After the Rocky and the Rambo franchise, Sylvester Stallone came up with another popular franchise The Expendables. The actor had conceptualized the film and intrigued audiences with the idea of assembling action heroes for an epic action extravaganza.
Stallone led the gang of heroes in the first Expendables film which became an instant sensation with fans and was a hit at the box office. However, a young Liam Hemsworth was supposed to appear in the first film. Despite his excitement, Stallone and the makers of the film unfortunately removed his character from the script.
Sylvester Stallone Scrapped Liam Hemsworth From The First Expendables Film
Sylvester Stallone came up with a fantastic concept to bring together action heroes of the past and present to fight a common enemy with the first Expendables film. Action veterans like Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared alongside modern action heroes like Jason Statham and Jet Li.
At the time of scripting the film, Liam Hemsworth, another young talent was supposed to be included in the Expendables gang. Hemsworth told Entertainment Weekly that he was ecstatic to get a part in the first Expendables film. However, his role got scrapped later on which disappointed him. He said,
“It was a weird moment because I had celebrated with everyone. and told everyone I was going over to shoot this film, and then it didn’t happen.”
Luckily for Hemsworth. Stallone remembered him and brought him back for The Expendables 2, where he played Billy the Kid. The character unfortunately gets killed by Jean-Claude Van Damme’s character and thus does not come back for the third installment.
Sylvester Stallone Is Penning Jason Statham’s Next Action Film
Jason Statham is all set to re-team with David Ayer after The Beekeeper for the adaptation of Chuck Dixon’s novel Levon’s Trade, which now has a screenplay written by Sylvester Stallone. Statham has already worked with Stallone in the Expendables films and also wrote Statham’s 2013 film Homefront. Statham talked about reteaming again with Stallone for Levon’s Trade.
Talking to Variety, Statham called Stallone a great writer while also pointing out that many people underestimate his writing prowess. He also revealed that Ayer has tweaked Stallone’s script and what resulted is another exciting film that Statham can’t wait to start shooting very soon. He said,
“We’re now in the process of putting together the heads of departments for this new movie that was originally conceived by Sly. He’s a great writer. Some people are not aware of his writing talents.
He writes great characters. And David, an Academy Award-winning writer, has tweaked the script and done a rewrite. So we’ve got a really great movie that we’re about to start.”
Stallone is expected to return in the sequel to Demolition Man which he announced in 2020. He will also come back as Dwight Manfredi in the hit Paramount+ series Tulsa King, which has been renewed for a second season.