Jason Statham and Li Bingbing are up against it.
In anticipation of the film’s “excellent” first trailers, Entertainment Weekly has unearthed a brand new action shot for Meg, the giant shark thriller set to undo extinction and resurrect the Megalodon, a 75-foot-long behemoth that’ll soon make Jaws seem like small fry.
Loosely based on Steve Alten’s novel, Meg follows a deep-sea diver (Statham) who is tasked with rescuing the crew of a submersible after it was ravaged by the titular shark. Jon Turteltaub’s maritime thriller will also see Meg swim into the shallows, as evidenced by this stunning new image from EW which, if nothing else, brings the sheer size of the prehistoric monster into perspective.
And while preparing for the role, Jason Statham took it upon himself to swim with sharks – something he’d strongly recommend to everyone and anyone.
On the early stages of the prep, we took a trip to Fiji, and we went diving with some bull sharks. They hand-feed them and it’s a spectacular thing to see. These things are three meters in length, huge big things. There were 20 or 30 of these things, and they were hand-feeding [them] big tuna heads, and we got very, very close, and it was a spectacular moment. To swim in close proximity to a big, three-meter shark, is to be recommended to all and everyone.
Tapping into that primal fear of vulnerability is something Meg will hope to do next summer, but when it comes to the real deal, Statham was actually pretty relaxed about getting up close and personal with those sharks. The fact that they weren’t 75-foot in length probably helped, too…
Via EW:
You know, it’s funny, because you get anxiety when you’re on the boat. But once you get in the ocean, things take a very different turn. You get very relaxed, and when you’re in their environment, it’s quite a tranquil sort of thing, the anxiety goes away completely. It’s remarkable to experience. All of the fear — or the perceived fear — is done in your own head before you get down there with them. Once you’re swimming down there with all the other divers, it’s phenomenal. It’s one of the greatest experiences you could have, for me anyway. I’m a big SCUBA diver fanatic. Wherever I am in the world, if I get a chance to get in the ocean, I do.
Meg makes lands on August 10th. And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
