You can never accuse Jason Statham of not going above and beyond for his films.

The 56-year-old is set to start in a new film, The Beekeeper, which is in cinemas on January 12 before launching on Sky Cinema later this year.

In the flick, he stars as Clay, a retired member of the Beekeepers – a top-secret government strike force – turned actual beekeeper, who wants revenge on the evil corporation that scammed his neighbor.

He’ll clearly stop at nothing to bring down Derek Danforth (John Hutcherson) and Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons) in his quest for justice, while we get to sit through heart-pumping, vaguely insect-related quips and puns for the better part of two hours.

Unpacking our favorite film of 2024, director David Ayer revealed that the action icon went slightly method for the role, and ‘embraced’ a spot of beekeeping himself.

Side note: The bee maintenance, not the wild hunt for justice against terrifying bad guys.

Jason Statham went above and beyond for his new role in the Beekeeper (Picture: AP)

Discussing the flick with Entertainment Weekly, he said: ‘In the opening, Jason’s pulling out the comb, and smoking the hive, and doing all the processes. That’s real. The bees are real. He learned how to do all of that.

‘It’s interesting, because we see him as this rough punch-up guy, and yet he got the zen of it – he really embraced the zen of beekeeping.’

We’re going to need a Jason Statham bee-keeping demonstration immediately.

The Expendables star managed to stay unharmed during filming with the insects but, unfortunately, the same can’t be said for David.

Jason was joined by partner Rosie Huntington-Whiteley at the premiere (Picture: Shutterstock)

‘Jason did not get stung,’ he added. ‘I got stung a bunch of times because I was operating camera, getting all these tight shots of bees, the hero bee-shots, and I was wearing black socks.

‘I learned that bees will attack black cloth because they think that it’s a bear. And so that’s why the beekeepers wear these white suits.’

Noted.

The Beekeeper will hit the big screen on Friday, and is the latest in animal-themed movies for Jason, after he battled huge sharks in the recent Meg sequel, Meg 2: The Trench.

Jason’s new flick is released on Friday (Picture: Getty)

He led a star-studded cast including Josh, Jeremy, Minnie Driver, Amm Raver-Lampman, Michael Epp and EastEnders star David Witts.

The official synopsis reads: ‘In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers”.’

Bring it on.

The Beekeeper is released in cinemas on January 12, and will be available to stream on Sky Cinema later this year.

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