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

Jackie Chan in Cannes: Expendables 3, Police Story 2013 and Skiptrace

Jackie Chan is currently in Cannes and has been talking about a lot of upcoming projects, not least of all the Expendables 3 rumours.

He said "[The Expendables team] did contact me, but right now I have not read the script yet," 

"I’d love to work with Stallone, but until I get back next week and meet Stallone and his manager, see the script… that’s when he’ll tell me what happens."

"I’d most like to have a fight scene with Stallone. Though I’d like to team up with him against the bad guy. There are so many action stars involved, it must be so difficult being the director. How do you share out every scene? 'I want to do something special, I want to do something special!' At the end, it’s all small parts, small parts, small parts. I want a big part! I hope I have a big part with Stallone!"
When asked who would win this fight with Stallone, he smiled and said "I would, I run faster than him."

I know it's just a silly interview at Cannes and obviously there's a little language barrier to overcome but it sounds like Jackie is somewhat missing the point of The Expendables. If there are any 'big' parts at all it's Stallone and Statham and personally that's a dynamic I really hope they don't mess with. They were in danger of messing with it a little in the second one when Arnie and Bruce showed up but I think, ultimately, it was ok.
Stallone does his best to give everyone their moment in the limelight and, again, I think he pulled that off better in the first one but I don't think we need to turn The Expendables into the Stallone and Chan show, Jackie should do a buddy cop film with Sly if that's what he wants. Also how do you have a film where he fights Stallone AND team up with him?
Anyway in Sly we trust, I guess we are going to have to wait and see.

He then went on to talk about Police Story 2013 which, apparently, is being touted as a franchise reboot more than just another sequel, as, in it, Chan plays a different character from Kevin Chan Ka-Kui and his character now comes from the mainland.

"I’ve just finished Police Story 2013. It’s totally different to my last movie, 12 Zodiac. 12 Zodiac was 'ah-ah-ah-ah-ah' (mimes fast kung fu moves), whereas Police Story 2013 is very much a drama. That’s why I choose different roles every year – I don’t like to do three 12 Zodiacs in a row, then Rush Hours 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So after 12 Zodiac, then Police Story, now I’m doing Skiptrace. A different kind of character. Next year, probably Karate Kid 2, then I’m back to the old things again."

Not sure how he would even squeeze in a BIG role in Expendables 3 (shooting later this year) with that busy roster!

Skiptrace will see Chan teaming up with Fan Bingbing who he starred with in Shinjuku incident. It's an English language, action comedy about a Hong Kong detective who joins forces with a gambler to take down a notorious criminal. There had been talks about Chris Tucker starring but Jackie Chan didn't want it confused with it being Rush Hour 4. It will be directed by Sam Fell who previously did animated films Paranorman and Flushed Away.

"This is a script I’ve been developing for 20 years," says Chan. "One of my babies. Then I gave it to Sam, he changes a lot of the script, he changes a lot of the characters. I really want the situation to help with a lot of the stunts. You don’t want another restaurant, a beach, a boat… I have to find new locations for the fights. And this movie is all about the locations. Mongolia, Siberia, Macau, Hong Kong, Yellow River, Vietnam, construction sites… that helps with a lot of action comedy."
- All interview sourced from Empire Online

Skiptrace wants to shoot in September, again something that might conflict with Expendables 3. We wait and see...

- The Kick Ass Kid

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

Sly spills the beans on EXPENDABLES 3 via Twitter

Ok, so after lots of rumours flying around the internet since seemingly the premiere of EX2, Sly Stallone took to twitter this week to finally set the record straight.

The tweets in question were as follows:
Writing EX3 at the moment... there are going to be mountains of surprises..
EX3 needs NEW blood and more humor.... The films were always meant to be more on the humorous side with moments of drama
No S. Seagal, sorry ,but maybe we get lucky with J. Chan! And some young bloods!!!
By young I mean 22 to 27. Not big bruisers but tech wizard, super brains and a young woman who is not a sex symbol but funny ,tough,REAL

Looking at those tweets the news is both exciting and disappointing. A new Expendables movie will ALWAYS be exciting news and the fact that Sly is once again writing it is good.

The first thing that strikes us as curious is the fact that Jackie Chan is not the lock-in everyone expected and second, of course, is the fact that Doc and Kid favourite Steven Seagal has clearly definitely declined or Sly did not extend his offer to the 3rd film. Maybe Seagal "laughed in their face", maybe he was too busy arming schools or maybe the studio declined the catering budget required.

All this talk of humour and young bloods doing tech stuff is also worrying. The first one, while having good banter between the cast, wasn't anywhere near a comedy but more a traditional 80s style action movie and the second, while openly funnier, doesn't exactly back up the claim that the films were always intended to be on the humourous side and as for the young bloods comment, it really smacks to me of studio meddling because of the recent poor performance of older action men in the box office.

However, in Sly we trust and we mustn't get greedy, that the first two exist at all is phenomenal and while the internet (and us) clearly want the likes of Rothrock, Snipes, Seagal, Cage etc. whatever EX3 turns out to be, you can guarantee we'll be there opening night!

-The Kick Ass Kid

 

Sizemore for Expendables 3 Bad Guy?

Sylvester Stallone seemingly doesn't forget a friend as rumours bounce around the internet today of a possible leading villain role for Tom Sizemore in Expendables 3.
Sizemore and Stallone worked together in 1989's Lock Up and they could be reuniting in Bulgaria, of all places, for Expendables 3 later this year.
In a recent interview, discussing his new war movie, Company of Heroes, (also shot in Bulgaria), Tom Sizemore said this:

"I might be going back there for The Expendables 3. I'm up for the lead villain. They shot either the first or the second one there, and they're going back there for the third one. I'm up for it, I'm being considered to be in The Expendables 3. How about Sly, coming back like that? Isn't that great? He gave me my first real break in Lock Up. I love the guy. He's never, ever turned his back on me. I don't know if people know that Sylvester Stallone is one of the most decent gentlemen that I've ever met. He's the most consistent friend I've ever had."

The Jackie Chan, Nicolas Cage and Wesley Snipes rumours also persist, especially as the film gets closer and closer to production.
I know it probably won't happen because there's been no rumours about him this time but I am still holding out for Steven Seagal to show up in the franchise.
I would also love Jeff Speakman, Cynthia Rothrock, Michelle Yeoh, Michael Dudikoff, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Kurt Russell or even Roddy Piper to get in on the action! I hope they make 100 Expendables movies!
No news on the plot as yet but Stallone once hinted in an interview they could even go in a Predator style direction. Expendables versus Aliens? hell they could sit around in a jacuzzi discussing their best turds for all I care, when these legends get on screen, magic ALWAYS happens!

What do you think of Tom Sizemore as the villain?
Who would you like to see in Expendables 3?
Let us know!

- The Kick Ass Kid