The Transporter out and proud?

Having not seen the movie yet I can't confirm this myself but if we see Jason Stathem while he is in town for the Revolver screenings at TIFF we'll have to ask him. In an article in Friday's Los Angeles Times Transporter 2 director, Louis Leterrier [Unleashed], announced that the movies main character, Frank Martin, is in fact the first gay action hero. Without channging any part of uber-producer Luc Besson's script Leterrier says he created a gay subtext to the movies hero.

Um... okay.

"I was very afraid of doing a Steven Seagal kind of movie — very formulaic and predigested," the 32-year-old said. "So I had to find an angle." The director, married and heterosexual, said the film's gay subtext stood as a subtle challenge to its audience's attitude toward homosexuality. "Action fans in general are pretty homophobic," he said. "You see these tough guys who say, ' "The Transporter," that's such a great movie!' If they only knew they're really cheering for a new kind of action hero." As evidence, he mentions a scene in which the drug czar's wife, played by Amber Valetta, makes romantic overtures toward the Transporter. Martin rebuffs her, explaining, "It's because of who I am." "That's him coming out!" Leterrier exclaims.

Jason Statham, the actor who plays the Transporter, dismisses the director's claims. "It's just Lou-Lou trying to be funny," Statham said, using his private nickname for Leterrier. "Although he did say, 'In Part 2, you will become the gay icon.' "

via Cinematical