“Jason Statham almost died on The Expendables 3 set” – Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone has revealed his co-star, Jason Statham, narrowly avoided death on the set of The Expendables 3.
Stallone, who himself had to have a metal plate inserted into his back after a particularly nasty fall, said the actor was forced to leap from a truck he was driving before it plunged 60ft into the sea after a stunt went horribly wrong. He also said Statham owed his life to his strong swimming skills, after the brakes on the coach broke.
“He faced death. He was test-driving a three-ton truck and the brakes run out,” the 68-year-old said at the film premiere in London on monday. “It went down 60ft into the Black Sea and became impaled. Luckily we had taken the doors off before.
“If anyone else had been in that truck we would have been dead because we were all wearing heavy boots and gun belts. We would have drowned. But because Jason is an Olympic-quality diver he got out of it.”
Statham, 47, had competed for England at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990 as a diver before he began his career as a stuntsman and actor.
He however played down any such life threat when questioned about injuries he’s suffered on set.
“I snapped a shoelace in the very first scene,” he said, when asked what the worst had been.
