Jason Statham Stands Guard in New ‘The Beekeeper’ Image

Although he’s an over-the-top action star first and foremost, Jason Statham got the chance to moonlight as an actual beekeeper for his new film, The Beekeeper. A new image from Empire Magazine for their 2024 preview issue shows the Expendables star standing guard in front of shelves lined with jars of honey. Though he eventually winds up on a violent revenge quest to take down a phishing company with deep ties to the government and other organizations, he starts the film off peacefully tending to the little black-and-yellow bugs for his older neighbor.

Statham plays Mr. Clay, a former operative working for a secret organization that is, fittingly, also known as The Beekeepers. Their job is to “protect the hive” and step in to keep the order of the world in check when necessary. After stepping aside from the job, he forges a kinship with Mrs. Parker (Phylicia Rashad) who becomes like family to him because of how she goes out of her way to take care of him. In return, he keeps the bees on Mrs Parker’s property and helps restore the land. Their friendship makes it all the more devastating when she sadly takes her own life after the well-connected phishing company deceives her into forking over all of her assets, sending Clay on a rampage in her name that has global stakes as he digs deeper into the operation.

Statham is well-known for throwing himself head-first into action projects and The Beekeeper is no exception. “The big shock was how much he does his own stunts,” director David Ayer told Empire about the actor’s commitment. “His stunt double was just sitting around, hoping to be invited to the dance.” As part of tackling everything the role included, Statham learned how to handle real live bees too. “The crew were laughing: ‘There’s no way you’re putting Jason Statham with a bunch of bees for real!’ But Jason wanted to do it. So, we put him with a beekeeper, and he learned how to open the hive and work with the bees. He connected with the whole ‘Zen’ beekeeping things.” Ayer further noted that Statham was a surprisingly deft beekeeper who managed to avoid their wrath. The director was not so lucky, adding “I got stung pretty bad shooting bees later on. But it was fine. You make a movie called The Beekeeper, you’re gonna get stung.”

‘The Beekeeper’ Is Jason Statham’s Latest Action Challenge

Handling bees is just the most recent example of Statham taking on ridiculous feats for the sake of his action projects. He comes into Ayer’s latest off of a strong year featuring a likely farewell to his character Lee Christmas with Expend4bles, another swim with sharks alongside Wu Jing in Meg 2: The Trench, and a high-stakes spy operation in Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. He’ll bring his signature brutal brand of action to The Beekeeper with a talented cast around him including Rashad, Jeremy Irons, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, and Minnie Driver.

The Beekeeper arrives from Ayer and writer Kurt Wimmer on January 12, 2024. Read our guide here for everything you need to know about the Statham-helmed revenge thriller and check out the new image above.