Just when you thought The Expendables franchise couldn’t get any more ridiculously fun, a name like Nicolas Cage comes up in the general conversation. That’s right folks, Nicolas Cage has been added to the upcoming film The Expendables 3, according to a recent article from cinemablend.com.
With The Expendables 2, Sylvester Stallone and Co. added the likes of Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme while also expanding the roles of both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. It’s all you can ask from a franchise that seamlessly combined the egos of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren. The end result was nothing short of a nostalgic and fun blast to the past that had audiences flocking to theaters in spite of critics turning their noses up.
The article cited an interview Stallone gave with the Spanish publication El Pais. In addition to Nicolas Cage, the direct translation of the quote also includes big names like Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes and Mickey Rourke (who appeared in the first film), claiming they are still being sought out by Stallone himself. The quote reads (translated directly from Spanish):
“We are preparing the film with the same passion and commitment as the previous two. We have confirmed Nicolas Cage, a master actor who gives a veneer intellectual group. Hopefully we can realize to Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes and Mickey Rourke. That is the great mission of the producer. We will continue with the same narrative scheme, the agility and the frenzy, which are inherent to the saga. What will definitely be the last? I can not guarantee. In principle it would be two deliveries, but the affection of the people encouraged us to work on a third. I guess as long as we amused ourselves by offering fun and people, we can continue playing ‘The Expendables. For now we are not as expendable as it should and as some critics want.”
Harrison Ford? Wesley Snipes? With Nicolas Cage and everyone who managed to survive the first two Expendables movies? Yes, please. It seems like only a matter of time before Kurt Russell joins the fray (oh dear God, please).
Nicolas Cage has appeared in several action flicks, with 1997’s Con Air, 1997’s Face/Off, 2008’s Bangkok Dangerous, the 2000 remake Gone in Sixty Seconds and the Ghost Rider films coming to mind immediately. It’ll be interesting to see how well the actor – who’s become a genre himself – manages to cope with the abundance of testosterone and provide a worthwhile performance.
Presently, no articles have confirmed El Pais’s claim, but that doesn’t mean we’re not excited by it. Something about this makes us think it’s only a matter of time before it’s exposed as a fake. While we’re waiting, let us know who you think they may be forgetting in The Expendables 3.
UPDATE: Sylvester Stallone has just announced that he has no knowledge of Nic Cage Joining The Expendables 3 deadline reports. Apparently the source of this information got confused while receiving it at a press junket in the summer for the film. Even though it’s true Cage is not a part of The Expendables 3 that doesn’t mean that he wont be added at a later time since producer Avi Lerner already called his name out.
