For the director of the first two Transporters, the character of Jason Statham was gay.
It’s hard to name three openly gay action movie heroes. The lack of representation in this genre therefore remains more than remarkable. But some may be hiding in plain sight…
As reported by Espinof, in 2005, Louis Leterrier, the director of the first two parts of the saga The Transporter, then interviewed by Los Angeles Times, had specified that he had created a subtle gay subtext in the film simply because he could: Frank Martin is a loner and a “semi-loser” who avoids the company of the women around him.
I was very afraid to make a film à la Steven Seagal – very formulated and pre-digested. So I had to find an angle. […] If you watch the movie and you know he’s gay, it becomes so much more fun. It’s so awesome – the first gay action movie hero!
He then continued:Action fans in general are pretty homophobic. You see those tough guys saying, ‘The Transporter, that’s such a good movie!’ If only they knew they’re actually encouraging a new kind of action hero.”
And to support his remarks, Louis Leterrier had also mentioned a scene from Transporter 2 in which the wife of a drug czar, played by Amber Valletta, made advances to the transporters. Frank Martin then pushes her away, saying, “It’s because of who I am.” For Louis Leterrier, this is an admission of the character: “He’s coming out of the closet!”
At the time, the hero’s star interpreter, Jason Statham, rejected the director’s allegations.
“It’s just Lou-Lou trying to be funny”, he had declared, using his private nickname for Leterrier. “But he did say, ‘In Part 2, you will become a gay icon.’”
THE CARRIER IS NO LONGER GAY
From Transporter 3 however everything changes: Jason Statham is very clearly seen kissing his co-star Natalya Rudakova (Valentina).
EuropaCorp
When the film was released in 2008, the Los Angeles Times again raised the subject with Louis Leterrier in order to obtain his point of view on the choice of the director who then took over the torch, Olivier Megaton, whether or not to return the film. heterosexual character.
“I was sick over the weekend and both of my carriers were on TV so I watched them and actually they’re not that gay”, he had finally said. “But it makes for some fun movie legends.”
Whether Frank Martin is gay or not, the story of the saga does not change, a saga to absolutely (re)discover on VOD.