Caffeinated Clint
Wasn’t Sasha Mitchell or Jeff Speakman taking calls from Sly? This just seems so… random. How on earth does John Travolta end up in the all action-star sequel to “The Expendables”?
Stallone. Lundgren. Statham. Willis… Travolta!?
Granted, Stallone and Travolta are close buddies from way back – Stallone directing Travolta bomb “Staying Alive” and all. And at one stage Travolta, who was still packing some mean muscle as a result of the full-on training regiment Stallone put him through on the ’80s dance flick, was going to be a part of the “Rambo” sequel, at Sly’s request; for whatever reason, that didn’t come off.But even in 1985 it would’ve been a bit of a joke to have Danny Zuko joining Sly for a “Rambo” two-hander, in 2011, it’s unimaginable to think of the portly Oscar Nominated star of “Grease” and “Pulp Fiction” playing some kind of hardened action-hero in a testosterone-fueled boys movie. Unless, of course, Sly’s going to bench Travolta and have him play some sort of teddy bear general or, on the opposite end of the scale, a corrupt senator.. or something.Or maybe he’ll be reprising the role of Tony Manero, for a third time, this time joining ‘The Expendables’ on a mission to infiltrate an illegal human-traffiking ring that’s operating out of a New York dance hall?
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge Travolta fan; from “Fever” to “Grease”, “Blow Out”, “Perfect”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Get Shorty”, “Broken Arrow”, “Face/Off”… “The Boy in the Bubble”… but I just don’t see where he’d fit in “The Expendables 2”. The audience beseeching such a movie don’t care for JT – they care for those that can’t crunch heads and pummel 200-pound gorilla – they’re not so much fans of song-and-dance men.OK, so maybe in 1996, back when Travolta was in his semi action-movie man mode, doing things like “Face/Off” and “Broken Arrow”, he could’ve been a fit but there’s just been one too many “Lucky Numbers” and “Lonely Hearts” since…
If Travolta could get his body sculptured Rambo-style again, like this…
And then maybe brush up on his ‘bad dude’ again, like this…
We might have something.
But no, I don’t see it.
Whatever the case, Travolta’s in – at least according to NU Boyana CEO David Varod who tells Novinte.com that “The Expendables 2” will be shooting there in Bulgaria in September.
In addition to Travolta, Varod says the oft-mentioned Jean-Claude Van Damme as well as veteran action lad Chuck Norris (now that makes sense!) are onboard. In addition, most of the principal players of the 2010 hit are back, including Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Some very big names have been mentioned recently as very likely to shoot in Bulgaria soon, the likes of Bruce Willis and Silvester Stallone. Is there any development on that?
Yes, we are definitely going to do that project. It is going to be a sequel the “The Expendables”. The shooting is going to take place the second week of September. The movie is on, definitely. It will be a very good thing for Bulgaria, since there are some very big stars coming.
Would you disclose some of the names coming for sure?
Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, John Travolta, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke…who else? Of course, Bruce Willis. The director is Simon West, who is also a name. He is already here and has started working on the film. I believe the sequel will be better than the first movie.
Wouldn’t be too difficult for the sequel to be better than the first film, but I digress.. so that’s the cast; quite a spectacular and broad bunch. And as Varod says Simon West, of “Con-Air” and “When A Stranger Calls” fame, is directing.
Any other ideas as to who might be good for “Expendables 2”? Michael Biehn I’d like to see in there, but I guess he won’t mean as much to the marketing bureau as someone like ‘Willis’ does. How about Tony Danza? He’d work, right?
