Director David Ayer (left) and actor Jason Statham on the set of The Beekeeper.Daniel Smith/Amazon MGM Studios
As a filmmaker, David Ayer has fought on the mean streets of L.A. (End of Watch, Harsh Times, Street Kings), behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany (Fury), and inside the editing suites of major studios (one day audiences might actually get to watch his director’s cut of the much-maligned DC adventure Suicide Squad). But Ayer has never faced quite as, ahem, sticky a situation as making his latest film, The Beekeeper.
“I learned a lot about bees, so much about bees,” the 55-year-old Ayer says with a laugh describing his latest action flick, which stars Jason Statham as a humble beekeeper whose day job masks a dangerous past as a high-level assassin (naturally). “But there is something resonant about beekeeping that draws people in. Without bees, there would be no agriculture. Without agriculture, there’s no civilization. So the job of a beekeeper as the enabler of civilization is something deep and noble and fun to play with.”
Ahead of The Beekeeper’s release this Friday, Ayer spoke with The Globe and Mail about his buzzy film.
Congratulations on the movie, which feels like a palate-cleanser after the holiday rush of awards-bait films.
With all the great action movies that I grew up with from John McTiernan, Walter Hill, Richard Donner, I studied those movies to figure out why people liked them and connected with them. And I thought I could make a vehicle like that for Jason, who is a straight-up movie star who I haven’t seen in a role that showcases everything that he can do. We’ve all watched Jason Statham movies and think we’ve watched something, but I wanted to make the movie we all think we saw. The Schrödinger’s cat of Jason Statham movies.
He is a genre unto himself. So this was not so much about making a certain kind of thriller but a certain kind of Jason Statham movie?
It was really Jason. I feel he’s capable of a broader lane than he’s been given so far. So this was making him more emotionally accessible and giving him an inner life. We know the audience is going to like watching him kick butt, but how do I make people care about this character, too?
There is an interesting approach in the action here, in that Jason’s character rarely uses a gun, it’s much more hand-to-hand combat.
The thing about working with Jason is that he has an encyclopedic knowledge about all things action. He knows the players, the stunt guys; he’s deep in that community. So you have to show up with an elevated game. I got a little beat up as a filmmaker – he was demanding more, demanding better. I definitely broke a sweat keeping up with him. I also felt kind of bad for his stunt guy Tom, who just got stuck reading on set because Jason would do everything.
There is some solid meat-and-potatoes action here, but also some more outré moments.
I’m going to be honest, a lot of this was a learning journey for me. I do a lot more straight drama, so the opportunity to play with action, with choreography, was by design. I wanted to push myself – can we be crazy and then pull it back?
You’re one of the few filmmakers left on Twitter, or X, who actually engages with people. Even now in the midst of what I can only assume is a busy promotional time for you, I checked today and you’re still in the thick of it, having conversations and arguments.
Part of it is just me being human and I don’t like to be picked on. Part of it is I think that audiences have to know who you are as a person these days. When I started making films, nobody knew the names of executives – the process of filmmaking was very sealed and protected. Now it’s very open, and everyone knows how the game works. I find that if you’re not in that space telling your own story, then someone else will and you won’t like that version. It is rewarding because it’s mostly positive. But it’s also a scary place to play.
This interview has been condensed and edited.