With previous credits including Guy Ritchie's audaciously funny "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," actor Jason Statham isn't the most obvious choice as Hollywood's newest action star. But after a meeting early last year with renowned filmmaker Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita," "The Professional"), Statham was set on a path that would lead him to the title role of the highly self-sufficient and occasionally lethal "transporter" in Besson's latest production.

Statham's manager, Steven Chasman (who also serves as a producer on THE TRANSPORTER), previously collaborated with Besson on "Kiss of the Dragon". Chasman approached Besson about meeting Statham. Besson was so impressed with the actor that he agreed to co-write, with Robert Mark Kamen, a thriller written especially for Statham.

For Statham, a lifelong Besson fan, the confab with the filmmaker was a memorable experience. "I couldn't believe I was sitting in a room with Luc Besson, discussing a part in his next movie!" he recalls. "The fact that he wanted to write it for me was almost unbelievable. How privileged can an actor get?"

Besson's co-writer, Robert Mark Kamen, who served in the same capacity on "Kiss of the Dragon" and Besson's science-fiction hit "The Fifth Element," also was impressed with Statham. "Jason has something that most movie action heroes lack: a humanity and decency that come through even though his character, Frank, is as hard-boiled as they come," Kamen notes. "Luc thought Jason had not only the action chops to attract audiences vicerally, but the right amount of simpatico to get them emotionally."

Kamen also saw specific qualities in Statham's work in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" that would become intrinsic to the character of Frank in THE TRANSPORTER.

"When I watched Jason in the Guy Ritchie films, I immediately noticed that Jason really knew how to be still; you're drawn to him in those films because he is staying so quiet and motionless. So when he does something on screen, you're really watching - he just grabs you."

Statham notes that Frank's stillness adds balance to the character's physical prowess, softening the hard edges of typical screen action heroes. "Frank likes to keep things simple," the actor notes. "He lives a quiet life in the south of France; he's built a wall around himself. Most important, he has a set of rules he never breaks.

"Frank's not a murderer or an assassin; he's something completely different," Statham adds. "He could easily break the necks of those who go up against him, but he instead inflicts minimal damage to incapacitate them temporarily, not permanently. I like to call Frank, 'The Thinking Man's Fighting Machine' because his technique is very stylish. He doesn't want to kill anybody, and he certainly doesn't enjoy the combat he often finds himself in."

Since Besson and Kamen wrote the part of Frank for Statham, it's not surprising that that actor himself possesses an impressive athleticism, honed by years of training in boxing, martial arts ("soft" and "hard" forms), kickboxing, and scuba diving. "Jason is physically gifted as well as a terrific actor," says THE TRANSPORTER director Cory Yuen, one of the world's foremost action choreographers, whose work has been seen in "X-Men" and "Kiss of the Dragon."

"I was excited about finally having the chance to put some of my physical training to work on screen," Statham laughs. "I never had the chance to do it in Guy [Ritchie]'s films."

Yuen put Statham through his paces, especially during an eight-week training / rehearsal period during which the actor worked intensively with the director's hand-picked team of fighting / action choreographers. Yuen devised elaborate and creative action scenes, one including an ingenious use of oil to ward off deadly assassins, as well as a set piece involving a sweater that Frank transforms into a deadly weapon. "With each film I try and create action sequences that audiences haven't seen before," Yuen explains. "The action should have some kind of flair and meaning. I'm not interested in pyrotechnics and combat for their own sakes."

While Yuen worked on THE TRANSPORTER's myriad action scenes, artistic director Louis Leterrier oversaw many of the more intimate, dramatic moments. Leaving the film in the hands of his chosen helmers, Luc Besson made only sporadic appearances on the set. However he did shoot a key underwater sequence that utilized his widely-hailed skills in underwater filming (evidenced in the Besson-directed films "Atlantis" and "The Big Blue."), as well as Statham's background as a diver.

To bring even more verisimilitude to the sequence, Statham trained with an ex-Marine diver in underwater caves near Marseilles. As the character, Frank, has nerves of steel, the Marine diver decided to test Statham's limits and "cool" by taking away his flashlight, leaving the actor sightless in the pitch black environment. "When you dive," Statham explains, "you have to be able to relax, even under extreme pressure. You can't get flustered."

For the villains, screenwriters Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen chose to go in an unexpected direction, creating a ruthless killer known only as "Wall Street" (played by Matt Schulze, from "The Fast and the Furious") and an Asian crime lord called Mr. Kwai. (Ric Young, who made memorably villainous appearances as a torturer on "Alias.") "We thought it would be kind of off-center and fun to use non-French characters," says Kamen. "Wall Street and Kwai are complete parasites, coming from anywhere in the world to conduct unsavory if not deadly business. And it doesn't matter to them where they do it."

The Southern France locales these characters choose to operate are hardly the gorgeous, sun-kissed paradises we know from countless films past. "It's the south of France of shipping containers, oil bins, and small nondescript houses and boats," notes Kamen. "It's not the James Bond-South of France."

Kamen and Besson have known each other for ten years, most recently joining forces on "Kiss of the Dragon." According to Kamen, the writing process for THE TRANSPORTER was a whirlwind of intensity and creativity, a "fast and furious" collaboration that had them working non-stop. "All we did was write, sleep and eat," remembers Kamen. "It is always a rush working off Luc's great bursts of creative energy."

While Besson and Kamen were in sync on virtually every aspect of the story, initially there was one specific area of disagreement. "At first, Luc didn't like the title 'The Transporter'," says Kamen, because in French 'transporteur' has a lowly connotation. But I insisted that it was a great title - it's what the guy does. He delivers, no questions asked."

the filmmakers

cory yuen (Director) has over 30 Hong Kong feature releases to his credit, and has mastered every aspect of filmmaking, either as director, star, writer, producer, or action choreographer. His first U.S. project was the hit action comedy "Lethal Weapon 4" in which he served as martial arts choreographer. He also served as martial arts choreographer in "Romeo Must Die," starring Jet Li. Additionally, Yuen directed second unit for "X-Men."  An alumnus from the prestigious Chinese Opera Academy, Yuen was one of the Seven Little Fortunes, a performing troupe that included fellow classmates Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. By the late 70s, he and the others had all gravitated toward film. For the next two decades Yuen was involved in some of the most popular films ever produced in Hong Kong, including "Hero," "The Black Rose," Mahjong Dragon," "High Risk," "My Father is a Hero," "The Bodyguard from Bejing," and Fong Sai-Yunk I and II," the latter four starring Jet Li.

luc besson (Producer, Co-Writer) was born in Paris on March 18, 1959, and spent most of his childhood living in the idyllic settings of various Mediterranean hideaways where his parents worked as diving instructors. With Besson's surroundings and family influences, it seemed assured that he would embark on a similar maritime career. From the age of 10, after an encounter with a friendly dolphin, Besson was determined to become a marine biologist, specialising in the study of the species. Besson studied for this life plan throughout his teens until, at 17, a diving accident prevented him from ever diving again. His long-held dream cut short, Besson redirected his sights, deciding that he would become a filmmaker. Besson dropped out of school to seek work in the French film industry, and started making his own experimental films in super-8. At the age of 19, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for three months working in the American film industry. In 1983, after three years of experience as an assistant director, Besson made his first feature, "Le Dernier Combat."  Besson's second film, "Subway," gained Besson an international reputation, and is today regarded  worldwide as a cult classic. Besson's 1988 film "The Big Blue," expressing the dreams of Besson's Mediterranean youth, cast Jean Reno as an Italian diver with an unquenchable love for the sea. Besson's first film to be made in English, boasting an international cast, was distributed in the U.S. in a version that suffered various unauthorized alterations, including a changed ending and to Eric Serra's score.  His original director's cut was released on DVD last year.
Besson's "La Femme Nikita" was the director's first global sensation, a film that inspired remakes in both the U.S. and Hong Kong.  In 1991, Besson's "Atlantis," hailed by U.S. critics as an undersea Fantasia and an aquatic dream, was filmed in 16 months all around the world. An exercise in pure film imagery, "Atlantis" dispensed with dialogue and narrative in order to wed Eric Serra's wall-to-wall score to undersea images - a cinematic translation of the filmmaker's own love for the world hidden beneath the ocean. In 1993, Besson began pre-production on "The Fifth Element," working for over a year refining the script from his own story, and with an international team of artists visualizing its 23rd century setting and characters. When the project came to a halt, Besson turned his hand to another original screenplay, "The Professional." In 1997, Besson's sci-fi opus "The Fifth Element"  was released to critical acclaim and box office success. Besson's eighth directorial effort was the historical epic "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," released in 1999.

robert mark kamen (Writer) received his Ph.D in Anthropology from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, before setting his sights on Hollywood. Kamen sold his first screenplay, "Crossings," to Warner Brothers in 1978. Shortly thereafter his first produced feature film, the critically acclaimed "Taps," he went on to write the hugely successful "The Karate Kid," which turned into a three-film franchise, all of which he wrote.  Kamen then went on to write such films as "Gladiator," "The Power Of One," "Walk In The Clouds," and the blockbuster "Lethal Weapon 3." By the mid 90s, he had established himself as one of the most sought after writers in Hollywood, with credits such as "The Devil's Own" and "The Fifth Element." He also assisted Luc Besson in writing "The Professional."  Kamen co-wrote with Besson "Kiss Of The Dragon." He is now writing and producing the television series "The Black Sash" for the WB network. When Kamen is not at home in New York City or producing in Los Angeles, he spends time at his vineyard, the famed "Kamen Estate Winery" in Sonoma, California.

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