Jason Statham Disappointed 'The Meg' Traded Blood for Laughs

Landing in theaters this weekend is The Meg, the horror film that explores what would happen if a [...]

Landing in theaters this weekend is The Meg, the horror film that explores what would happen if a prehistoric megalodon emerged from the ocean's depths to wreak havoc on an underwater research station. Despite the savage beast tearing its way through multiple victims, the film showed restraint with its violence and earns a PG-13 rating, despite director Jon Turteltaub having previously shot R-rated sequences. If fans are disappointed we won't see that R-rated cut, you're not alone, as star Jason Statham is also unhappy with the film's restraint.

"Script's totally different," Statham explained to Collider about how the film evolved since he first signed on. "There was so many different … sometimes you just go, 'How did it happen? How did it go from this to this to this to that?' You just can't keep a track on it. I guess if you have the control to keep it a certain way you would, but you don't. They have a movie to make. They have so many people deciding on what action stays and what scenes stay. How the characters…in the end they want to put something at the beginning. The whole thing at the beginning where I do a rescue on a sub? That was not in the script that I read. That was all brand new stuff, good or bad. I'm just letting you know."

While the actor didn't explicitly state that he was unhappy with the final product, it's easy to read between the lines in his statements and that the film ultimately leaned into its more campy components than its fear-inducing elements.

"I'm just saying it was radically different. Jon's interpretation of this is a fun end of summer [movie]. It's full of humor," Statham confessed. "It's a little bit more directed to a different taste of what my own is. I like more gory adult stuff. I'm a lot older but I can't speak for what this film could possibly speak to a younger audience. I might have made a film that not many people wanted to see. I'm not a filmmaker. I'm sort of an actor that's going to portray a role. I go there but I've learned not to get too attached with your own idea of what something could be."

Of the toned down violence, the actor joked, "But you go, Where's the f-cking blood? It's like, there's a shark."

Sadly for Statham and other gorehounds hoping to see the more blood in the film, Turteltaub previously confirmed that the more gruesome sequences were never completed with visual effects, so we shouldn't expect to see an R-rated home video release.

The Meg is in theaters now.

Are you disappointed that The Meg wasn't more violent, as Statham had envisioned? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Collider]

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