Jason Statham is once again stepping into the driver’s seat as The Transporter — but it’s not for a new movie. Instead, the action star is lending his signature role to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, fronting an advertising campaign for their latest Transporter van. Very clever. The new ad campaign, “Ready for Your Mission,” brings the legendary transporter Frank Martin back into action in a totally unexpected way, and it’s good fun, too. VW launched its new Transporter van during the German television broadcast of Super Bowl LIX last weekend, and obviously it highlighted things like the size of the van, how well it drives. But all we really wanted to see was The Stath. You can view the commercial here.
Throughout the campaign, Statham reprises his signature character, quoting his famous rules from the film series. But in a clever twist, the everyday professionals aren’t phased by the action, treating the Volkswagen Transporter as the real star of the show, which is also very amusing consider he’s literally Jason Statham.
Sandra Waidelich, head of global marketing and sales experience for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, explained the decision to bring Statham on board:
“With Jason Statham, we were able to win a Hollywood star for our campaign who not only fits perfectly because of the Transporter film series, but has also enjoyed great popularity among our target group for many years. His charisma draws a lot of attention to our new Transporter and shows with a wink who the original is. After all, our Transporter invented this vehicle segment. And we are proud to be able to say: The Transporter drives Transporter!”
Why Hasn’t Jason Statham Made More ‘Transporter’ Movies?
Though Statham has returned as The Transporter for Volkswagen, he hasn’t appeared in an official Transporter film since Transporter 3 in 2008. The franchise initially helped cement Statham as a Hollywood action star, but, despite the franchise’s box office success, Statham chose to walk away from future installments due to contract issues. In a 2015 interview with Vulture, Statham explained:
“They wanted me to sign on and do three more films without even seeing a script, and they offered me less money to do three than I’d get paid for one! So it was a business decision. I would have loved to have done it, but you can’t really sign on without doing a script, and to sign on for three of them? And to get paid a pittance? I just couldn’t see the value in that.”
His departure led to a reboot with Ed Skrein taking over as Frank Martin in The Transporter: Refueled (2015), but it failed to capture the magic of Statham’s films, so we just like to pretend that one never happened.
via Collider