JASON STATHAM TELLS WHY HE BELIEVES IN FIDELITY AND FRIENDSHIP

JASON STATHAM THE HOLLYWOOD TOUGH GUY TELLS WHY HE BELIEVES IN FIDELITY AND FRIENDSHIP

Jason with Whiteley and with co-star J-Lo

Jason with Whiteley and with co-star J-Lo

It was a lough call for Jason Statham when the Hollywood hardman had to refuse the advances of co-star
Jennifer Lopez in n e w crime thriller Parker. "I asked myself. 'How can any man say no to Jennifer Lopez?'" Jason Statham says, laughing, when Hello!'s Inside-Entertainment catches up with the British-born star in Beverly Hills for a chat over tea.

"That was a tough one to work my head around," Jason says. "But the director Taylor Hackford said, 'I want the ladies to love this character as well as the men, and they will love him more if he is the man who respects his relationship and is loyal to his true love. I think that's true, and it's the way a man should behave. Because, let's face it, behind every successful man, there's a stronger woman who is responsible for almost every good thing that we do."

The strong woman behind 45-year-old Jason Statham is English-born Victoria's Secret model Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley, 25, his girlfriend of three years. And although Jason may joke about the attractions of Jennifer, in real life the singer and actress is a good friend of the couple. "I try to do the right thing in life and in relationships," Jason Statham says. "I think it's good to have a certain moral belief and, okay, sometimes I've fallen off the track, but it's there. I believe that if you have a good family they can leach yon right from wrong. I was lucky enough to have a good one, and what they taught me has stuck with me."

Two years ago, Jason and Rosie moved from the UK to Los Angeles. "I do miss England sometimes,"
Jason Statham says. "I mosdy miss my friends, the familiar faces I grew up with. I try to get them out here, but it's ten hours on a plane and they've got families, which makes it difficult... but it seems the type of action
movies that I make, nobody does it better than the US of A, so I'm very happy to be living here."

It was a British film that made his Hollywood career possible, after director Guy Ritchie cast the then unknown as a small-time crook in Lock, Slock and Two Smoking Barrels. "Guy was looking for someone to play a street hawker and at the time I sold perfume and jewellery on street corners for a living. I didn't have any experience in front of a camera but Guy said, 'I don't care, I'll get you to the place you need to be.' He took me to his house and showed me what to do, with a video camera, and that was die entire tuition I ever had as an actor. So whether you think I'm good or bad, don't blame me, it's all down to Guy Ritchie."

Parker is in UK cinemas from 8 March

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