Jason Statham is one of the few actors in Hollywood who has no ambitions to star in a Star Wars or superhero movie, but he’s one of the even fewer people who will openly bash them. The actor recently made comments degrading Marvel Studios, the big name behind the Avengers films. But, the superhero movie giant has its share of defenders. Enter Paul Bettany to throw a defensive punch.
The actor who played J.A.R.V.I.S. and now The Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe appeared on Conan and discussed, among other things, Statham. Though Bettany said the actor is "brilliant" at what he does, he said,
I try and do as many of the stunts as I can, myself. But there are times when it’s too dangerous or it’s too tricky, and even the producer says, ‘This is too dangerous and tricky for you.’ You know, potentially, he should maybe think about investing in like an acting double.
…You know, for all those tricky "acting" scenes that are too tricky for someone like Statham to pull off.
As Conan read aloud to his audience, Statham launched into a mini-tirade at Marvel when speaking with an Italian website. Statham's slam was:
I could take my grandma, and put her in a cape and then put her in a green screen and then have stunt doubles come in and do all the action -- anybody can do it.
Damn. Paul Bettany continued his eloquent lambast of Statham by saying,
I would never talk shit about somebody else’s work, but I’m just saying, you know, I read the contract, they [Marvel] employed me as an actor. There’s obviously stuntmen in the world — you’ve met them, you’ve seen them. They are very good at what they do, so let them, uh, do it. But if there’s a really, really tricky scene with some very tricky dialogue, one might consider bringing in an acting double for Jason Statham.
Watch the full interaction with Bettany below.
Statham’s comments come only a few months since he told The Telegraph essentially the same thing, saying that all superhero movie actors are doing are "just sitting in their trailers" while "stunt doubles and green screen" are doing "100 percent" of the work. Nearly two years ago, he made it known to the world that he doesn’t want to star in a superhero movie. He told Digital Spy during an interview that the whole idea is all about the money, and you wouldn’t see him "rushing" to the movie theater to see one of them. At the time he also said that he wasn’t offered a role in a superhero project and he didn’t think the shoe would fit.
Guess it doesn’t matter anymore whether those Daredevil rumors were true or not — Statham successfully burned this bridge to ash.
