Why Jason Statham Turned Down Starring In A Cult Classic Werewolf Action Movie

Ever since 2002’s “The Transporter” Jason Statham has been inseparable from a certain type of action movie that sees the British star playing some John Wick-level invulnerable badass. But Statham was churning out these actioners long before Keanu Reeves’ hitman arrived in 2014. Statham has faced off against an assortment of faceless goons for the last 25 or so years, and has even bested a gigantic prehistoric shark in both “The Meg” and “The Meg 2: The Trench,” which was lamentably a silly shark sequel with no bite. But we’ve never seen the man take on a werewolf, which at this point is surely one of the only things that could possibly overcome Statham’s might.

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As it happens, we almost got this historic face-off the same year that Statham starred in “The Transporter.” The actor came very close to starring in a now cult classic werewolf action movie directed by British filmmaker Neil Marshall, who more recently oversaw the 2019 “Hellboy” reboot. Marshall had been working for quite some time before retooling the Dark Horse Comics character. In fact the action-packed filmography of the “Hellboy” director was launched with 2002’s “Dog Soldiers,” which followed a squad of British soldiers who undergo a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands only to be menaced by a pack of werewolves. The soldiers must then defend themselves against the onslaught by holing up in a house and fending off the rabid beasts until sunrise. Sadly, we just missed out on seeing Statham amid the action, as the actor had to turn down starring in “Dog Soldiers” at the last minute.

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Written, directed, and edited by Neil Marshall, “Dog Soldiers” wasn’t the kind of blockbuster fare that Statham would become known for fronting in the years that followed, but it did launch Marshall’s career and has become beloved among a certain group of fans. The filmmaker’s directorial debut also had the benefit of starring some top-notch British talent in the form of Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby, and Liam Cunningham.

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A film about soldiers fighting werewolves might sound like the kind of direct-to-streaming B-movie fare you might stumble across on Tubi, though the “Primitive War” trailer, which asks “What if ‘Jurassic Park’ was a Vietnam War movie?” suggests these premises are becoming much more acceptable at the box office. “Dog Soldiers” was, however, well-received by critics, who praised Marshall for putting a new spin on a familiar formula. The writer/director went for all-out-thrills, delivering an intense, suspenseful, and at times even funny action horror that the Seattle Times’ Mark Rahner called, “One of the most gloriously unsubtle and adrenalized extreme shockers since ‘The Evil Dead.'”

What could have possibly made this British cult classic better? Jason Statham of course. As Den of Geek points out in its history of “Dog Soldiers,” the British actor, who was fresh off memorable appearances in Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” was at one time onboard to star, but had to leave the project after getting a better offer, or at least what seemed like a better offer.

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When “Dog Soldiers” was being developed, Neil Marshall and his production team had gone after Jason Statham for the role of Private Cooper, one of the soldiers on the training exercise who finds himself fighting for his and his squad’s life. As Marshall told Den of Geek, “I’d seen [Statham] in ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,’ and I thought, ‘This guy’s got real charisma, he’s going to be a star, he’d be great for Cooper.'” It seems the writer/director was successful in securing the rising star, too — at least, at first. Marshall recalled how Statham “stuck with us for a little while” before being offered a role in John Carpenter’s “Ghosts of Mars.” Marshall continued:

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“My advice to him was, ‘We don’t know when we’re going to get to make this. You’ve got a chance to go and work with John Carpenter. Go and work with John Carpenter.’ He went off to the States and the rest is history.”

Meanwhile, Statham did end up starring in John Carpenter’s action horror film, but “Ghosts of Mars” turned out to be a colossal flop. The movie debuted in 2001 and ended up making $14 million on a $28 million budget. “Dog Soldiers” on the other hand, while not exactly a global box office hit, did manage to make $3.5 million on an estimated budget of about $2 million. More importantly, it launched Marshall’s career and became a critical hit. Today it boasts an impressive 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and remains one of the best action horrors of the 2000s. Meanwhile “Ghosts of Mars” has been largely forgotten, though the same can’t be said of Statham, who continues to beat guys up in cool ways on-screen, most recently by playing a killer girl dad in generic “John Wick” knockoff “A Working Man.” Somebody rescue the man and stick him in a Statham vs. werewolf film, for god’s sake.

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