According to trade journal Variety, former WWE star and 2009 Hall of Fame inductee Steve Austin has signed on to play a role in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming movie "The Expendables."
The movie follows a team of mercenaries as they head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.
A star studded cast of tough guys are cast in the film including The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke, MMA star Randy Couture, former WWE star Aaron Aguilera, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kung Fu star Jet Li, the evil Russian from Rocky Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker, Jason Statham and Stallone himself.
Isnt this the first time Stallone and Schwarzenegger have worked together (in movies)? I remember back in their hayday, everyone wanted them to team up!
Isnt this the first time Stallone and Schwarzenegger have worked together (in movies)? I remember back in their hayday, everyone wanted them to team up!
Arnie is just going to be a cameo. They've been friends for years, but I think the only screentime they've had together was Stallone as a cardboard cutout in 'The Last Action Hero'.
There was also the poster in Twins! Just trying to remember if Stallone did something in one of his films too.
I knew they had always been friends (hence the jokes in the Arnie films and the Planet Hollywood stuff), but I remember during the era of Rambo and Predator etc, everyone wanted them to do an action movie together!
There was also the poster in Twins! Just trying to remember if Stallone did something in one of his films too.
I knew they had always been friends (hence the jokes in the Arnie films and the Planet Hollywood stuff), but I remember during the era of Rambo and Predator etc, everyone wanted them to do an action movie together!
In Demolition Man they are telling Stallone about the future and the one guy said, "ever since President Schwarzeneger....." and Stallone stopped him and goes "the actor......he was President!?!" And I was like oh hell yeah!
Sly's looking good for his age. And nice to see Eric Roberts getting more roles than his daughter or sister these days.
I'm really looking forward to this movie. They rarely make just good-old-80's-style manly action films these days without just lumping loads of CGI cheese or romance or comedy relief into it.
With Arnie and Willis both making cameos, this only adds to the fun. Of course, I have to wonder why Willis wouldn't sign all-up for this? Maybe he costs too much...
Well from the initial cast list I read ages ago, Willis wasnt even on it, so its entirely possible he was only approached late in the game specifically for a cameo.
To my knowledge, he is good mates with Stallone and Schwarzenegger, which is why they were all part of Planet Hollywood, so I'd assume fees wouldnt be a problem. Plus, he seems to like doing cameos in movies, and isnt against starring in smaller budget films.
Oh yeah, I mean, it's cool and all. Any Willis is good Willis. I just mean...nowadays...how hard would it be to put together a movie with all the old greats like Arnie, Stallone, Lungren, Willis, Norris, Segal, VanDamme, Jackie Chan, etc ? I'm not saying it would be instant awesome. But, it would be something to see all the 80's/90's action icons together, and even mixed with some of the new guys like Jason Statham, and the like.
But, if this is as close as they can get it, I'll take it. All I'm hoping for is a fun, hard script and some buddy-buddy screen chemistry. Big explosions never hurt, either...
No, Rob, Arnold took three months off from being governor of California to be in the movie.
lots of large roles can be accomplished in a number of days, depending on the film. why would you think it'd have to require three months of full time shooting...?
are arnie and bruce not really in the film much? i didn't see them make the "AND THIS GUY'S NAME!" credits.
still, looks awesome. the premise, alone, is aweshome!
It was mentioned pretty early on that both those guys were only cameos.
From my understanding, Willis hires Stallones team, so thats pretty much his total input.
Roberts is the main bad guy, with Austin as his main henchman.
Lundgren is part of the Expendables, but going on the footage, I'd guess he dies early on or something, especially with the joke about the team being four and a half men (Stallone, Statham, Couture, Crewes and Li).
are arnie and bruce not really in the film much? i didn't see them make the "AND THIS GUY'S NAME!" credits.
still, looks awesome. the premise, alone, is aweshome!
It was mentioned pretty early on that both those guys were only cameos.
From my understanding, Willis hires Stallones team, so thats pretty much his total input.
Roberts is the main bad guy, with Austin as his main henchman.
Lundgren is part of the Expendables, but going on the footage, I'd guess he dies early on or something, especially with the joke about the team being four and a half men (Stallone, Statham, Couture, Crewes and Li).
Stallone said something about Lundgren's character a while back and about how it would appeal to the fans who knew their history and such. made me think that Lundgren turns on the rest of the team.
Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. His is a true cynic who describes what he does as "removing those hard to get at stains." The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.
When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.
Saw it today. It was really good. It let everyone have a moment without overdoing it. Couture can't act, but he wasn't called on to do it very much either. Sly has learned how to make good movies again. He seems to be on a kick since the last Rambo of brining in honest to god real world, heavy duty weapons and using them to their full advantage. I wonder if it was intentional that Austin's character was said to not be bothered about hitting women.
Oh, and Sly's final quip about Arnie is worth the price of admission alone.
save me $10 and just type it here. I'll probably never see this movie. If I want Stallone, I'll go Rocky IV and get lasers and robots with birthday cakes.
Willis told ComingSoon.net that the sequel is happening and said everybody’s favorite beer-drinking rattlesnake will be involved:
“I talked to Sly and he’s going for all the marbles this time, and he’s going to get everybody in this time. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin who took two bullets in the last film, he’s coming back, too. Hopefully, they’ll start shooting it while we’re young enough to survive.”
I wonder if this means they will be aiming at some of the other big action names from back in the day like Seagal, Chan & Van Damme?
I think that would be a great way of doing it. Having two teams of 'good guys' with a rivalry. Maybe throw in Jesse Ventura, just so we can hear "I aint got time to bleed" one more time.
Of course theres also newer action guys like Diesel and The Rock, who could also be called upon. Problem is, how much is too much?
Willis told ComingSoon.net that the sequel is happening and said everybody’s favorite beer-drinking rattlesnake will be involved:
“I talked to Sly and he’s going for all the marbles this time, and he’s going to get everybody in this time. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin who took two bullets in the last film, he’s coming back, too. Hopefully, they’ll start shooting it while we’re young enough to survive.”
I wonder if this means they will be aiming at some of the other big action names from back in the day like Seagal, Chan & Van Damme?
Seagal and Van Damme were both asked, and each passed. Had to do with ego. Maybe with all the money Expendables is raking in, they may change their minds. Hopefully their attitudes as well.
It seems that Sylvester Stallone will pass on leading behind-the-scenes with The Expendables 2, the confirmed follow-up to his action tale from last year. While Stallone may have wrote and directed the first installment, the Los Angeles Times' 24 Frames reports that Stallone has opted out of doing the same for sequel and will just star in it.
The report suggests that David Agosto and Ken Kaufman (Space Cowboys) have been tasked with writing a script treatment bringing back the action heroes while Stallone and producers over at Millennium Films are in search for a director to lead the production.
No word yet on which actors will be returning to the sequel as well beyond Stallone's Barney Ross character though previous rumors did point to Bruce Willis possibly returning as the main villain this time around and a bigger role from outgoing governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"The Expendables 2" has proven even more skilled at the Compiling Of Names game, adding bigger parts for Schwarzenegger and Willis and now adding fellow "action legends" Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris. But the biggest names of all, if Stallone has his way, include Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. He's just trying to work the scheduling out; they do film in Bulgaria during the winter, after all.
We assume this script is just being written on the fly -- this time the film's being directed by Simon West of "Con Air" -- because Cage's and Travolta's parts are unclear and because Stallone is just diagramming up scenes to Entertainment Weekly. Here's how he describes his fight scene with Van Damme:
"We'll have a big showdown between me and Van Damme, which has been anticipated for a long time, so it should be a good one."
All right, that's not so much a description but a plot point. But it is good to know that Stallone and Van Damme will fight and not, in fact, debate whether or not Immanuel Kant's Faculty of Understanding allows for objective reasoning outside of one's perspective.
You know, if they would just drop the unknowns like "Couture" and "Crews" and get guys like Clancy Brown and/or Ving Rhames, I'd really get into it. Nice to see Van Damme came to his senses, though. And looks like we might get ten more minutes of Willis and Arnie in this one....
