Frank Martin was an easy sell to Chris Vance.
Sure the character was synonymous with British action star Jason Statham, who played the mysterious Transporter in three cinematic outings between 2002 and 2008, but 32-year-old fellow Brit Vance was sure he could make Martin his own in the planned TV spinoff – and besides it was truly a dream role.
“Between the cool one-liners, the girls, the guns, the driving, the huge action sequences… I thought to myself, how can I not want to jump at this one” the former Prison Break and Mental star says of his reaction when first approached about the role in 2011.
He admits he had seen all three films in the Transporter trilogy and “loved what Jason brought to the part”.
“His strength and cool charm was very compelling. But I wasn’t intimidated.”
In order to put his own spin on the character, Vance says he “ended up asking a thousand questions about the character, the genre of story, the narrative landscape Frank Martin interacts with”.
