It’s that time of day again; when another potential casting rumour for the upcoming Expendables 2 rolls around; and this time it’s once again been The Expendables writer/director/producer/star Sylvester Stallone who’s been fanning the flames, and thrown the names of Nicolas Cage and John Travolta into the mix.
We’ve recently heard that both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (who both had very brief cameos in the original action movie) will be returning with “substantial roles” this time around, and that both Jean-Claude Van Damme (Timecop) and Chuck Norris (Delta Force) will also be appearing; as Sly recently confirmed that there’s going to be “a big showdown between me and Van Damme”, that “we’ve got Chuck [Norris], and I think Nic Cage.”
So while the “think” part of his statement does leave things a little up in the air (Sly himself has said that, with The Expendables, “what is a fact on Monday is a complete fallacy on Tuesday”), it’s an interesting casting choice and one which is likely to get action fans even more excited when they learn Sly also said having an appearance from John Travolta (who famously went face-to-face with Cage in the brilliant action movie Face/Off) is “possible.”
Problems arise attempting to get all the stars in one place the same time however, and Sly has said that now most of the problems come down to “scheduling, it’s not financial”, and as the Simon West (The Mechanic) directed sequel is due to start filming next month in Bulgaria, there’s not a whole lot of time to play with scheduling conflicts.
Certain actors might also be put off by the way Sly picks his stars; as he’s said his goal with The Expendables is to “use people that had a moment, and then fell on hard times, and give them another shot” (singling out actors such as The Terminator’s Michael Biehn), and suggested there might be an opening for some “new blood”, due to the fact the Expendables are getting older and “need some help”; but nevertheless Sly himself will be returning, alongside Jason Statham (The Mechanic), Dolph Lundgren (Universal Soldier), Mickey Rourke (Sin City), and Jet Li (Unleashed), in the David Agosto (Big Canyon)/Ken Kaufman (Space Cowboys) written sequel that’s due for release on August 17th 2012.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Entertainment Weekly.
