Busy Actress Natalie Burn joins the cast of Statham's Mechanic: Resurrection

Hot on the heels of us posting the AWAKEN trailer, it has been announced that quick, up and coming lady of action, Natalie Burn will co-star with Jason Statham, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Alba and Michelle Yeoh in the Dennis Gansel directed Mechanic Sequel, Mechanic: Resurrection.

Having done bit parts in action, B-Movie fare like In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds, she headlined the aforementioned Awaken (and wrote and produced it), appeared in Expendables 3 as Conrad Stonebanks' (Mel Gibson) wife and is set to join the globe trotting production of Mechanic: Resurrection which has so far filmed in Thailand, Australia, Bulgaria and Rio.

Statham returns as hitman Arthur Bishop, who, after the love of his life is kidnapped, must complete three impossible assassinations. Burn will play a BBC reporter who is covering the killings.

William Chartoff and David Winkler are producing the sequel with John Thompson and Frank DeMartini, while Millennium’s Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Alba is serving as executive producer.

The film is set for release on Jan. 22, 2016.

The Expendables 3 Teaser Trailer #2 and 16 Character Photos

So there it is, the second teaser trailer for The Expendables 3 which is due in August. I love the look, the cast and, of course, I'm excited, it's an Expendables film! but the marketing for it has been, so far, a little weak for my taste. In this teaser, for example, we have the Fast and the Furious font and the worrying 'One Last Ride' mention, which is odd as The Expendables 4 is already, supposedly casting and far from a sequel all about the new young members of the team, the latest news about Ex4 is that Pierce Brosnan has been cast! (We here at Action Inc headquarters would've preferred T-Dalt out of all the Bonds but Brosnan's not a bad pick.)

Anyway, whatever happens, in Sly we trust!

To complement this trailer, yesterday, they also released 16 individual cast photographs which are both cool but a little odd. Why do these pictures show lighting equipment? why are there no backdrops? why are they lazy? why are the lights in the photos not doing anything useful? How do these advertise an action film? I love the cast and the photos of the people directly are good but these look like out-take posters, it just makes me want to take these pics and make my own EX3 posters with them on photoshop! 

Maybe that's the point! 

Anyway, here they are, ENJOY!

Tell us what you think!

- The Kick Ass Kid

Statham finds his funny bone with Susan Cooper

Source: Variety
Jason Statham has finally signed on to appear in the Melissa McCarthy action spy comedy Susan Cooper which will be written and directed by McCarthy's frequent collaborator Paul Feig, the man behind Bridesmaids and The Heat.

There were rumours last year that Statham was circling the project and indeed he had indicated in interviews that he would like to tackle the action comedy or buddy cop genre that, in the 80s, spawned things like the Beverley Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon franchises.

McCarthy is riding high off the back of some high profile successes and I, personally, think the pair up could be an interesting one. Of course I'd also love to see Statham do a more traditional style buddy cop pairing too, with the emphasis on the action over the comedy, but until then I will be first in line to see Susan Cooper.

Statham has shown his comic chops in the Guy Ritchie films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and, of course, in the Crank films, so there is precedent. We here are, of course, huge fans of Statham and anything that continues his run of big screen ass kickery is all good by us.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts!!

-The Kick Ass Kid

The Expendables 3 OFFICIAL Teaser Trailer

Unlike other, so called, reputable film news sites - Total Film, Collider.com, Den of Geek etc. we actually waited till the REAL teaser trailer was available.
For those of you who don't know, a fan made trailer, using some impressive graphics and footage from other films, was shared by professional and fan sites this morning, despite clearly being made up from footage from other films and debuting on YouTube in November. Not US though :) (sorry feeling VERY smug)

Here is, however, the official teaser for Expendables 3!


WHAT DID YOU THINK?
let us know!
- The Kick Ass Kid

Statham in talks to join Susan Cooper

You may remember, a while back, that we reported The Stath had registered some interest in possibly doing a buddy cop comedy type film or some sort of comedy partnership and had mentioned Will Ferrell's name. NOW we have news that the Britkicker is eyeing a role in Paul Feig's (Bridesmaids, The Heat) new comedy spy actioner "Susan Cooper" starring Melissa McCarthy.
Obviously it's not quite the testosterone filled 48 hours type action comedy we may have envisaged but it would be fun to see Statham handle something like this so different in tone. It's also a wise move as Melissa McCarthy is hugely popular right now and it could give JS an even bigger boost into the Hollywood stratosphere after The Expendables franchise and Fast 7.

As the film is designed to be a female James Bond type deal, the studio is even whispering about a possible franchise should it prove successful.
Bond comedy rip offs are tricky and the likes of Austin Powers, Johnny English and Get Smart have all sort of failed to maintain an audience past their initial run, could Statham and McCarthy have the right comedy chemistry to make this fly?
What do you think?
Statham showed great comedic skill in the Crank films and proved a worthy sidekick in The Expendables, there's also a long history of action stars doing comedy films (with varying degrees of success) do you think and/or like this possible pairing and direction for The Stath's career??
LET US KNOW in the COMMENTS BELOW!!

- The Kick Ass Kid

EXPENDABLES 3 Update - Frasier Crane and near death for Statham

News has come through today that Kelsey Grammar, him of Cheers and Frasier fame, is joining the cast of The Expendables 3 instead of Nicolas Cage. He will, apparently, play the part, earmarked initially for Cage, of Bonaparte, an ex-mercanary who help the team out.

I give you a moment to let it sink in.

Now there are a few bizarre things about this news, not least of which has to be that Nic Cage actually turned down a film role! A periphery glance at his recent work on IMDB shows you how much of a rarity that is.

The other bizarre thing is the tons of action actors, yet to be put into a role, that could've done this and would've been better suited:
Steven Seagal, Kurt Russell, Roddy Piper, Jeff Speakman, Jeff Wincott, Billy Blanks, Pam Grier, Sigourney Weaver, Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Carl Weathers, Sho Kosugi, Gene Hackman, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, Fred Williamson, Liam Neeson and even Grammer's old Cheers colleague, Woody Harrelson!
I think Grammer is a lot of fun in The Simpsons, 30 Rock and even Frasier back in the day and if he was narrating the film then it wouldn't be such a shock but as an old mercenary helping out these 80s action stars, I am not so sure.
Ex3, with all the weird news we've had so far, is going to have some surprises in store for certain, I think.

This announcement comes off the back of Robert Davi's surprise casting as well. Davi is more obvious, of course, with his James Bond bad guy heritage but let's hope that he doesn't turn Ex3 into another Bad Pack

The other news that emerged this week, from the cool and funny lips of Terry Crews no less, is the story that, the legend that is, Jason Statham narrowly avoided death, or at least injury, on the set of Expendables 3 when a truck he was driving failed to stop and plunged into the Black sea.
Terry Crews told the story to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show saying that Statham simply swam out from the truck, leaving it to sink into the water, and was back to work later that day.

This is the second water and Statham related stunt-gone-wrong incident on Expendables 3 that has been reported in as many months. I am not sure if they are the same story but the first one stated Statham did a pond based stunt, earmarked for a stunt man, and ended up going to hospital with water in his lungs but this telling of this, possible, second incident by Crews, seems to have the Britkicker seemingly strolling out of the water unharmed and heading back to work.
I believe the second story more, Statham, hasn't spent time in hospital in his life. He heals himself using man sweat and awesomeness.

- The Kick Ass Kid

win an AWESOME grindhouse action film with 

THE AFTER MOVIE DINER!

Homefront Theatrical Trailer

Homefront stills and release date

Source: USAToday

Today we were finally treated to some character information, some plot points and some snaps from Jason Statham's upcoming action drama Homefront, written and produced by Sylvester Stallone, directed by Gary Fleder (Things to do in Denver When You're Dead) and co-produced by the team behind Safe and The Expendables.

The story, based on Chuck Logan's novel, seems to be typical action fodder. Set in Louisiana, a local hood named, if you can believe it, Gator, played by James Franco who runs with ex-bikegang moll, Winona Ryder, goes after and up-against Statham's DEA/British Interpol agent.

Also in the mix are The Stath's daughter played by newcomer Izabela Vidovic and Kate Bosworth as Gator's junkie sister.

Although on the surface this looks and sounds as formulaic as they come, director Fleder, who comes from a history of tense dramas rather than action, and Our Man Stath both insist that like Safe and Hummingbird/Redemption before it, this will showcase Stath's lighter, more emotional side. I see Homefront, then as sort of Safe meets The Mechanic with a bit of Parker thrown in. Not bad. Not bad at all.

After Parker, Fast 6 and Redemption, both from 2013, this marks Statham's fourth release this year and that is a dizzying pace for him to keep up as a one-man action-drama machine. I am sure there are people out there with Statham fatigue, sad pathetic people with no excitement or sense of humour but we are not those people, we, personally, want 3 Statham films EVERY year from now on. We can't wait 12 months for the next one and, thankfully, we won't have to. Next year we already have Heat, Expendables 3 and Fast 7 and what 2015 holds yet? we don't know but as long as he keeps making them, we'll keep watching and raving about them.

Homefront is released on November 27th in the US and November 29th in the UK

You're name's Gator then Franco? Is that some sort of fuckin' joke?

Beetlejuice 2? Sure! I'm in!

Yep! In this one Statham rides a fuckin' horse. Nice!

- The Kick Ass Kid

MORE Expendables 3 on-set photos

From Comingsoon.net

So, there you have it, they have been filming only a couple of days and already we have tons of on-set photos and THIS photo of a heavily pumped up Mel Gibson:

and while it's fantastic and, of course, my action nerd heart is already palpitating, I hope they ease off so there's SOME surprises in the movie!

- The Kick Ass Kid

EXPENDABLES 3 ROUND UP

Trying to keep up with the Expendables 3 casting rumours has become a 24/7 job as firstly, there are so many stars to choose from and secondly, so many sources of possible casting news. These include Sly's personal Twitter feed, IMDB, TheExpendablesPremiere.com, TheArnoldFans.com and, practically, every news agency under the sun.
With Stallone, Willis, Arnold and Statham all doing press tours on various other movies right now, interview snippets and sound bites have been pouring in daily.

Cold hard facts are not easy things to come by in the casting, with everyone reporting something different.
Going strictly from Sly's Twitter feed this year, what we can say for certain is that
Stallone
Lundgren
Rourke
and
Wesley Snipes will be in the cast as will new comers UFC champ Ronda Rousey and boxing star Victor Ortiz
Staying with Sly's twitter feed for the moment, he has also hinted at, but not solidly confirmed, Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Mel Gibson, Gina Carano and even Antonio Banderas although Carano and Banderas haven't been mentioned anywhere else whereas Jackie Chan and Mel Gibson have been confirmed in other interviews, like the one below, and the Steven Seagal rumour has only been confirmed by a Bulgarian news outlet and not the star himself.
Lastly Sly said recently in an interview with TheArnoldFans.com:
"We have a great director and the best stunt coordinator in the world. I said we’re going to make this like there’s no two other Expendables and that this is the first one. And we got Mel Gibson, Nic Cage, Jackie Chan and Wesley Snipes and now I have FIVE NEW guys that you have never heard of."

This would seem an odd claim to make as inside sources claim Mel Gibson hasn't confirmed yet (Source: Cinemablend.com), Nic Cage told DenOfGeek "I'm not in Kick-Ass 2 and I don't think I'm in Expendables 3 and I like those guys, but I would say it would be highly unlikely that I'd be in that movie" and I haven't read anything official about Jackie Chan since he made his statement that he would definitely do it but only if his part was substantial.

Statham has confirmed in several interviews that he is definitely returning and as Sly's right hand man in the first two it would seem odd if he didn't.
I have read that Schwarzenegger is definitely returning but nothing concrete from Willis yet.

We are also going to assume that Jet Li, Randy Couture and Terry Crews are also back. Terry Crews says that he is and in the same interview he confirms Milla Jovovich's definite involvement, which was another long-running rumour that's been buzzing about.
IMDB lists Jovovitch and Li but, weirdly, not Couture and Crews.

There's lots of worrying news about the stupidly named, vacant eyed, bland and probably brainless nobody Kellan Lutz (who's apparently from those fucking Twilight movies) being in talks for EX3 too but I hope that's just his agent's wishful thinking (or tactic) and/or he is the young meat puppet that gets killed in the first 5 minutes like Thor's brother in EX2.

So that's about it, so far. No word yet on who will be Statham's British counterpart. There was Vinnie Jones murmurings but I still hold out hope for Darren Shahlavi.

Plotwise the film is meant to centre around either The Expendables against a young group of computer criminals, The Expendables saving the President or both. I hope the computer nerd villain storyline is just a rumour because we've already seen Die Hard 4.

So what do you think? and who would you cast?
The film is scheduled for release August 2014

- The Kick Ass Kid

Jason Statham update!

Statham has been doing the rounds lately promoting his new film Hummingbird (out here in the States renamed as Redemption) which comes out this weekend June 28th.
For us here at the blog it's one of our most anticipated releases as it seems to blend Stath like action with an early 80s Bob Hoskins style gritty London movie. Cinematic gold in other words.
Here's a great interview he did for MTV where he actually goes in depth on Redemption, Fast 7, Expendables 3 and where he sees himself now.



Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

For those who have read our article 'Parker and let's get serious about Statham' you'll know that we have been supporting Statham's attempts to push his acting and work with interesting writer/director teams. It's nice, here, to see, finally, on this round of interviews, people asking him about precisely that. The slow ones will catch up, just remember we saw his genius first.

He also mentions, again, about wanting to do an action comedy and a pairing between him and Will Ferrell sounds amazing! Of course, if that doesn't work out, he could always try Jimmy Fallon with whom he stretched his comedy chops AND his arm wrestling skills recently on the late night talk-show.

and the last bit of info we have on the future of Stath is that while he may never be asked to don the tux of James Bond (because the producers are fools!), he may not have to as he has been pegged to star in a $35 million dollar British action film based on the Bulldog Drummond spy novels. Books which Ian Flemming himself said were an inspiration for Bond.

The film, Bulldog Drummond: Hero for Hire is currently on hold because they have been attempting to build a workable studio in Bahrain were some of the action set pieces will take place. Also where the producers of the film are trying to get a tasty tax rebate.

Jason, if he is involved, is probably thankful for the delay though because what with Heat, Homefront, Ex3 & Fast 7 on his plate already it would seem impossible to squeeze another film into that schedule but, we'll see! Just as long as he keeps making them, I'll keep watching them and applauding like an insane person!

- The Kick Ass Kid

New Pictures and TV Spot from Statham's Redemption (Hummingbird)

We were lucky enough to get hold of the below new photos from Jason Statham's next film Hummingbird in the UK and the disappointing name change to Redemption in the US.

Due out on the 28th of June, while the film certainly has some fight scenes in it, when I see the trailer I get very cool, early 80s Bob Hoskins, Mona Lisa vibes from it. 

Written and Directed by Steven Knight, the man behind Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things I think this is just another fantastic step on Statham's journey to become the next Hoskins, Stamp or Caine. A rough and ready London boy who can handle material with emotional depth too.

Statham deniers need to shut up or move on around me, I am constantly impressed by the man. 

-The Kick Ass Kid

Will Frank Martin be transporting again?

More action related news out of Cannes today (the most action fuelled Cannes ever perhaps?) when it was revealed that Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and  China's Fundamental Films (run by Mark Gao) are planning to produce not just 1 more Transporter film but 3 more!
The films will be budgeted around the $30-40million mark with at least one of them being filmed in China.
No word from The Stath yet about his possible involvement but let's hope he's not tired of driving after his jump into the Fast and Furious franchise because we don't want anyone else in the role.

This series was the closest a British action star has got to having a James Bond-y type role outside of the Bond franchise and Statham IS Frank Martin, if you don't believe me that it has to be Statham then try and fins The Transporter TV Series they made recently and when you find it, actually try and watch it...
It HAS to be Stath!

- The Kick Ass Kid

Listen to our recent interview with other British action star, who has done a fight scene with Statham, Darren Shahlavi - HERE

Expendables 3 UPDATE: Stallone Tweets and Action geeks fall at his feet!

A while ago Sylvester Stallone said he was quitting Twitter. Well, luckily for us action nerds, with Escape Plan, Grudge Match and Expendables 3 in the pipeline, Mr. Stallone has decided to remain on the social media platform for the time being and, lately, every time the Rocky Balboa actor has taken to tweeting, they've been heard and repeated around the world.
Bullet To The Head may have sadly flopped but there's no denying the interest and excitement fans still have for The Expendables franchise.

Here are his latest 140 character musings, in them are contained some fantastic news:

So, there you have it. Possible Antonio Banderas (reuniting after 1995's Assassins), definite Jackie Chan, definite Mickey Rourke and definite Wesley Snipes. 

A mention of The Raid and a possible hint of a certain Raid actor's involvement makes us smile considerably and claims that EX3 will better The Raid, while big and certainly confident, if anyone can, only this bunch of beautiful bastards can. 

Of course, like with any EX3 news there's always the feeling that it would nice to see a Cynthia Rothrock mention or a Kurt Russell but it looks like the casting is heading another way and that's fine too.

Our personal wish is to see Darren Shahlavi in a bad guy or henchman role so Statham can engage in another Brit off at the end with another find United Kingdom arse kicker.

- The Kick Ass Kid

For Fast and Furious Statham, the Seventh time's the charm.

Even before series regular Michelle Rodriguez confirmed the news at the London premiere of Fast 6 on May 7th, it was assumed that the one and only Statham would be joining Fast and Furious 7 and is rumoured to have a cameo near the conclusion of part 6.
With his 3 starring roles and the Fast films, that's 5 confirmed Statham sightings in the next 2 years. This is GREAT news. The world needs more Statham and The Fast & Furious franchise needs one more bald, bullet headed hardman to add to its ranks.
They should really get Paul Walker to shave his head!
Fast & Furious 6 hits theatres May 24th and the renamed Hummingbird now Redemption gets limited theatrical release in the US starting June 28th.
- The Kick Ass Kid