Jason Statham has been a one-man action-movie machine for 20 years now, but in the upcoming Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs and Shaw, he’ll team up the force of nature that is Dwayne Johnson. (Sorry, bad guys.) So while we have just over a year or so to wait before the duo unites on the big screen, we’ve now got some early insight as to how Statham’s character Deckard Shaw will be handled this time around and just what kind of tone you can expect for Hobbs and Shaw.

During the press tour for the upcoming creature feature The Meg, our own Steven Weintraub got a chance to chat with Statham 1-on-1 to talk about going up against the prehistoric title shark. But during that exchange, he also snuck in a few questions regarding Universal Pictures’ Hobbs and Shaw, and Statham provided him with some telling answers. Statham talks about his opinion of stunt performer-turned-director David Leitch and his approach to the film, and how they plan to round out Deckard Shaw’s familial relationships in this movie, including the return of Helen Mirren as his mother and the possible casting of Vanessa Kirby as Shaw’s sister. See what he had to say below!

Collider: I heard you guys will be filming in London and Hawaii. How long are you shooting for? Is it one of these five, six month things?

JASON STATHAM: God knows. Most of it’s in London and then there’s a portion in Hawaii that we already know about.

I love the Fast movies; they’re a blast. One of the things I’ve found as the movies have gone on though is the characters seem to become more and more of a superhero. You can hit Dwayne with a ladder and he just stands right up. I’m curious, with Hobbs and Shaw is it a little bit more grounded or is it having the fun of the last Fast and Furious?

STATHAM: I think Dave Leitch’s taste is a little more grounded and a little darker. If you see Atomic Blonde, and it is just superb, his taste is definitely in a world that is sort of how you described it. I think he’s looking to do something that doesn’t look exactly like a Fast movie. Although it’s the Fast characters, he’s trying to do his own thing with it and give it a real sense of credibility. I think Dave is going to get this one gritty, and real, and fucking hardcore.

I love David. I think he’s a very talented director and he’s especially talented at crafting action. Like what he did with Chad [Stahelski] in John Wick, what he did in Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde [and] that staircase sequence. He crafts great action.

STATHAM: He’s brilliant.

Have you already been preparing action for Hobbs and Shaw?

STATHAM: I’ve been down the gym. I’ve been fight training. I’m about to land in London and that’s where all of the choreography is all going to start coming out. I haven’t had a taste of it yet but I know he’s thorough. He knows what we’re going to do. He never wings it. He got every shot down in detail before he does it. I worked with Dave many years ago. I had a fight with him on a bus in The Mechanic. He plays a bad guy. He comes in and we’re at this bus stop and I throw him out the window and lands on the ground and gets fucking run over.