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Stallone will direct and star...
Having written the script, recruited the stars, filled the director’s chair and bagged the leading role, this is very much Sylvester Stallone’s movie. And according to the man himself, he’s more than capable of juggling his responsibilities.
“But if you don’t do the line exactly like he thought it, you have to do it again. He’s a perfectionist. A lot of directors could be intimidated by a cast like this, but not Stallone. He’s good.”
It has the action cast to end all action casts...
Stallone, Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Terry Crews…it’s every action fan’s wet dream!
It was a technique that worked a treat, with Jason Statham telling MTV he jumped at the chance to be involved in what could be the definitive entry to the action canon.
“It’s a great circle of people to be involved with,” says Statham. “Sly is someone I grew up watching on TV and on the movies. He’s a living legend. And so the chance for me to come all these years later and be working alongside him is just one of those pinch-yourself moments.”
There will be some very special cameos...
As if the main cast wasn’t enough to draw us in, Stallone has set up a mouth-watering scene featuring a triple-header between himself, Bruce Willis and, Arnold Schwarzenneger.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Stallone revealed that the scene will be around five minutes long, and will feature some meaty dialogue for the three heavyweights to get their teeth into.
“Bruce says ‘Well, there’s one other person I want to talk to before I hire you,” explains Stallone, “and then Arnold, who plays my old rival, walks in. We have a history together. And we go back and forth and I tell him that I should have shot him a long time ago when I had the chance. Then it goes on from there, the three of us trying to man up to one another, playing off of who we are, using our baggage in this one scene.”
Mickey Rourke owes Sly a favour...
Mickey Rourke is set to up The Expendables ’ star power yet further, by cropping up as a dodgy arms dealer.
“Stallone, when I was flat broke and could hardly pay for a bowl of spaghetti in a restaurant, gave me a couple of weeks on Get Carter ,” recalls Rourke in an interview with The Guardian . “That paid my fucking rent for eight months!” That Stallone, eh? Not just a pretty face…
The cast was nearly even more star-studded...
If you think the cast looks impressive now, it could have been even glitzier if Stallone had had his way. The star told fansite Stallone Zone that he approached Kurt Russell to appear, only for the action-man to fob him off.
“Stallone gave me a part in his next movie," he told us. "But I ask him about the subject, about the story. He said, ‘You’re gonna make lots of money.’ I don’t want to hear that, I want to hear what was my character.
He was unable to tell what it’s going to be. So I didn’t do the movie.” We hate to say it, but looking at the trailer, it looks like JCVD’s loss!
Stallone has also hired some professional bruisers
Actors who can fight are all very well, but Stallone has decided to shore things up by drafting in some fighters who can act.
As Stallone told FHM , “my fight with Stone Cold Steve Austin was so vicious that I ended up getting a hairline fracture in my neck. I had to have a very serious operation afterwards. I now have a metal plate in my neck.” Just another day at the office, eh Sly?
Sly will lead a crack team of mercenaries to sort out a South American dictator...
And so to the plot. The Expendables will see Stallone play Barney Ross, a tough-as-old-boots, former-military man enlisted by a shadowy government type to overthrow a South American dictator.
Naturally the stage is set for all manner of punch-ups, shoot-outs and explosions, all of which promise to be on the grandest possible scale. “We’re doing a lot of action,” says Stallone, somewhat unnecessarily. “Some of the scenes are huge, as I’ve never done before! Today we shot the port with these giant ships and some Somalian pirates… It’s an insane challenge!”
It will be a throwback to the classic action movie...
Don’t expect to see any explosions billowing out of the screen in flashy 3D. Stallone has set out to make an old-school action movie in the mould of those that made his name. As he describes it himself, “it’s a 1980s movie with today’s technology.”
That said, Sly is adamant his story will not be mired in nostalgia, and describes his female lead (Giselle Itie) as a case in point. “In those days,” he says, “the female leading character was a helpless girl, waiting to be rescued by the hero. Now we have a very strong female character that evolved to this form while I was writing the script.”
It won't purely be powered by testosterone
It would take a pretty extraordinary actress to hold her own amongst The Expendables ’ rogue’s gallery of movie tough-guys, but Stallone is convinced he’s found just the girl.
That said, she did enjoy filming with a raft of chiselled action blokes, gushing that “Dolph Lundgren’s really cute.” Sorry Stath, looks like Dolph is still the top dog when it comes to the ladies.
It will be violent, but not ultra-violent...
Anybody going to see The Expendables will surely be expecting a certain amount of blood and thunder, but according to Dolph Lundgren, it won’t be an out-and-out gore-fest. “ The Expendables is violent, but it’s not as violent as Rambo ,” the star told Movieweb .
