The highly anticipated Fate of the Furious aka Fast & Furious 8 finally hits cinemas this week.
The guys have all been doing the rounds promoting the latest and that includes an actor who is relatively new to the franchise – Jason Statham.
Statham’s character Deckard Shaw was first introduced in the last Fast & Furious, Furious 7, and there was an immediate rivalry between him and Luke Hobbs, Dwayne Johnson’s character.
After their cracking fight in an office setting in the last movie, their stand-off in a prison-set scene in the next (it’s being teased in all the trailers so no giveaways there) is one of the most highly anticipated set pieces.
On an appearance with the Jim Norton and Sam Roberts Show, Statham was asked about going one-on-one with Johnson, aka The Rock.
“He’s so cool to do an action sequence with because he’s such a physical expert in what he does,” Statham said. “He moves fluidly. He’s got great judgement of time and space, so he’s not going to whack you in the face by accident — which is a godsend. People make mistakes. If you don’t have a good concept of sort of your own balance and space and you’re swinging hard with adrenaline, you’re trying to miss each other, but carefully miss each other. And if you’re not accurate in that sense, you can really make a mistake and if he makes a mistake and you’re on the receiving end of it, you’re straight down to the hospital [laughs].
“So, he’s the opposite of that. He’s extremely precise and he’s just so relaxed. He’s just a diamond to work with. He’s a 10 out of 10.”
You can watch the interview here:
To give you a hint of what’s to come, here’s the scene in question from Furious 7:
