I’m confident The Expendables crew won’t rest until every single action star has taken part in at least one of their films. With the jump from one to two — which hits theaters this week — the notion of bigger is better in never more prevalent, as Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and more were given new roles, as well as Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger now being featured more prominently. For the third film, producer Avi Lerner is aiming higher for celebrity status.
Speaking with Total Film, he revealed that Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford have both been approached for roles, and as soon as Wesley Snipes get out of his prison stint, there is interest there for him to join. They’ve also got none other Nicolas Cage for an undisclosed role. What’s striking about these above options is none were never famous for brawn over brains action vehicles, rather somewhat slick, smart and suave roles — at least the former two. If there’s a rare chance this all falls together, it’ll be interesting to see how they fit in. Of course, the whole cast will also return, with hopes to even get Mickey Rourke back, “if he won’t be too crazy.”
As for a plot (something I’m not sure fans of these films require), Bleeding Cool was at the UK junket where Sylvester Stallone dropped a few hints about where a next film could go. Aside from hinting that they would want to add more outside-the-box roles, joking that Irish, Olympic-winning boxer Katie Taylor could take a part, the star also poked fun at Schwarzenegger, saying they could “rip-off one of [his] other films.” Check out the quote below.
We are thinking about different concepts because the third one is the hardest by far. The second is the natural progression. That is when the air gets rare.We are thinking pretty ambitiously about it. She [Katie Taylor] would fit right in there. We are looking at odd choices because you now have to give the audiences something they don’t expect at all. Maybe even going for a different sort of genre if you can read between the lines. Get out there a little bit.
There was rumors of a Predators cross-over, so this is what he could be referring to. With the first film being so mind-numbing in its by-the-numbers execution, I honestly wouldn’t mind a little genre fun in the form of a Predators addition. That franchise has hit a dead-end with Robert Rodriguez‘s failed reboot attempt, so by all means, this crew should go for it.
Are you going to see The Expendables 2? Who would you like to see in a third film?