'Expendables 3' cast locked and loaded with iconic action stars
Sylvester Stallone's own director on 'The Expendables 3' didn't want his star to do one of the film's climactic stunts himself.
It was a long sprint towards a helicopter through a gauntlet of pyrotechnics, and Patrick Hughes worried about the potential danger for the action icon.
'I went to him three times saying, 'Dude, we can just use a double,' but he was like, 'No, no I want to f---ing do it,' recounts Hughes, switching into a pretty good impression of Sly. 'And then he does it - a perfect burst sprint with tall these mortar rounds going off around him.
'Of course he threw his back out, but that was our wrap shot with Sly anyway.'
The Dinobots from 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' may be the apex predators at the multiplex these days, but in the world of stunt-driven action movies, nobody has displaced the dinosaurs in the cast of 'The Expendables.' The testosterone-heavy lineup includes Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger (67), Harrison Ford (71), Dolph Lundgren (57), Jet Li (51), Mel Gibson (58), Antonio Banderas (54), Wesley Snipes (52) and relative whippersnapper Jason Statham (47).
Much like the band of mercenaries they play on screen in the movie opening Friday, they've never stopped beating the pulp out of bad guys even if it's no longer the heyday of their type of action movie.
'I'm probably more rigorous now in my training than I was 20 years ago,' says Lundgren. 'Because when you're younger you can get away with partying all night into the morning. You can pull a muscle and you're fine in three days as opposed to three weeks when you're older.
'So you have to be more careful and a little more thoughtful about the whole thing.'
But their biggest nemesis in recent years has been the pencil-neck computer programmers who have elevated CGI technology to the top of the food chain at the multiplex. Mark Ruffalo may not have the rippling muscles of Lou Ferrigno, but through the magic of special effects, he can look more like the type of Hulk that can punch through a mountain.
'What's happened is you don't have to be a quote unquote action star to star in an action movie anymore,' says movie historian Leonard Maltin, who points to Matt Damon in the 'Bourne' movies to show how that shift can work well.
Lundgren, who boasts a masters degree in chemical engineering, says the magic formula for the recent resurgence of their careers has been Stallone's brilliant concept of combining them all into the credits.
Don't discount the nostalgia factor, either, after the first two installments earned $580 million worldwide at the box office. Fans may love 'Iron Man,' but they also love the men who pump iron.
'I was on set and I just resorted to using their iconic names, it was a lot easier,' says Hughes, himself a fan since childhood. 'I would be like, 'Rambo (Stallone) you stand here and Blade (Snipes), you'll be over here and Mad Max (Gibson) is going to come in here and we're going to pan to Desperado (Banderas).' It's just incredible how iconic they still are.'
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