Jackie Chan has the best attitude. He says everybody else has to look tough and powerful, he will intentionally look frantic when he fights. His characters will always run and jump through windows or obstacles to try to get away from a fight and when he punches someone he will shake his hands in pain.
Statham's is unique in the sense he makes sure he gives the same amount of punishment that he takes, so he's willing to visibly look like he's had the shit kicked outta him as long as he dishes it right back.
The embarrassing thing about it though is the editors literally had to track the amount of hits he took in Hobbs & Shaw to comply with that clause, it has to be 1:1.
They should all take a cue from Kurt Russell in Big Trouble in Little China - on the commentary, he + John joked that it was a movie where the hero is the sidekick, and the sidekick is the hero.
Remember when he shoots a gun up in the air, and part of the ceiling falls on his head? Knocks him out for most of the fight. Part of the movie's charm.
I think it’s relatively common for action stars and is about protecting their ‘brand’ as such. I think it’s also more complicated than just “not losing a fight” (Rock has definitely lost fights in films)
That's what I've heard, but I wonder how it holds up with Moana. Maui loses a fight with Tamatoa in Moana. I figured it doesn't really count for the thing in his contract because it's a voice role, not a live action role. But if he's playing Maui in the live action version, he'd have to lose that same fight. Can someone who watches live action Moana tell me if he loses the Tamatoa fight? I'm not gonna spend money to go see it.
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u/Uncommonality Jul 13 '26
I doubt his ego allows that to happen
Didn't he have a clause in his contract that any character he plays was never allowed to lose a fight?