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Jason Statham Cheats Death On The Expendables 3 Set

Typically, it's the stunt people who are in danger on the sets of big-budget action flicks like The Expendables 3, but it was series star Jason Statham who found himself in a sticky situation on the film's Bulgaria set, according to co-star Terry Crews.

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Typically, it’s the stunt people who are in danger on the sets of big-budget action flicks like The Expendables 3, but it was series star Jason Statham who found himself in a sticky situation on the film’s Bulgaria set, according to co-star Terry Crews.

As a guest on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Crews recounted Statham’s near-brush with death while the film’s cast was shooting a stunt involving a truck on the edge of Bulgaria’s Black Sea. Turns out, faulty brakes and a sheer drop into deep ocean do not a terrific combination make.

“He literally is supposed to stop the truck, we get out, we shoot the whole thing. Well, The truck doesn’t stop. The truck goes over the dock, into the Black Sea with Jason Statham driving. He’s in the water, in the truck… We were freaking out, everybody’s screaming,” recalled Crews, perhaps with more good humor than Statham likely remembers the near-tragedy.

Check out the whole, admittedly hilarious segment of Crews’ interview right here:

The truck was deemed irrecoverable by Crews, which gives some indication of how serious the accident actually was. The fact that so many of The Expendables 3‘s stars do their own stunts is astounding, considering how dangerous that challenge can sometimes be.

The upcoming threequel is directed by Red Hill‘s Patrick Hughes and will surely put the franchise’s storied stars in some very perilous situations, though hopefully filming on the movie concluded without any more real-life danger to its actors.

The Expendables 3 will find group leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) taking on the team’s original co-founder, Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). Ross originally was believed to have killed Stonebanks after he became a repressive arms trader bent on destruction, but Stonebanks survived and returns to exact revenge on the team in this installment. In order to take him down, Ross turns to a younger generation of Expendables to strengthen his team.

The movie’s all-star cast includes Stallone, Statham, Crews, Gibson, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, MMA champion Ronda Rousey, American boxer Victor Ortiz, Kellan Lutz and Glen Powell. 

Are you pumped for this testosterone-fueled action extravaganza, or does the franchise’s stunt casting skew a little too close to self-parody for your liking?

The Expendables 3 will blast into theaters on August 15th, 2014.