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

First EXPENDABLES 3 On-Set Pictures

Comingsoon.net released exclusive onset photos from EXPENDABLES 3 today which started shooting in Varna, Bulgaria this week. Take a look!

-The Kick Ass Kid

Gibson and Banderas CONFIRMED as Expendable

After rumours back and forth, according to Entertainment Weekly and one of Stallone's reps Mel Gibson is officially signed on to play the villain in EX3 which could form part of a villainous comeback for Mel if Machete Kills is as damn good fun as it looks. It also means that mentioned story points about a younger, computer literate team being the villains maybe not happening now and we, personally, couldn't be happier about that.
The more oldies he adds, the better.
As for Mel's previous alcohol related troubles what do people think? do we care when we see him on the screen being enjoyable? Let us know!
In the same announcement, the man who Stallone calls "a consummate actor and a gentleman" Antonio Banderas, who has long been rumoured for a part in the franchise, has also been added, officially, to the cast.
So that's two more official members to the film and, personally, I am happy that they are some old, proper 80s and 90s action stars. That's what these films NEED. As long as they are not young computer nerds because that will surely make them the Scrappy Do of the film and was tried in Die Hard 4 where the only weak part was Olyphant's pathetic villain. I prefer the idea of the President kidnap scenario, sort of an Air Force One 2 with Ford as a kick ass Pres, Gibson as a hand ringing villain and Banderas as a member of the Expendables.
Whatever happens in Stallone we trust!

-The Kick Ass Kid

Harrison Ford Jonesing for some group action!

Stallone hit Twitter again today and proves that, not only are they still casting and, therefor, supposedly scripting EX3 right down to the wire (it's set to start filming this August) but also that this film will scoop up and include basically every single action star it possibly can.

His tweet about Ford read:
WILLIS OUT... HARRISON FORD IN !!!! GREAT NEWS !!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!

and followed it up with

GREEDY AND LAZY ...... A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE

Now I don't know if that second Tweet is an inspirational comment or a dig at Willis but there is the news: Willis, who plays Mr. Church in the franchise (and whose character, to be fair, has sort of run its course), will not be returning and Harrison "Inidiana Jones" Ford will be joining the, already, mega star cast.

Some have speculated the cast is getting a bit ridiculous and it's going to be a mess but IN STALLONE WE TRUST. I personally think it's awesome news and they should continue adding people all the way up to day one. I love it.

UPDATE: it is now being reported by various outlets from sources inside the film that Willis was booted off for demanding $4million for 4 days work in Bulgaria after already being offered $3million!
Firstly that's not exactly the spirit of ensemble films like this (you know some folks who work EVERY day on the film aren't getting that much) and also it's just ridiculously greedy.

It seems like, from recent behaviour, that Willis is trying to torpedo any good will people had towards him and while we here at the blog are still very much 'hate the artist but not the art' it is a shame that this was the reason he backed out and I wish he would pay just a little bit of attention and put some effort in to how he comes across.

Stallone's camp would only confirm that the second tweet was aimed squarely at Willis. So that answers that then. I can only imagine how he feels, he wants his old mates around him and he wants the film to be as good as possible.

Ford, who is also known for being prickly or odd in interviews, clearly didn't make such demands and fan reaction seems to be positive, so good for him!

- The Kick Ass Kid