jason prefers to keep his personal life private because, this way, he’s certain he will get in no trouble.

“I’ve got my girlie, and she’s precious to me. If you say nothing, you can’t get [expletive]-ed over. So I’m saying nothing,” Jason says.