(From left to right) Jason Statham, Li Bingbing and director Jon Turteltaub. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Being pushed by his staff to draw the interview to a close, Statham insisted on taking out his tablet and showing me a video of his daredevil swimming with the nearly 3-meter-long "killers."

Wearing a diving suit and sporting an iron glove－just in case there was "an accident"－the 50-year-old action star took to the water without the protection of a cage.

"It was a phenomenal thing to do. The diving instructors hand-feed them," Statham says, pointing to a container filled with tuna-fish heads.

But even with its visual feast of underwater stunts, The Meg will still be up against some fierce competition in the world's second-largest movie market this summer.

In recent months, Chinese audiences have been fed a diet of special effects-fueled monster movies, such as Dwayne Johnson's Rampage, which features a giant gorilla and other gigantic beasts, and Universal Pictures's Jurassic World 2.

Classifying these movies more as fantasy stories, Statham believes The Meg is a different proposition altogether, as it will spark audiences to think about the future of our oceans, which cover two-thirds of the planet.

"The megalodon is a real creature that once existed. Oceans are still the most uncharted areas of the planet. You cannot tell what is down there. We have seen their fossils and teeth, but we don't know if they are still there," says the actor, who is well-known in China for his roles in the Fast and Furious franchise.