(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jason Statham wants to appear in more “old school” action movies.

The star can be seen in new movie The Expendables, which also stars Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film is about a group of tough guys who travel to South America to overthrow a dictator.

Jason was thrilled to win the part of Lee Christmas because he loved the script so much, and hopes it will mark the beginning of a new swathe of action films. He has teamed up with Jet in the past – on 2001’s The One and War in 2007 – but says this is his favourite one they have worked on.

“The films that I have done with Jet Li are very science fiction based,” he told Cover Media. “This one works because it harks back to the old school action movies that basically are the ones I am interested in doing.

“It’s coincidental that we’re doing this film together. It’s not like we tried to beat Sly up and hold him down and say, ‘We want to do another film together make sure we’re in it.’”

Jason has been a fan of Sylvester for years, and was honoured to make The Expendables with him. Sylvester wrote and directed the film as well as starring in it, which Jason says gave him a unique insight into Sylvester’s character.

“It’s a situation where you get to know the real man behind the camera. It’s not the film maker anymore it’s the regular guy. I think to me that was the best part about working with Sly, was getting to know him as a person. There’s no substitute for that,” he said. “I’m very familiar with everything he’s done. That’s why we get excited when we get to do films like this.” (C) Cover Media