Jason Statham has been everywhere lately. Revolver finally made it to the States last December, while In the Name of the King came out last month to a typical Uwe Boll reception. His film Chaos went straight to DVD this month. Now he's got a new film hitting theaters, not to mention a return to the previously established Crank and Transporter franchises. His new film, The Bank Job, casts Statham in the true story of one of England's biggest bank heists. It ultimately involved the royal family, so was quickly swept under the rug. Nearly 30 years later, this film tells the story.

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CraveOnline: Do you remember these stories growing up in England?

Jason Statham: Literally there was three days of exposure and then it was all like hush hush. There was a whole blanket put upon the press. So unless you were around reading the papers on those particular three days, you wouldn’t have heard much about it, you know. And it’s quite interesting. I’d never heard of a D notice until Roger told me about what the implications of one of these were. Not many people that I knew remember, and I certainly don’t remember, ‘cause I was yay big.

CraveOnline: What’s the secret to achieving permanent 5 o’clock shadow?

Jason Statham: Yeah, you see, I’ve got such sensitive skin that I can’t have a proper shave because I get a rash. No, you have to have one of those beard trimmers, if you really want to look like that, which I’m sure you don’t.

CraveOnline: But you maintain a similar look across certain movies, is that your choice or the director’s choice?

Jason Statham: I was trying to compensate for the lack on top, just grow a bit more hair it sort of balances everything out.

CraveOnline: Since you’ve become so well known for action movies with a lot of your martial arts, how important is it for you to find non-fighting movies?

Jason Statham: It’s hard, because every time I do find a non-fighting movie, they always write a fighting scene in. So I find them and it’s like, "Oh my God, I don’t even clench my fist in this." Next thing you know, two weeks into the movie, "Yeah, we’ve got this scene, and just hit him." So there’s always something that comes. I think this movie always had a moment of violence towards the end because there’s so much at stake. And I think people want to see this guy get kicked on the floor and bashed. Our best mate gets killed, and he’s responsible for that, and I think it’s a good payoff. Although I wanted to do a movie without throwing a fist or a kick or anything, I think it sort of warrants a happening at this particular time; although I’m still looking for that complete romantic comedy where I don’t hit anybody. One day.

CraveOnline: Since this is based on a true story, how much did you want to get it right?

Jason Statham: Well, originally Dick and Ian, Dick Clements and Ian La Frenais, they do tremendous work on British TV and in movies, and a lot of their stuff I know so well as being great comedy writing, so the script when I read it was quite a funny script, and it was very, very comical. Once Roger started doing all his research, and all these facts, the scandal side, it just took a complete turn and became this more like thriller. I think it was something I was quite pleased about, because I’ve made a few comedies, and even the Guy Ritchie stuff in my opinion, very sort of black comedies, and I’ve never really done anything in the tone of The Bank Job, something quite scandalous and a great, true story. As the weeks progressed, and we started finding out all these facts, new pages came, new scenes started to come, and it was great. It took a turn in the direction that I wanted it to.

CraveOnline: How much input did you have into the script because you were there right at the beginning?

Jason Statham: Well I’m not particularly a great writer of stories or scenes. I was just there to express some sort of comments, if you like. Is it improving, are some of the relationships within the story good for me? So I had my fair share of input but it’s not like I was at home with a pen trying to contribute in any way but I think that’s the collaboration with all actors. I mean, at the end of the day they have to try and bring to life what’s on that page. So, if it resonates as you’re reading it and you can feel, I think the way you have to be able to make it is the way that I can articulate this and be truthful to it. A lot of the dialogue that we tried to stay away from with the rhyme and slang and all the East end stuff. We didn’t want to make it too English. It can start falling back along the lines of the Guy Ritchie stuff if you start giving it too much of a peppering of that kind of dialogue. A lot of the time some writers they’re writing very quickly and they think that that’s the way that these people talk. A lot of the time they don’t so you just go in there with a sieve and sort of sweep up and try to make the dialogue a bit more authentic and I think that’s a great contribution that I gave Roger. You know Roger comes from Australia. The way that we speak back in England has a certain rhythm to it so sometimes you can make the dialogue a little bit more truthful.

CraveOnline: How excited are you for Crank II with the idea of the electric heart?

Jason Statham: Electric heart? How do you know about the electric heart?

CraveOnline: Oh, it’s out.

Jason Statham: Is it out?

CraveOnline: That must sound exciting for you to take a new angle on it.

Jason Statham: It is, but you know it’s hard to talk about this script because you look at The Bank Job [which is] a true story that is full of intrigue, surprise and deceit and Crank is just like from the f*****g stratosphere. It is so out there, it’s so wacky, it’s so unbelievable, but at the same time it’s the Neveldine and Taylor edgy, mad filmmaking that they do so well. It’s fun. It’s entertainment. Some people think it’s sheer horseshit but every person that I’ve met has actually said it’s terrific. I’m sure there’s some people that don’t like it. You can’t please everybody but there’s a lot of people that love it and I particularly love it.

CraveOnline: Was it something where you missed Chev and you’re excited to get back to him?

Jason Statham: They said to me, "You know, we’ve written Crank II." And I said, "There’s no way!" And they literally sent it over. They write very, very quickly and they sent me the script and I was thumbing through it with a box of tissues just laughing and crying, going, "This is absolutely silly. When do we make it?"

CraveOnline: What was the appeal to you of In the Name of the King?

Jason Statham: I did that four years ago, you know. I was in a completely different spot back then. That’s a long time ago when I made that. It’s a kid’s thing. You know it’s for the kids and I wanted to work with Tony Ching who is one of the most predominant action choreographers in the world. If you’ve ever seen House of Flying Daggers or Hero, you only have to look no further than that. An opportunity to work with somebody like that stands for itself. Things change, time changes, you do things for different reasons at different periods of your life and that was back then.

CraveOnline: Did you ever consider getting in the ring with Uwe Boll when he staged that fight.

Jason Statham: No. I don’t fight other people’s battles. I’ve got enough on my plate. I’ve got to try and get ready to do two films in the next five months. I don’t want to be fighting anybody. I do my fighting on the camera. Why would you want to do it? I don’t know. People have their own reasons.

CraveOnline: What’s the other film you’re doing in the next five months?

Jason Statham: I’m doing Transporter 3.

CraveOnline: Luc Besson said he was writing another one.

Jason Statham: Yeah. It’s pretty much done. So we’ll be on a plane to Paris.

CraveOnline: I think you had said you had some issues with where the second one went. Is it more back to the tone of the first one? Did you have any input on it?

Jason Statham: You know what? I’m not going to say too much about it but it’s in a spot that I’m very happy with if that makes sense. It’s got a bit for everybody in it. I think it’s a decent script.

CraveOnline: Is there another movie in another franchise that you would like to jump into?

Jason Statham: Yeah, a few. There’s a couple of things out there. I’m not going to start giving you the names of them because it starts sounding a bit like sour grapes that you haven’t gotten them or "Why didn’t I get that part?" Or "You said I was going to get this part and you haven’t given it to me yet." But there’s a few cool things that I know that I’d be really good for. There’s a possible chance that they might come my way and if they do, then both of them have a great potential to be great franchises. It’s always good to do franchises, all the big action stuff. Sly’s done a few. They work well. The Die Hards, the Lethal Weapons. You get a good one and you can keep ‘em going.

CraveOnline: How far along is the Italian Job sequel? Is that still floating around?

Jason Statham: Yeah. I’ve been talking about that for two years, you know, "Tell us about The Brazilian Job." I think someone should just erase it from imdb and save us all a problem and just put it back on there when it’s fully due and ready. I don’t know. It’s just one of those things. It’s just sitting around.

CraveOnline: So what’s the order of your next 5 months?

Jason Statham: I’m gonna do Transporter 3 and then I’m gonna do Crank.

CraveOnline: Do you have a romantic comedy after that?

Jason Statham: Hey, me and Hugh Grant. [Laughs]

CraveOnline: Your voice is very distinctive. Have you ever thought of lending your voice to an animation project?

Jason Statham: Yeah. I really have tried. I’ve auditioned a few times for animation. Yeah, I have and I never quite got it. Every time I got picked to the post, but I would love to. Love to. Any of those big animation films I love. It’s something that’s on the list of things to do.