British action star Jason Statham is the second main protagonist in “The Expendables” film franchise playing Lee Christmas, next only to Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross.
But admittedly, he is not the biggest name after Stallone as there is Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, and the likes to contend with. Statham is not contending though because he knows and appreciates his worth after being taken in by Stallone as his right wing man since the first “The Expendables” film.
In an interview a few months ago, Jason Statham said that working with Sylvester Stallone is beyond a pinch of the moment for him.
He recalled growing up watching Stallone’s films and to be directed by the veteran action star and to be in a movie that is produced by the “Rocky” actor and be shoulder to shoulder with him is a privilege any man who loves action movies would never turn their nose up at, details Cinema Blend.
Statham said that he just felt terrific about working with Stallone and he is willing to do as many sequels of “The Expendables” for as long as Sly wants it.
Debunking the ‘backseat’ rumors
There have been rumors early this year saying that Sylvester Stallone will be taking a backseat in the fourth installment of the movie series to be able to concentrate on movies where his acting and not his brute strength will be recognized.
The speculations stemmed from the fact that Stallone bagged the Best Supporting Actor award in the 2016 Golden Globes for “Creed” shown in November last year. Subsequently, he was also nominated for the same category in the 2016 Academy Awards.
While there has been no formal announcement yet regarding a possible sequel to the “Rocky” spinoff movie, the rumor-mongers included it in the speculations and thus somehow connecting the first part of the speculation.
There was also a subsequent interview with Terry Crews who said that it was possible that Stallone would think that way and nobody could fault him for that because of his acting depth.
Eventually, Randy Couture, in an interview weeks later, confirmed that “The Expendables 4” is a go and filming shall begin this coming fall in China and that Sylvester Stallone shall be in it, thus formally debunking the rumors for good, notes the Ecumenical News.
More casting rumors
Incidentally, real-life martial arts expert and action star Steven Seagal is now in the latest casting rumors for the upcoming action ensemble “The Expendables 4.”
Seagal becomes the latest in the casting rumor mill for the fourth installment of “The Expendables” featuring the top action stars of Hollywood then and now including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, and a whole lot more.
Among those sports figures and actors who have made the casting rumor mills for “The Expendables 4” include Hulk Hogan, Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Pierce Brosnan, and John Cusack.
For a while, there were also rumors about the possible inclusion of Chinese martial arts superstar Jackie Chan and Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao. Eventually, those speculations proved to be inaccurate.
Having the three former wrestling superstars, a former James Bond actor, John Cusack, and even Steven Seagal in the movie may have some semblance of truth to it but everything remains as speculation at this time pending the confirmation from the producers or the lead stars of “The Expendables 4.”
However, there are also several things that are already confirmed for “The Expendables 4” including its release date of 2017.
The film shall also be filmed in China since a good portion of the $100 million funding of the movie will be bankrolled by a Chinese interest.
“The Expendables” franchise has a good fan base in China, which actually made up more than half of the profit of “The Expendables 3” released in 2014.
Sometime in the fourth quarter of last year, it has already been reported that production companies Nu Image and Millennium had already made pre-sale distribution deals of “The Expendables 4” in China.
It seems that the producers have already learned their lesson from the debacle suffered by “The Expendables 3” so they are keeping everything about “The Expendables 4” under wraps just to be on the safe side.