More Hollywood heavyweights join The Expendables 3

MANILA, Philippines - It was big in 2010. Got even bigger in 2012. This year, The Expendables continues to be a mega movie franchise as The Expendables 3 brings back the explosive original cast — Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture — and unites them with their fellow icons — Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes and Harrison Ford.

The Hollywood heavyweights are also joined by a new generation of action stars: Kellan Lutz (Twilight and Hercules), Glenn Powell (The Dark Knight Rises), mixed martial arts star Ronda Rousey and welterweight boxing champion Victor Ortiz.

Expressing his excitement over the powerhouse cast, Stallone (a.k.a Sly) says, “The chance of getting to work with these guys is very, very rare... You need a certain kind of movie to bring people together and I didn’t realize it when I wrote the first one, but... it’s unbelievable!”

In the third sequel, Barney Ross (Stallone), Lee Christmas (Statham) and their team find a new opponent in Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who Barney thought was already dead. When Stonebanks turned into a ruthless arms trader after co-founding the Expendables with Barney years ago, Barney had no choice but to kill him. But Stonebanks lived to see the day that he would put an end to the Expendables. Barney prepares for war by recruiting mostly young and tech-savvy individuals, plus intense warriors Galgo (Banderas) and Doc (Snipes). The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet.

Asked how he developed his character, being the bad guy in the movie, Gibson replies in jest, “Firstly, I don’t think that he’s the bad guy... Those guys are the bad guys and I’m the good guy, you have to look at it that way.”

Getting serious, the multi-awarded actor/director says that Stallone and director Patrick Hughes have been generous in accepting his ideas, to which Stallone intriguingly adds, “He based his character on a real character. So what he says in the film has actually been historically recorded... he just paraphrased it. I won’t bring up any names, but it’s all true.”

Playing Max Drummer, an authority figure in Barney’s life, Ford commends the movie for its storytelling. He also reveals that the original script did not involve flying for his character, so Stallone explains the adjustment made to the story. “Harrison has so many dimensions and is also a great pilot, so we designed a character where he can show his real skills because he can fly a helicopter and he actually does.”

Banderas expresses his happiness at being cast as one of the good guys. He recalls that when he got to Los Angeles 23 years ago, he was warned about playing a villain all his life because of his accent. “So the fact that a Spanish person like me got invited to be part of this movie, which is kind of a hall of fame of action heroes, means a lot to my community and to me personally.”

The younger cast members, on the other hand, share the feelings of Banderas. Young and old, the stars all take pride in the bruises they have acquired from shooting the film. Statham says, “You do get hurt, things go wrong. It’s part of the course, there’s no way of getting around it.”

Calling himself a “big fan of action movies,” Schwarzenegger says, “It’s important that even though we have a lot of action, it has to have a great story. And I think this is what makes Expendables a great movie and a great franchise.”

“You want the audience to feel that there is real jeopardy,” adds Stallone, and that’s what The Expendables 3 is sure to deliver. “When you see this film, it’s really extraordinary. I think you’d say, ‘That’s not possible.’ It is possible, because we put the pain in and it pays off.”

The Expendables opens in cinemas nationwide today, from Viva International Pictures and MVP Entertainment Philippines.