The Expendables 2
Back for War.
The Expendables 2 (2012)
Production
Budget
$100 000 000
Revenue
$314 975 955
Director
Scenario
Richard Wenk
Author
Composer
Producer
Kevin King Templeton
Actors
Sylvester Stallone
Barney Ross
Jason Statham
Lee Christmas
Jet Li
Yin Yang
Dolph Lundgren
Gunner Jensen
Chuck Norris
Booker
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean Vilain
Bruce Willis
Church
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Trench
Short description
Barney Ross leads a group of veteran mercenaries who accept what looks like a straightforward job from a man known as Mr. Church. The team includes familiar faces such as Lee Christmas, Yin Yang, Gunnar Jensen and Hale Caesar, joined by newer members Billy and Maggie. The assignment seems to promise easy money, but events go wrong and one of the group is killed. The survivors set out for revenge, pursuing their enemies into hostile territory, where they encounter a threat far larger than the job itself.
The Expendables 2 is an action, adventure and thriller film directed by Simon West, the sixth of fourteen features he has directed in chronological order, following The Mechanic and preceding Stolen. Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote the screenplay with Richard Wenk, stars as Barney Ross. The cast includes Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, among 44 credited performers. It was produced by Kevin King Templeton, Les Weldon and Danny Lerner.
Released in August 2012, the film had a budget of 100 million US dollars and took about 315 million US dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around 334,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.4 out of 10 from over 7,300 votes. A critics' rating of 5.9 out of 10 from 133 reviews places it close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- On October 27th, 15 miles from Sofia, at the Ognyanovo Reservoir, a tragedy occurred – during the filming of a scene involving the explosion of a rubber boat, one of the two stuntmen inside died, and the other was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
- Taylor Lautner was considered for the role of Billy Timmons, which ultimately went to Liam Hemsworth.
- Jackie Chan was planned to appear in the film, but he had to decline due to his commitment to his directorial project, 'Armour of God II: Operation Zodiac'.
- A real railway bridge was specially built across the Osym River in Bulgaria for the film. It will function as part of the railway network.
- All scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger were filmed in five days, a week before the start of filming for 'The Last Stand' (2013).
- Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and starred in this film, while in the previous one he was an actor, co-writer, producer, and director.
- During filming in Bulgaria, Arnold Schwarzenegger got into the role of a politician and met with the Bulgarian Prime Minister, presenting him with Conan the Barbarian's sword. The latest version of this film, starring Jason Momoa, was also filmed in Bulgaria.
- This is the fourth time Jean-Claude Van Damme has worked with Dolph Lundgren and Scott Adkins.
- Chuck Norris's character's name (Booker) is a nod to the film 'Black Tigers' (1978), where Norris's character is named John T. Booker. In both films, Norris plays a retired military man who participates in a rescue operation to help his old comrades.
- Liam Hemsworth was supposed to star in the first film, but after the script was rewritten, his role was cut. Later, Stallone called him and invited him to star in the sequel.
- Donnie Yen was offered a role in the film, but he declined.
- Stallone invited Chuck Dixon to rewrite the script, but he refused.
- Sylvester Stallone cancelled his promotional tour for the film after his son passed away on July 13, 2012.
- All the positive characters in the film wear the same Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 watch with a bronze case (PAM 382) from a limited edition of 1000 units.
- The film mentions that Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) has a degree in chemical engineering. This is a reference to Lundgren himself, who holds a Master's degree in chemical engineering. His character gave up a career in science to work as a bouncer, all to impress a girl. In real life, Lundgren abandoned that path to work as a bodyguard for his then-girlfriend Grace Jones.
- Gina Carano was considered for the role of Maggie.
- Tennis player Novak Djokovic filmed a cameo role in an airport shootout scene for free. However, the scene featuring him was cut; it showed him attacking terrorists with his racket.
- In the final scene, Arnold Schwarzenegger wears a vintage “Planet Hollywood Jam” Hawaiian shirt under his jacket.
- Sylvester Stallone explained that during casting, he paid particular attention to finding actors who hadn't been in successful projects recently: “I was interested in gathering people who had bright moments in their careers, and then perhaps experienced hard times, to give them another chance. I like those guys. Someone helped me once, and I’m happy I can do that for them.”
- Chuck Norris is the subject of an entire pop culture phenomenon of countless “Chuck Norris facts” created by fans. Over half a million such facts—like “Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice”—populate the internet. A multinational team of actors and crew joined the movement almost as soon as Norris stepped off the plane in the film’s main location of Bulgaria. They came up with the phrase: “Chuck Norris didn’t visit Bulgaria, Bulgaria visited Chuck Norris.”
- In November 2010, Charlie Sheen was considered for the role of a CIA agent hunting Church. But ultimately, the role was cut from the script.
- A sequel was conceived several months before 'The Expendables' (2010) was completed and released. The return of Dolph Lundgren's character in the final scene was likely added to the script (despite his death in the original version) to allow for the development of a sequel.
- Sylvester Stallone asked Chuck Norris to include one of the Chuck Norris facts (a popular internet meme) in the script. Norris's wife, Gena, suggested a fact about a cobra. ('Chuck Norris was bitten by a cobra, and after five days of excruciating pain… the cobra died.')
- A U.S. mailbox has the Post Office logo adopted in 1993, and consequently after the end of the Cold War.
- After the battle scene at Booker Airport, Church, Maggie, and Trench get into a helicopter with large '711' markings on the hood. However, when we see the helicopter taking off with them, the hood now displays '712'.
- After Barney first meets Maggie under the bridge, he starts his motorcycle, and the sound of the revving engine is heard before Barney even has time to start it.
- When 'The Expendables' stumble upon the wrecked plane, it's obvious it's there because it crashed. The engine is missing, which would be typical for a real crash, however, it's evident that the engine was simply removed (bolts are unscrewed). This is visible from the undamaged bolts and hoses on the engine heat shield.
- When the Grumman Albatross airplane takes off from the water through the smoke, after rescuing the hostages, it either has no wing, or the smoke swirls behind it are done incorrectly.
- During one of the scenes, Terry Crews racks the slide on his shotgun to chamber another round. However, his shotgun model, the Benelli M1014 (or M4/Super 90), is a semi-automatic shotgun, which cannot be reloaded in this manner.
- Filming for the film began on October 3, 2011, and ended on January 21, 2012. Three months later, on April 18, additional filming took place in Bulgaria with Scott Adkins, lasting three days without the involvement of the other main cast members.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme plays the villain named Vilain. This name differs from the word “villain” by only one letter in English.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
