Jason Statham talks about working with a child star in 'Safe'

Action star Jason Statham might come off as a tough guy in his films, but "Safe" brought on the actor's softer side as he protects a 10-year-old girl being pursued by gangsters.

In the film, a young girl named Mei (Catherine Chan) is wanted by the Triads, the Russian mob and corrupt New York City cops for her knowledge of a priceless numerical code. A former cage fighter (Statham), whose life was also destroyed by the girl's pursuers, comes to her rescue.

"I think that one of the charming aspects of working with Catherine - and she is only ten - it's that child actors don't have any baggage, you know, they don't have all the layers of falseness that you can build when you spend years being an actor. They have such purity and they don't have any self-consciousness in any way, so they bring something really fresh and it's a pleasure to be around."

The movie, which also stars Robert John Burke, James Hong and Chris Sarandon, was written and directed by Boaz Yakin, who is known for films like "Remember the Titans," "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "Uptown Girls."

"The one thing about Boaz [Yakin] is that he wanted to do a lot of the action in one take, so it's a very testing thing to be able to do because there are so many elements that can go wrong. His tenacity to get it right was just brilliant because some of the sequences we did are quite lengthy."

Over the years, Statham has become Hollywood's go-to action actor, with roles in "Snatch," "The Transporter," and "The Expendables."

Statham has a reputation for doing all of his own stunts, which the actor blamed on an early movie where the budget didn't allow for stuntmen.

"Dug my own hole, if you like," Statham told CBS news in January 2011. "One of the first action films I did. We didn't have any -- any financial reserves to do any green screen or add any sort of an enhancement to any of the stunts. So you know, I ended up doing all my own stunts. So now it's an expectation. And so it's a sticky situation I can't seem to get out of."

The British actor is also known for his relationships with two British models - Kelly Brook and Victoria's Secret supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who he has been dating since 2010.

"Safe" hits theaters on April 27, watch a trailer below."

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