The Transporter (2002)
Trivia
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Spoilers (1)
Jason Statham did most of his own stunts.
When Lai is flipping through the pictures at Frank's house, the photo of the little boy with the monkey really is Jason Statham.
The trailer for the film showed Frank deflecting a missile with a tea tray. In the same scene in the film, the assault on Frank's house, there is no sign of this in the released version. It was taken out at Jason Statham's request because he didn't think audiences would believe it.
When Lai is cooking breakfast for Frank, she accidentally burns her fingers, then touches her ear. This is actually a method used to help cool a burn as the earlobe helps to disperse the heat.
Frank's car is a BMW 750i E38 (pre-facelift). The car in the movie is the only one ever produced with a manual six-speed gearbox. This information is obtained from the full-length audio commentary available on the DVD. People have made conversions using the manual gearbox from the BMW 850CSi E31 but that car is genuinely rare.
In the DVD Bonus features, it is revealed that during the garage scene, what was thought to be transmission oil is really molasses syrup. Jason Statham reported it to be a very 'sticky' situation.
When Lai is using the computer, she browses through several other pictures before finding Wall Street's. The other pictures are all of crew members and the names next to the pictures are all jokes ("Gordon Zola", "Christiane Isme"...).
Jason Statham did almost all the driving during the car chases.
Jason Statham learned how to hot-wire a car just for one scene. "Would've liked to know that when I was about 15."
Jason Statham knew how to kickbox but had to train in martial arts before shooting began.
The role of Frank Martin was written for Jason Statham after producers saw him in The One (2001).
One of the falling embers from the house explosion hit Jason Statham and set his hair on fire.
In the original conception of the movie, Frank was gay. The love scene with Qi Shu was added specifically to draw attention away from any potential remaining vestiges of that aspect in the script.
Shu Qi had trouble pronouncing "Madeleines" so they had her read it from the cookbook to make it easier.
Shu Qi spoke almost no English when she was cast. The producers gave her the script early so she could practice with an English teacher in Hong Kong.
Because of the language barrier, Shu Qi and Jason Statham couldn't communicate off-screen. She said, "It was like rooster and duck all day long."
The crew used a giant tow truck to pull the big rig down the highway. It had cameras mounted to the outside. It's really Jason Statham hanging off the bottom of the truck. "I had a wire up my leg and they assured me I was quite safe. There was a lot of hanging on to do."
When leaving the police station after Frank's house was blown up, Lai goes to take a taxi; the taxi is a white Peugeot 406, the same taxi the main character drives in Luc Besson's Taxi (1998).
Matt Schulze wanted his character to be "slim and sort of like a raven...I lost like 40 pounds for the role. I fasted for 16 days."
Matt Schulze appeared in this film after he appeared in The Fast and the Furious (2001). He then went on the reprise his role in Fast Five (2011). Jason Statham plays the villain in Furious 7 (2015).
Among the assault rifles used in the movie are a Steyr StG 77 AUG, An M-4 carbine, a H&K G36, and a SIG 552 rifle used by Frank when he is checking shipping containers for the Chinese people.
The US poster lists Corey Yuen as director and Louis Leterrier as artistic director. The European release lists Yuen as action director and Letterier as director, similar to the opening credits of the film.
All the fight scenes in the movie were edited and trimmed down for a PG-13 rating. Although the film was given the PG-13 in the United States, the film was given the Restricted 16 rating in New Zealand.
The medal that Lai finds in the box among Frank's pictures is a Bronze Star. Since it lacks a "V" device it was likely awarded for merit rather than valor.
Sound editor Vincent Tulli makes a cameo appearance in the film as a trash man.
Matt Schulze and Jason Statham were both part of the Fast and the furious franchise but never in the same movies at the same time.
In this film, Frank Martin is a former soldier turned hired driver. In Luc Besson's earlier film The Fifth Element (1997), Korben Dallas is a former space commando turned taxi driver.
The name of the "good boat" that Statham's character uses is "Manon", which is the name of the supernatural being in The Craft - If God and the Devil were playing football, Manon would be the stadium they played on."
In the audio commentary of the movie the BMW Frank driver's is a said to be a "rare" V12 model. The total production number for the E38 BMW V12 are: 8,559 750i models, 15,759 750iL models, and 899 L7 models.
Frank's boat is marked "Cassis" on the port stern, "Manon" on the starboard stern, and carries the registration number MA 136102 on the starboard bow.
Spoilers
After Frank delivers the first items to the robbers in the Renault and the inspector comes to visit frank at home, he talks about the stops he needs to make to check out the other 88 bmw 765's with "06" in their registration plate; but BMW never made (not even for this movie) a 765. Not in this shape (1999 E38), nor in any other shape. Frank corrects him to say "1999 black bmw 7*3*5" but the actual vehicle, as described in the directors cut, is a manual 750iL specifically made for this movie.
