If Sylvester Stallone gets his way, it appears that just about every burly bloke who has hefted a weapon, kicked a few bad guys about or made a quip after killing someone on screen will crop up in some fashion in the Expendables sequel. The most recent report had Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis recruited for bigger roles and now Stallone has gone on the record to confirm that Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris are officially aboard,with Nicolas Cage a distinct possibility and John Travolta still atop the wish list.
Van Damme, of course, turned Sly down when asked about the first film, but seems to have had a change of heart now he’s seen how it works. “We’ll have a big showdown between me and Van Damme, which has been anticipated for a long time, so it should be a good one,” Stallone tells Entertainment Weekly.
“We’ve got Chuck Norris and I think Nic Cage,” says Sly. “We’re trying to work out different scenarios. I like using people that had a moment and then maybe have fallen on some hard times and give them another shot. So we’re always looking for actors like Michael Biehn and Michael Pare. I like those kinds of guys. Someone did it for me and I like to see if I can do it for them. We also need some new blood in there, a Navy Seal-type, because with the Expendables none of them have 20-20 vision anymore. They need some help, man.”
Might that new blood refer to a certain former Twilight werewolf currently itching to prove his action credentials with Abduction? Taylor Lautner’s name has come up in past rumours, but we're taking a strictly wait-and-see approach to that bit of casting...
With Simon West calling the shots this time around, The Expendables 2 team will head to Bulgaria at the end of the month to start filming. We can likely expect the movie next August.