While The Expendables plans to start production on its fourth installment next year, former star Terry Crews revealed the all-star action film franchise nearly started out direct-to-video.
While reflecting on his ten most iconic roles with GQ including his memorable role in the first three films, Crews recalled that the ensemble film series was originally expected to go straight to home video.
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“The first movie, was supposed to be direct to video. You’ve got to understand where Stallone was at the time. He was trying to get this thing done and like ‘Dude, you’re in your sixties, how you gonna do an action movie?’” explained Crews. “All the studios turned it down, so Sly starts calling people and he starts getting the buzz going.”
Determined to make a career comeback, star Sylvester Stallone, who also directed and co-wrote the first film, turned to his friends and fellow action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis to help get fan support to make the film a full theatrical feature.
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“This is also in the first days of getting viral energy on the internet. So what Sly started to do was tweet out ‘How would you like to see me, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis in a movie together?’” continued Crews. “And the internet went crazy. And then he called me!”
Since then, the action series has been a hit with fans with the first three films combined worldwide box office totals earning over $800 million. While a fourth film is expected to begin principal photography next year, Crews has reportedly left the project after producer Avi Lerner allegedly attempted to get the actor to drop his sexual assault case against a Hollywood executive.
(via Screen Rant)