THE EXPENDABLES
Dolph Lundgren, the man with the highest career body count in The Expendables’ cast list, acknowledges the simple joy of watching human carnage, regardless of whether it’s dished out by, or served up to, a film hero. ‘Is that because you can see us getting our asses kicked?’ he laughed recently, when asked why it was so entertaining watching Sly’s rag-tag bunch of ageing mercenaries getting their hands dirty. In an age when a lot of blockbusters seem to think that dazzling viewers with excessive action sequences enhanced by slick effects will suffice, there’s simply no beating the rush of excitement of seeing something that’s been done for real. Director James Mangold, who collaborated with Stallone on Copland, recently tried to ‘loosen up’ the action film with his Tom Cruise vehicle Knight and Day, admitting: ‘I think that part of the way movies get made now is that there’s this kind of pro forma recipe for how to make things intense . . . there’s a lot of great professionals who know how to lock in and suddenly [make it feel] just like everything’s flying at you. But somehow to keep it lighter and to try and make something that feels a little loose-limbed . . . that’s what I wanted to do.’
If that proved unsuccessful (in North America at least, where Knight and Day has picked up under $100m in box office returns against a $170m budget) Lundgren is optimistic that The Expendables has a lot more to offer.
‘It’s very unusual these days to have so many main actors in one film. I don’t think it’s ever been done really. The Expendables is the biggest film that Sly’s directed or ever been in. And while Arnold has been in films bigger than $80 million, I think Robin Hood was $150 million and you [only] got Russell Crowe and two or three other big names. Here, you get seven or eight guys, at least.’ So, with value for money factored in as well, don’t bet against a sizeable comeback for the classic action hero, particularly as Stallone is already planning The Expendables 2. Meanwhile, Steven Seagal is planning his return to mainstream glory in Machete (see the Missing in Action panel for more details), and Willis will be striking a blow for the old timers alongside Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren (yes, Helen Mirren) as decommissioned CIA operatives in RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous). The stars are queueing up to pick up their machine guns. Yippie-ki-yay!
The Expendables, general release from Thu 19 Aug. 94 THE LIST 19–26 Aug 2010
MISSING IN ACTION Despite having the biggest roll call in action movie history, not everyone made it into The Expendables. Henry Northmore checks out who’s AWOL
awesome ensemble movie, Machete.
WESLEY SNIPES Passenger 57, Blade and Demolition Man (playing the baddy
to Stallone’s hero) marked Snipes as one of cinema’s few action heroes who also had a decent acting career, working with the likes of Spike Lee (Jungle Fever and Mo’ Better Blues) and Abel Ferrara (King of New York). MIA Snipes was yet another star to be offered a part, but this time had to turn it down because of his continuing problems with the taxman in the US. (He’s not allowed to leave the country). His role then went to Forest Whitaker who also dropped out, then to 50 Cent and finally to Terry Crews, who actually stayed around long enough to make the final film.
CHUCK NORRIS The man, the legend, the Chuck Norris.
JEAN- CLAUDE VAN DAMME Aka ‘the Muscles from Brussels’, a true king of 80s/90s action with a string of huge movies such as Kickboxer, AWOL and Hard Target. Now relegated to the world of direct- to-DVD (even resurrecting the Universal Soldier franchise this year, with surprisingly entertaining results). MIA JCVD was offered a role but turned it down, claiming there was no ‘substance’ to the character. Unlike the extensive character development in Bloodsport?!
STEVEN SEAGAL The aikido master with the ponytail. Above the Law, Hard to Kill,
Marked for Justice and Out for Justice were particularly brutal action hits, while Under Siege sent Seagal mainstream before his insistence on spiritual and eco messages in all his movies took him back to the world of straight-to-video. Bizarrely, one of his Buddhist teachers announced in 1997 that Seagal was the reincarnation of a Buddhist Lama. MIA Much like JCVD, Seagal was also offered a role in The Expendables but refused due to a previous fall-out with producer Avi Lerner. Plus he’s too busy making this year’s other
He’s a genuine karate champion, he’s even fought with Bruce Lee and headlined the Missing in Action trilogy. Perhaps more famous these days for Chuck Norris facts: there is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live; when Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down, etc. MIA He’s just too awesome to star in such a film, or more realistically he hasn’t acted for a few years now and his strong Christian and Republican views would be slightly at odds with the gung-ho action on offer.
VIN DIESEL One of the new wave of action stars, Pitch Black, xXx and The Fast and
the Furious set him up to be the gravel-voiced heir to the action crown. Swiftly followed by a string of flops: The Pacifier, Find Me Guilty, Babylon A.D. anyone? MIA Poor old Vin, his career never quite took off like everyone hoped. He
probably didn’t even got an invite to The Expendables party, but
there is light at the end of the
tunnel with Diesel resurrecting his xXx, Fast & Furious and Riddick series.