The Los Angeles premiere of Mechanic: Resurrection was at Hollywood’s Arclight Cinema Monday night.
Cast members Jason Statham, Jessica Alba and Sam Hazeldine were by fans screaming from every corner of the theater.
The film’s new director, Dennis Gansel stated that he saw the potential in a multi-million dollar franchise after seeing the 2011 reboot of the classic film. He now hopes to expand the “Mechanic” series with additional sequels in the near future.
“I’ve always seen protagonist Arthur Bishop as sort of a dirty James Bond,” Gansel said. “I saw this as the perfect opportunity to make the franchise bigger and better, and also by choosing more exotic locations, like Rio and Thailand.”
Gansel, a native of Hanover, Germany, also discussed his love of working with Hollywood’s elite.
“I think people are so smart in the United States,” Gansel said. “People in Germany think Hollywood is all about the money, but it’s not. [Producers] are all focused on the story here, and also about character development and making the stories bigger and better.”
Statham, who reprises his role as Arthur Bishop, returned with ease and excitement to the sequel. Statham’s favorite part of shooting? The fight scenes, of course.
“A lot of the fight scenes were very memorable, Statham said. “The buildings [we shot in] were architectural masterpieces, and we did a lot of cool stunts under water with scuba gear.”
