THE TRANSPORTER franchise is getting scaled down to television-size when reticent wheelman Frank Martin bring his driving abilities and face-kicking skills to cable network Cinemax for an original series.
Jason Statham is obviously too busy cranking out a new action flick every couple of months, so slipping behind the dashboard to replace him is British actor Chris Vance.
TV watchers will recognize Vance from “Burn Notice”, “Prison Break” and the most recent season of Showtime’s “Dexter”, in which he played the security chief to villain Jonny Lee Miller. I’m not sure if Vance knows any martial arts, but it’s safe to assume he will by the time the show begins filming.
Vance will be joined in the series by reasonably sexy Hungarian hottie Andrea Osvart (below), who will play “Frank’s handler Carla, an extremely crafty former CIA operative who organizes his missions, acts as his eyes and ears on the outside, and continually stokes the flames of their unrequited attraction.”
The 12-episode TRANSPORTER series from writer/director/producer Luc Besson is budgeted at $4 million per episode, and (if it’s anything like the movies) will follow the scruffy taciturn driver as he performs physics-defying vehicular maneuvers and strips shirtless to fight henchmen while coated in some type of fluid.
