Arnold Schwarzenegger Addresses Expendables 4 Involvement
Arnold Schwarzenegger is addressing his involvement with The Expendables 4 (or Expend4bles) – and, SPOILER ALERT: he's not doing it. Schwarzenegger made his position abundantly clear in a recent interview, saying that Sylvester Stallone getting him to appear in the entire trilogy of testosterone action throwback flicks was already more than Schwarzenegger ever bargained for. So, the thought of coming back for Expendables 4 is way out of bounds:
"It's done and I'm not in it," Schwarzenegger told Parade about Expendables 4. "I said, 'You know what, we have done this and I'm out of it.' And [Stallone] really understood. I did [the first Expendables] as a favor to Sly. I shot it on a Saturday for two hours quickly in a church with Bruce Willis. Sly said, 'Oh, can you do Expendables 2?' and I did that for a weekend. Then it was expanded for Expendables 3. And that was it. We're going to do something together one day."
The Expendables Trilogy went for broke pulling action movie stars of the 1980s and 1990s back in for either major roles or cameo appearances. The crowning moment in the original Expendables (2010) came when Schwarzenegger joined Bruce Willis for a cameo scene in which Stallone's Barney Ross bids for a mercenary contract against his rival Trench (Schwarzenegger) with CIA agent "Mr. Church" (Willis) providing the job. Fans loved seeing the three action movie icons onscreen doing some meta-machismo banter, and it helped make The Expendables a successful franchise launchpad.
In The Expendables 2, Schwarzenegger and Willis took on bigger supporting roles, as Trench and Church both saved the team at a key moment and let their guns blaze in the final battle to recover some plutonium for terrorist hands. Willis tapped out after Expendables 2, but Schwarzenegger returned for the third film, once again doing a couple of dialogue and/or action scenes. Trench was definitely a cameo character of lessening returns by the third film, and it sounds like Schwarzenegger felt the like the welcome had been worn out offscreen as well as onscreen. He and Stallone have done other projects – such as the 2013 jailhouse action flick Escape Plan, which was only a modest success at the box office.
What Is The Expendables 4 About?
Jason Statham will shift from co-star to lead in this new installment, with Sylvester Stallone confirming the change. Expendables 4 will also star Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Megan Fox, with franchise vets Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, and Randy Couture returning, and Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, Andy Garcia, and Iko Uwais also appearing. Uwais (The Raid Series) will play the movie's villain. Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) is directing.
The story details known so far involve The Expendables team going up against an arms dealer who has his own private army. Classic Expendables.
The Expendables 4 has a release date of September 22nd.