stathamIn an interview with the Los Angeles Times recently, Transporter 2 director Louis Leterrier revealed that he was desperate to keep his American directorial debut from turning into "a Steven Seagal kind of movie — very formulaic and predigested." So he did the obvious:  threw in a gay subtext.

No, really. Though Leterrier made no changes to mentor Luc Besson's script, he swears that his main character (Frank Martin, played be the lovely Jason Statham) is "the first gay action hero." To the director, not only does this wrinkle make watching the movie much more fun, but it also serves as a cheeky sort of taunt to film's audience. "Action fans in general are pretty homophobic...If they only knew they're really cheering for a new kind of action hero." Mocking Segal, taunting homophobes, and outing action heroes? Could this guy be any cooler?

Though Statham denies his character is anything less than a macho, woman-snogging beast, he admits that Leterrier did once mention that the film would make him a gay icon. Right: so who's coming with me to see it this weekend?