Mar-19-2009

“The Dean of Mean” Hits the Silver Screen

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By Thomas Gerbasi

Despite his status as one of the UFC’s top light heavyweights, Keith Jardine isn’t above a little moonlighting on the side. No, “The Dean of Mean” isn’t going back to one of his old gigs as a trainer, firefighter, football coach, miner, or bounty hunter. He’s adding a new line to the resume: actor.

Jardine, fresh from a close three round decision loss to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the main event of UFC 96 earlier this month, will next be seen in the Jason Statham action movie Crank High Voltage, which hits theaters on April 17th, and while Jardine doesn’t have a huge role in the film, he had a great time while on the set with Statham and writers / directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

[Click here to watch Jardine's clip in Crank High Voltage]

“I got spoiled,” said Jardine. “You hang around the set with the guys, you’re watching all the other scenes and having fun, and they’re all great guys, so it wasn’t a bad experience. I’ve done other movies before where you wait eight hours in the trailer and you finally get to do 45 minutes of work, and that’s hard.”

As for Statham, a diehard mixed martial arts fan who is seen at virtually every UFC event his hectic filming schedule allows him to get to, Jardine says, “Jason Statham is the coolest guy. He’s nothing like you would imagine a Hollywood guy to be like. He’s real humble and respectful, and it was a real pleasure and honor meeting that guy.”

For Jardine, being on the set is the fulfillment of a dream, one that he hopes will continue in the future.

“I’ve always been a movie buff and I love movies from all different points of view,” he said. “I have a blast doing it, and hopefully there will be a future in it for me. I’ve gotten good feedback from everything I’ve done so far and though I haven’t been tested with a really big role with a whole bunch of dialogue yet, I’ve had a blast doing everything I’ve done so far, and ever since I’ve been a kid I’ve wanted to do something like this.”

And “Crank High Voltage” isn’t the last you’ll be seeing of Jardine on the silver screen this year, as he’s already wrapped up filming for the September release of “Game”, which stars 300’s Gerard Butler and Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia, and is written and directed by the same team of Neveldine and Taylor. In the futuristic Sci-Fi thriller, Jardine has a bigger role, playing an ex-con.

“It’s a really cool concept,” he said. “It’s kinda like Running Man, where people go through this game show where if they pass a certain amount of scenes they get set free, but no one ever passes because it’s so hard, and someone is basically controlling each person like a video game. I happen to be one of the characters who’s an ex-convict, and I’m out there shooting people, blowing people up, and doing a lot of cool stuff, and I got a death scene, which is really cool.”

And while Jardine has enjoyed his time as an actor thus far he’s not about to leave his day job. In fact, he was back in the gym mere days after his three round loss to Jackson.

“Losing this fight is so bitter, the only thing I can do to relax is to work out,” said Jardine, who was outpointed by just one point on two of the three judges’ scorecards, with a late third round knockdown by Jackson possibly sealing the deal.

“It’s killing me,” he said. “Everybody knows I’ve had some bad losses, but this is the toughest one to take and I’m trying to put it out of mind. Knowing that I lost the fight in the last five seconds is really hard to take and it’s been killing me.”

Jardine did add to his substantial fanbase with his gritty effort though, and if there were any questions about his chin after losses to Wanderlei Silva and Houston Alexander, they were answered after he took a series of flush bombs from Jackson.

“It makes it easier knowing that I’m not taking a step back in my career and knowing that I’m still going to get good fights and the opportunities, and without the fans you’re not gonna get the fights, so that’s really huge,” he said. “But I can’t wait to put everything together and get to a fight where I finally show everything I’m capable of, and hopefully that’s my next fight.”

For now though, if you want to see “The Dean of Mean”, you’ll have to visit your local movie theater on April 17th.