FILM · 2008 · FRANCE
Transporter 3
23 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
Natalya Rudakova, a hairdresser with no acting experience before this film, was discovered by producer Luc Besson while walking down a street in New York. Besson approached her and asked her to take some acting lessons and then audition.
- #002
All the car stunts were performed in real time, without models and with almost no CGI, which naturally gave Michel Julienne's stunt team a daily dose of difficulty.
- #003
This was Jason Statham's last "Transporter" film in the lead role; Statham withdrew from The Transporter Refueled (2015) because the studio would not pay his $11 million fee. Statham had also grown tired of playing the character Frank Martin.
- #004
The car Frank drives is an Audi A8 with a six-litre W12 engine. The engine is derived from the Bentley Continental GT. The W12 engine was built by Volkswagen.
- #005
The explosive bracelet was inspired by Wedlock (1991), in which the two main characters, played by Rutger Hauer and Mimi Rogers, have explosive collars fitted around their necks that detonate if they move more than 100 metres apart.
- #006
It was Olivier Megaton's first feature film in six years. Between this film and The Red Siren (2002) he directed numerous commercials, music videos, documentaries and short films, and also served as second unit director on Hitman (2007).
- #007
Olivier Megaton places the "Transporter" series somewhere between the James Bond and "Die Hard" series, with a slight edge to "Die Hard."
- #008
One of the film's promotional posters shows Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) posing with a gun in her hand, even though she never does anything of the sort anywhere in the film.
- #009
Robert Knepper drew on Ernest Hemingway for his character's appearance and even created a full backstory for himself. He imagined that Johnson grew up in a typical small American town, graduated from a prestigious university such as Yale or Harvard, was extremely cultured and knowledgeable, and genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for his country and the world. Olivier Megaton also asked Knepper to take inspiration from Kiefer Sutherland's performance in Phone Booth (2002).
- #010
The track playing when Frank has to chase the car on a bicycle is the Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. The same track was also used in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Jason Statham's first acting film.
- #011
The fight between Frank Martin and Johnson was shot in two days, and Robert Knepper had a stunt double for only one specific action.
- #012
Jason Statham and François Berléand are the only actors to appear in all three Transporter films.
- #013
It was Natalya Rudakova's first film.
- #014
In the train scene where Frank takes down Johnson and removes the bomb bracelet from his wrist, you may notice that after wrapping Johnson's wrist with the seatbelt, Frank is able to put the car in reverse without getting in, in order to keep the brake pedal pressed.
- #015
In the surveillance van where Frank is taken, there is a piece of equipment on the shelving rig used to program and control intelligent stage lighting. It is a Lightwave Research Intellibeam LCD controller. It is light-coloured, has yellow keys, a joystick and three small windows in the upper middle section of the unit. There is no apparent reason for it to be in a van used for surveillance and tracking, other than that it looks like interesting equipment.
- #016
The Audi used has a W12 badge on its grille, but the chrome upper sections of the side mirrors were fitted only to the V10 S8.
- #017
The Mercedes in the chase scene is a W211 E-Class E500 with a facelifted front end, powered by a 306 hp Mercedes V8 and fitted with the Elegance package, which is why the car has no exhaust pipes. If you listen carefully right after the scene where the Mercedes passes between two trucks, you can hear the rumble of the V8.
- #018
The footage shown in the Budapest scene has nothing to do with the city. Only the real Parliament building is visible at the start of the scene; none of the other places or facilities shown in "Budapest" exist in real life.
- #019
Natalya Rudakova's character is named Valentina. Rudakova's birthday falls on 14 February, Valentine's Day.
- #020
It is the first Transporter film in the series to be distributed by Europacorp.
- #021
Right after the Audi leaves the ferry in Marseille, a real Volkswagen Transporter 3 van passes across the screen (at 3 minutes 30 seconds), and another is visible behind Inspector Tarconi as he informs Minister Vasilev that his daughter is safe (at 90 minutes 48 seconds).
- #022
The following installment, The Transporter Refueled (2015), is a reboot of this film and of the earlier films The Transporter (2002) and Transporter 2 (2005).
- #023
Before Olivier Megaton signed on, the directors considered included Dominic Sena, Joseph Kahn, Marcus Nispel, Jon Turteltaub (who would later direct Statham in The Meg), David McNally, Michael Bay and Ang Lee.
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