Action stars Tom Cruise and Jason Statham have only shared one onscreen appearance. It was in the classic 2004 Michael Mann thriller Collateral, when Statham’s character bumps into Cruise’s hitman, Vincent, at the airport. The scene was interpreted as a reference to Statham’s longtime Transporter character, Frank Martin. Since then, Statham and Cruise have both established themselves as big-screen action heroes, with Cruise starring in multiple installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise as Ethan Hunt. Meanwhile, Statham’s action movie roles are too numerous to mention. However, the actor’s turn as the villain of the Fast & Furious franchise in Furious 7 cemented his action movie icon status, and with both actors dominating the genre for so long, they need to star in a movie together!
Jason Statham Became One of Hollywood’s Biggest Action Stars
After cutting his teeth in memorable crime comedies from Guy Ritchie, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Statham quietly built up his action movie cred throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Statham truly broke out as an action star with the 2002 Louis Leterrier film, The Transporter, which became a hit and launched a franchise for the actor. Statham would continue action hero roles with other hit movies throughout the decade, including the 2003 blockbuster, The Italian Job, Transporter 2, and Transporter 3.
Statham maintained his success well into the next decade, as he’d star opposite Sylvester Stallone in the global hit action franchise, The Expendables, with the sequel bringing together such luminary genre staples as Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the late Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Additionally, Statham proved to be a multi-talented and versatile actor, demonstrating a sense of humor by starring in the irreverent comedy Spy, opposite Melissa McCarthy, where he riffs on his own popular big-screen persona. Statham’s role in Spy proves that his incredible presence and unique charisma translate to multiple genres, including comedies. However, Statham rose to another level when he joined another blockbuster franchise in 2015.
‘Furious 7’ Changed Jason Statham’s Career Forever
After being teased in the mid-credits scene in Fast & Furious 6, Jason Statham officially joined the cast of the Fast & Furious franchise in Furious 7, appearing as the formidable Deckard Shaw. Shaw was out for revenge against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his “family” after they took out and horribly injured Shaw’s brother, Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), in the previous movie. It was revealed that Shaw was also the individual responsible for the “death” of Han Seoul-oh (Sung Kang) way back in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Statham and Diesel delivered an incredible rivalry in the movie, which was crackling with machismo energy, and Deckard Shaw became one of the best villains in the franchise to date.
Because Statham’s arrival helped inject fresh energy into the franchise, Furious 7 became the franchise’s highest-grossing movie in history, earning more than $353 million domestically and over $1.5 billion worldwide. The franchise basically peaked with Statham’s official Fast & Furious debut, providing an epic confrontation between Statham and Diesel’s characters. Shaw proved so popular that the character became a franchise mainstay, joining the team in the later movies and receiving his own spin-off feature, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. With his stardom rising after appearing in Furious 7, Statham effectively proved he could go toe to toe with other big box office titans such as Dwayne Johnson, Diesel, Idris Elba, and other A-listers. But there’s still one huge A-lister against whom Statham hasn’t had a starring role in the same movie: Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise Needs Jason Statham as His Next Co-Star
We’ve had many great action movies starring Cruise and Statham, but we’ve never seen that singular great movie that puts their charisma together for the entire experience. True, they shared one brief scene in Collateral back in 2004, but that was only a small tease of what Cruise and Statham could do if they played off one another on the big screen. Statham and Cruise are both born movie stars, so the magic they could create if they starred opposite one another is electric.
Both actors are so charismatic that they would likely bring out the best in each other if they shared scenes and dialogue in an action-heavy plot. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were rivals or bitter enemies in a theatrical pairing. However, a movie that pits them together as unlikely partners, using the buddy movie trope, would also be a lot of fun. Statham and Cruise are both incredibly capable talents who can display pathos, gravitas, and introspection with their roles, so they could easily handle more serious and dramatic moments as well. It would also be interesting to see how Statham and Cruise interact during more emotionally serious narrative moments. Whether they’re enemies, reluctant allies, or rival spies, it’s surprising Hollywood has waited this long to pair two of modern action cinema’s biggest stars. It’s a movie that practically sells itself.
- Birthdate
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July 26, 1967
- Birthplace
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London, England, UK
