Sylvester Stallone Talks The Expendables and Rambo 5
Posted 09.15.09 by Ryan
Sylvester Stallone put his career back on track by reviving his most popular characters in Rocky Balboa and Rambo. The success of both brought him the chance to make The Expendables, a movie he both wrote and directed that's about a group of mercenaries who overthrow a dictator. .
Stallone has assembled a massive cast of action stars for Expendables, including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Dolph Lundgren. At the Venice Film Festival, Stallone described the movie as a throwback to action movies past.
I wanted to do a film that was more about men and just doing things that we did back in the '80s and '90s with films that were a little bit more men on men, and actual physical stunts and also a story that isn't super-gigantic. And the thing was to find certain personalities that never would ever work together normally and put them altogether. It's like a dream team.
Bruce Willis is also joining the male action fest. Stallone says Willis will appear with another action star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold, Bruce and I will be working together for the first time, maybe in two weeks, so I had to grow back my beard and get ready to film it in Los Angeles. It's very difficult to get us all together at the same time. It's impossible to get all those egos in the same room.
Once The Expendables is complete, Stallone will focus his attention on Rambo 5, a movie initially described as a rescue movie before the storyline changed to one that pits Stallone against a genetically modified creature. Retitled Rambo V: The Savage Hunt, Stallone believes the storyline change will put the Rambo franchise in a new direction.
I don't want to keep repeating myself and just doing films about war. This is a very psychological film about sophisticated man fighting primitive man. It's actually possible today, with all the cloning and stem cell research, to actually have some experiments that don't work very well and get out of control.
Once Rambo V is complete, Stallone will continue writing and directing, even if he doesn't appear in the movies.
What's very unusual in my life is that I'm now, at this age, starting to develop what I should have done 20 years ago which is more directing and writing and especially not the movies I am in. The key will be to direct other people and write for other people. Then that cycle will be broken.