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Sunday, November 1
Action movie juggernauts Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis shared the limelight throughout the '80s and '90s, starring in one eye-popping spectacle after another. The three actors even shared ownership of the once-popular Planet Hollywood chain of movie memorabilia-themed restaurants. But one thing they never shared before is screen time. That's going to change once The Expendables explodes into theaters next summer.
Just last week, the publicist for The Expendables blogged about being on set for the filming of a pivotal scene featuring the three superstars in an empty church. In a recent phone interview with EW, Stallone gave a brief description of that historic scene, which he described as "amazing."
Bruce says "Well, there's one other person I want to talk to before I hire you," 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. And here we are, the three of us trying to man up to one another, playing off of who we are, using our baggage in this one scene.
Stallone only had Schwarzenegger and Willis on set for one day, but the scene the three shot together will comprise approximately 5 minutes of the movie's running time. Stallone summed up the significance of it by saying:
It's funny because between the three of us, if you add up all the box office and DVD rentals and all of that, there's like $15 billion in that one scene!
The Expendables also features appearances by Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, and Terry Crews.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens August 10, 2010
Posted 11/1/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Bruce Willis | Sylvester Stallone | The Expendables
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Friday, October 30
The Expendables is shaping up to be the magnum opus of action movies, with nearly every current and former tough-guy actor and action superstar on board to tell the story of a group of "expendable" mercenaries who team up to overthrow an evil South American dictator. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables has been described as Sly's answer to today's "soft" action heroes.
One of the starring tough guys in The Expendables is Dolph Lundgren, Stallone's Rocky IV nemesis. In a recent interview with Movieweb, Lundgren confirmed that Stallone is hoping to bring back the days of the "real" action hero.
I never came with a conscious plan to replace anyone else. Stallone does feel that way. He is a real tough guy in real life, and he gets to act that out. If you meet him and work with him, he is what he is. He is a guy that works out every day. And he fires guns. That's what he does. People's tastes vary and change. I guess there have been a lot of actors that have been trained to fight and look tough, starting with The Matrix. Now, Stallone figures that he is going to put some real men out there. That is why he hires people like me, who are big and used to do sports for real. That's why he's picked guys like [Randy] Couture and [Jason] Statham, and [Jet] Lee.
Lundgren said that he considers Stallone a mentor and was grateful for the "great character" that Stallone wrote for him in The Expendables.
[My character is] crazy but funny. In a comedic way. He's a good guy and a bad guy at the same time. Stallone really pushed me to get those comedic moments to work. It's something that I hadn't really ever done before. It was hard for me, especially with Stallone directing. And we have all of these other guys there. Stallone is a pretty tough director. You don't mess with him. But those scenes certainly proved that comedy in these types of films is very important. I think it works for me. Maybe that will be my secret weapon in the future of my career. I hope, anyway.
As for the future, Lundgren is unsure whether The Expendables will be a one-off or the start of a franchise.
Stallone is huge on sequels. I don't know what is going to happen. Even so, I think people are going to love this film. And want another one. They are going to be thrilled by what they see on that screen. Especially when I am going up against Sly. We are both friends and enemies in this movie. I think it's going to be really good.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens August 20, 2010
Posted 10/30/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Dolph Lundgren | Sylvester Stallone | The Expendables
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Wednesday, October 28
Sylvester Stallone has put together a massive, action star cast for his movie The Expendables, including Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren,Terry Crews, and Randy Couture. The movie also contains a scene between Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis, which is the first time all three have appeared together in one movie. The Expendables' unit publicist Sheryl Main wrote about they day they shot all three action movie icons on her blog.
The whole crew was mesmerized as we watched the three of them play off of each other in a pivotal scene that sets up the whole movie. And while I can't/don't want to give too much away I can tell you that Arnold's character is Trench and Bruce is Church, the scene was shot in an empty church without extras and minimal set dec and it has tension and humor — what more can a girl ask for! Sly was in top form as a director today and was in total command. Bruce and Arnold were consummate professionals at all times — we got through the scene quickly without compromise. In 6 hours we did wide shots, close-ups, turned around ... the whole nine yards ... pretty impressive. Very Clint Eastwood.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens August 20, 2010
Posted 10/28/2009 by Ryan
Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Bruce Willis | Sylvester Stallone | The Expendables
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Wednesday, October 14
A trailer for The Expendables briefly appeared online. In it, Sylvester Stallone teams up with a set of action movie all-stars, including Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Steve Austin, ,Terry Crews, and Randy Couture, as they head out to overthrow a South American dictator. It should be no surprise that Stallone is also directing the movie himself, from his own script.
Sadly, the cameos from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis didn't make it into the trailer.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens August 20, 2010
Posted 10/14/2009 by Ryan
Related: Jason Statham | Terry Crews | Steve Austin | Dolph Lundgren | Sylvester Stallone | Jet Li | The Expendables | Randy Couture | Mickey Rourke
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Thursday, October 1
Sylvester Stallone is suddenly finding himself very much in demand with the upcoming The Expendables and Rambo 5 on the horizon. He also told Empire that he may also add a remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson action thriller Death Wish to his workload.
I'm thinking about it. It's a classic morality tale, where you take a civilized man and take away everything that matters to him so he becomes primitive again. The story's been done many times, and when it's done well, it's an emotionally engaging film. The trouble with remakes is that people fall in love with the original. It's like peanut butter. If you try to change the taste of peanut butter, you're in trouble.
We've never thought of the long-running Death Wish series as peanut butter, considering the movies follow Bronson becoming a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered, but now that you mention it, Sly ... we still can't think of it that way.
While Stallone is interested in Death Wish, more than anything he wants to get his pet project, a biopic of Edgar Allen Poe, off the ground.
I keep telling my [Expendables] producer Avi Lerner, "Make Edgar Allan Poe!" He says, "Does he have a gun?" "No, he doesn't have a gun." "Can he throw a knife?" I say, "No, he writes poetry!"
For any Poe fans thinking Stallone wants to play the writer, don't worry. Stallone already agrees that would be poor casting.
Of course, I'm not playing Poe. "Yo, Poe!" It won't work! It'll be some young actor because he dies at 39, but it's gonna happen.
It'll be some tasty peanut butter, that's for sure.
Posted 10/1/2009 by Ryan
Related: Sylvester Stallone | Death Wish | Death Wish | The Expendables | Rambo 5
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Tuesday, September 29
Sylvester Stallone is hoping to turn back the clock with his latest film, The Expendables, to a time before CGI became the staple ingredient of Hollywood action movies. In an interview with Empire, Stallone said:
What I wanted to do was just try to do something that is a little different. Today, technically, we're incredibly gifted and versatile with CGI, and I wanted to do a film that was more about men, doing things that we did back in the '80s and '90s that were a little more mano a mano — actual, physical stunts. It's also a story that isn't super-gigantic; it's almost a believable story.
To aid him in this endeavor, Stallone has hired an an all-star cast of movie tough-guys that includes Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and even the "Governator" himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I guess it's kinda like The Dirty Dozen, or one of those films that comes along every once in a while — like The Magnificent Seven — to try to take that old formula and move it into a modern era. We accomplished it; I'm very, very happy with the film.
Where did Stallone get the title for his film? He admits that it came from a line in Rambo 2, but said that it's really about the nature of the men featured in the film.
...these men ... they're expendable. If they're gone, the world will go on. No one will miss them. They don't have families, all they have is each other. They're expendable to the rest of the world, but they're not expendable to each other — they're just necessary. So it's a real brotherhood. I think it has a lot of heart for an action film.
The Expendables was written and directed by Stallone and also features Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, David Zayas, and Brittany Murphy.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens August 20, 2010
Posted 9/29/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Sylvester Stallone | The Expendables
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Tuesday, September 15
Sylvester Stallone put his career back on track by reviving his most popular characters in Rocky Balboa and Rambo. The success of both brought him the chance to make The Expendables, a movie he both wrote and directed that's about a group of mercenaries who overthrow a dictator. .
Stallone has assembled a massive cast of action stars for Expendables, including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Dolph Lundgren. At the Venice Film Festival, Stallone described the movie as a throwback to action movies past.
I wanted to do a film that was more about men and just doing things that we did back in the '80s and '90s with films that were a little bit more men on men, and actual physical stunts and also a story that isn't super-gigantic. And the thing was to find certain personalities that never would ever work together normally and put them altogether. It's like a dream team.
Bruce Willis is also joining the male action fest. Stallone says Willis will appear with another action star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold, Bruce and I will be working together for the first time, maybe in two weeks, so I had to grow back my beard and get ready to film it in Los Angeles. It's very difficult to get us all together at the same time. It's impossible to get all those egos in the same room.
Once The Expendables is complete, Stallone will focus his attention on Rambo 5, a movie initially described as a rescue movie before the storyline changed to one that pits Stallone against a genetically modified creature. Retitled Rambo V: The Savage Hunt, Stallone believes the storyline change will put the Rambo franchise in a new direction.
I don't want to keep repeating myself and just doing films about war. This is a very psychological film about sophisticated man fighting primitive man. It's actually possible today, with all the cloning and stem cell research, to actually have some experiments that don't work very well and get out of control.
Once Rambo V is complete, Stallone will continue writing and directing, even if he doesn't appear in the movies.
What's very unusual in my life is that I'm now, at this age, starting to develop what I should have done 20 years ago which is more directing and writing and especially not the movies I am in. The key will be to direct other people and write for other people. Then that cycle will be broken.
Posted 9/15/2009 by Ryan
Related: Sylvester Stallone | Rambo | The Expendables | Rambo 5
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Wednesday, September 2
Lionsgate used its Twitter page, which is quickly becoming the movie industry standard for updating progress on upcoming movies, to give some "Twitter exclusive" news on two of their upcoming movies:
***twitter exclusive*** KICK-ASS releases 4/16/10... EXPENDABLES arrive 8/20/10... and GAMER hits theaters THIS FRIDAY!!!
Don't worry, Lionsgate isn't mad at you, those capital letters are for emphasis. April is pretty close to Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaugh's assertion that the movie would arrive "early [2010]."
When The Expendables opens in August, writer/director Sylvester Stallone may already be finished with Rambo 5.
And Gamer opens Friday, in case you missed it.
Posted 9/2/2009 by Ryan
Related: Gamer | Kick-Ass | The Expendables
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Monday, August 31
Variety reports that Sylvester Stallone is returning as John Rambo for a fifth time. Stallone will also direct the movie, just like he did for 2008's Rambo.
The end of Rambo found Stallone back in the United States, but in the fifth installment Rambo will head south of the U.S. border to fight drug lords and human traffickers to rescue a young, kidnapped girl. And since the last movie went back to the original moniker, we can't help but wonder what this one will be called. Rambo II? Rambo: Third Blood Part II? Just plain Rambo again?
Rambo 5 (or II, or whatever) will start production next spring. Currently, Stallone is finishing post-production on The Expendables, a movie filled with action stars like Jason Statham, Jet Li, and recent addition Bruce Willis.
Posted 8/31/2009 by Ryan
Related: Sylvester Stallone | Rambo | The Expendables | Rambo 5
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Wednesday, August 19
The new ultra-violent ensemble flick from writer-director-actor Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables already includes an incredible cast of silver-screen tough guys — Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren. Recently, another action star was added to that list: Mr. Die Hard himself, Bruce Willis.
Willis told MTV that he has not been on set yet, but that he is opening up space in his schedule to shoot a cameo with Stallone and the "Governator," Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I'm waiting for a call from Sly about when we're going to try and make that happen.... I don't know anything about (my character) yet, haven't seen any pages yet. But, I'm excited about it.
The Expendables also features Steve Austin , Terry Crews, and former UFC champion Randy Couture.
Next Showing: The Expendables opens April 23, 2010
Posted 8/19/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Bruce Willis | Sylvester Stallone | The Expendables