Category: Expendables

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, Harry at AICN posted an exclusive report that came to him from an extremely reliable source saying that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be making a cameo in “The Expendables.”

Harry said that Arnold would “shooting for one day” playing himself “and it seems that the Gov and Sly’s character Barney Ross have some history back when the Gov was shooting Conan the Barbarian!”  Harry concluded the post with: “So there you have it.  Sly and Arnie are both in this film.  I’d take this to the bank, I have a really good (ahem) source (ahem) on this!

Websites all over the world lit up with news that Arnold would finally appear on film alongside Sly.

Then, less than 24 hours later, Harry was back saying:

“Hey folks, Harry here… It seems there’s a possibility that my source was a bit too exuberant about the certainty of Arnold Schwarzenegger signing aboard.  The whole thing is very dependent upon what happens with Arnold’s primary gig as the Governor of California… My source also tells me if this miracle does come to pass you’ll find Arnie not as the Governor, but as something a bit more gritty, scarred and brutalized.

So, where does that leave us?  We’ve gone from a sure thing [“take it to the bank”] to what sounds as highly unlikely [“if this miracle does come to pass”].  Still, fans have been waiting for years for the pairing and “The Expendables” seems like the perfect project to make it happen.  I especially like the sound of the change from Arnie playing himself to something more “gritty, scarred and brutalized.”

Time will tell, but I do have my fingers crossed.

On February 17th, The Latino Review was the first to announce that Danny Trejo has joined Sly’s cast for “The Expendables.” How cool is that?  Trejo always makes a film better — he’ a fan favorite and a welcome addition.

Variety has reported that Mickey Rourke has signed on to co-star in Sly Stallone’s action flick, “The Expendables.” Rourke will join Sly, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Forrest Whitaker in what many are calling the can’t miss movie of the coming year.  The National Post even published an article today with the title: “Early Prediction: Stallone’s The Expendables will be the greatest action movie of all time.”

The Defamer.com also has an interesting [and positive] article on “The Expendables.” Here are a few quotes:

The Second Coming of Mickey Rourke owes itself in part to Stallone’s faith in him a decade ago, when he recommended Rourke for a minor role in the remake of Get Carter. Their brooding, mangle-faced chemistry was about the only thing that clicked while the film imploded around them. We wanted more, and we’ll get it.

…Sir Ben Kingsley rumored to have an eye on the project…

Unless you count Denzel Washington (we don’t) and his Where the Wild Things Are voice work for Spike Jonze, Forest Whitaker hasn’t worked with a real director since Kevin Macdonald shepherded him to an Oscar in 2006.

You gotta love it.  Rourke and Stallone together again on the big screen.  Yeah, we did want more.  And, yeah, we’re getting it.  It’s also interesting to note that the author of the piece must consider Sly a “real director.”

Now if we can just get Kurt Russell and Bruce Willis on board and a cameo for Arnold, I say let the filming begin!

SZoner, Gianno, sent in the photos with this post and said: Madonna is not the only international star to come to Rio de Janeiro in recent days. Sylvester Stallone is also in town. The actor is looking to scout locations for his new movie, “The Expendables”, which will be recorded in the city and Sao Paulo.

Neil Brown, over at ScreenRant.com, recently had this to say about “The Expendables”:

The main film on any true film fan’s calendar for 2009 has to be The Expendables. The Sylvester Stallone film co-starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Forrest Whitaker.

Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News spoke with Sly who revealed that UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has joined the film’s line up. He also revealed that Lundgren and Li would indulge in some sort of fisticuffs.Come on Sly – get Arnold and Bruce involved – even if only in a brief cameo capacity.

Who could argue with that? And ScreenRant also pointed out that “The Expendables” was the Internet Movie Database’s number five most searched movie of 2008! That’s pretty impressive, especially considering that it wasn’t announced until later in the year. – Craig