Jason Statham: Most of my roles are one-dimensional (Exclusive)

Jason Statham is making a break for the dramatic in surprising new British thriller ‘Hummingbird’, playing an ex-serviceman suffering with post-traumatic stress who’s forced onto the streets. But he hasn’t always tackled such challenging roles (come on, you’ve seen ‘The Transporter’).

“I don’t do any [prep] normally,” laughs Statham. “A lot of the characters I might have played before are very one dimensional. They’re a guy that gets things done, and they’re not affected by anything. So it’s not difficult to try and peel the layers back for that kind of thing because there ain’t any.”

“But this was something quite different, this was digging deep you know,” admitted the ‘Expendables’ star. “Digging deep to try and find that emotion within yourself. It’s hard - for someone who’s not an actor.”

You said it first Jason, not us.

[Statham: I'm back for Expendables 3]

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! Movies UK to promote ‘Hummingbird’, the 45-year-old Brit told us how he felt honoured to have heard the real-life stories of ex-serviceman in the run-up to the film, admitting action stars just play at being heroes.

“We discovered a lot of things you know. We were very lucky to be accepted by the soldiers that wanted to impart some of their stories,” he said. “You know, people forget about them, but it’s really sad because they fight for our country. These are the real heroes. These are the ones that we try and pretend that we are!”

Speaking of playing at heroes, we decided to ask the Stath, renowned for performing his own stunts, just how hand-on some of his ‘Expendables’ co-stars really are on set. After all, Stallone’s pushing 70 ya’ know…

“You better ask them,” he laughed”.  “Sly [Stallone] is a man who leads by example. He gets stuck in, and I’ve seen him do stuff that I just go ‘Jesus, what are you doing?’ Just getting like tackled to the ground and getting slammed, and he does it all.”

“I mean they’re all big, physical men. So, to try and get other people to do their stuff? It’s not gonna happen,” he continued. “I think Sly did a really good job of casting people that wanna do their own stuff you know – it’s not like he’s got a bunch of fairies there.”

[Statham hails new film's 'reality']

Check out the rest of our interview with Jason above, including the star discussing his much talked about involvement in the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise.

‘Hummingbird’, directed by Steven Knight, is out in the UK 28 June 2013.