Michael “Venom” Page eyes Jason Statham Movie Role: “He was a big fan”
Michael “Venom” Page has made a name in combat sports through style, timing and long stretches at the top level, first in Bellator and now in the UFC. These days, he is also speaking more openly about film, and one name sits at the top of that list: Jason Statham.
Page explained that the link started around Rico Verhoeven’s crossover boxing event with Oleksandr Usyk, a fight that had Statham tied to it behind the scenes. Verhoeven said Statham helped push his name forward for a major boxing opportunity and stayed involved as the matchup came together.
Michael “Venom” Page sees opening in action films with Jason Statham
That setting led to a moment Page did not see coming. As he put it: “One of my goals is to do a movie with Jason Statham.”
He then described how the relationship began to move from a quick encounter into something more real. Speaking to Thunderpick, he said: “It was weird, because we crossed paths at the Rico fight. Rico is a good friend of mine as well, so I went out there to support him. Jason walks in and he’s got a load of security guards around him. He looks over his shoulder and goes, “Michael.” I was like, “Hello?” I didn’t know he knew who I was.”
“Flash forward a few weeks, he’s shooting a film here in the UK. My friend King Bach has a role in the film as well. He called me while he was on set and said, “Somebody wants to talk to you.” Jason comes on the phone. The next day I went to meet them on set. He was a big fan, man. He was just chopping it up, talking about his background and how he got into where he is now. He’s just a real person. There’s no ego there. It was just nice. My goal one day is to do a film with him, because that’s a space I’m getting into.”
Page also framed his acting ambition through representation in action and martial arts cinema. He said: “I can be the ‘Wesley Snipes’ of the combat space.”
He expanded on that idea in direct terms: “I feel like there is a space at the moment, especially for a Black actor in the combat space, but I also want to lean into other spaces as well. You had your Wesley Snipes, you had your Michael Jai Whites, but I feel like we haven’t seen another one of those in a while. Idris Elba doesn’t necessarily do specific action. He kind of mixes and blends into a few different spaces. In terms of combat and a Black actor, I don’t think we’ve had one in a while. I’d love to be able to fill that space and then some.”
Michael “Venom” Page is still fighting, he is already stepping onto film sets, and now he has a direct line to one of action cinema’s biggest names. After that first meeting, the idea of Michael “Venom” Page sharing a movie scene with Jason Statham no longer sounds far-fetched.
