Kurt Russell And Sylvester Stallone starring in a film? That’s Tango and Cash (1989). But once upon a time, there was a possibility that they would team up for another film. This project essentially reminded audiences that Stallone was an action star and over time it also launched a successful franchise for him.
The Expendables is a franchise that focuses on pure 80s nostalgia action entertainment. Even though audiences didn’t receive the third film in the trilogy positively, the first one made a big impact among fans of action films. After all, it had some of the biggest action stars. Kurt Russell could have been one of the stars who appeared in the film, but the actor declined for a curious reason.
Why Did Kurt Russell Decline Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables?
Sylvester Stallone initially wanted to cast Kurt Russell as Mr. Church in The Expendables (2010). But he declined and later on, the role went to Bruce Willis. The film, which was made on a budget of around $80 million grossed $274 million worldwide.
In an interview with IGN, Russell explained why he passed on the opportunity to star with some of the biggest action heroes of Hollywood. He said, “It’s not a beat I get. It’s like looking backwards to me.”
However, he still wished Sylvester Stallone and the team all the best for their franchise. Russell said, “Yeah. I mean, I’m glad Sly’s done well with this. He’s a great person. The fellas all seem to have a good time.” However, later on, Stallone faced problems with the actor he had replaced Russell with- Bruce Willis.
During the filming of The Expendables 3, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone had a fallout. The Hollywood Reporter said at the time that the issue was money-related. The site stated that Willis was offered $3 million for 4 days of consecutive work in Bulgaria on location. But the Die Hard star demanded $4 million or else he would drop out.
Stallone and everyone else declined so Willis indeed dropped out. Later on, Stallone brought on Harrison Ford into the franchise and publicly referred to Willis as lazy and greedy. He tweeted, “WILLIS OUT… HARRISON FORD IN !!!! GREEDY AND LAZY . . . A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE.” However, later on, the Rambo star apologized for his tweet and regretted saying it.
Why Did Kurt Russell Choose The Fast And Furious Franchise Over The Expendables?
Kurt Russell’s IGN interview makes it seem like he would much rather look forward to what more could be done in the action genre rather than go back for a nostalgic team-up. That’s perhaps the reason why he starred in the Fast and Furious franchise as Mr. Nobody but passed on The Expendables which had a lot of his contemporaries in it.
He said in the IGN interview regarding his preference for the Vin Diesel-led franchise:
“There’s something about Fast & Furious. It has that mystery to me — and it’s for a funny audience, you know? It’s for a 15 to… 30? I think now you can take that from 15 to 45, and I think that’s what’s interesting about that. I like the way Vin talks about it — it’s a saga. It’s not a series, it’s a saga. I think that Paul dying is a part of that saga.”
Mr. Nobody is probably out of the Fast and Furious franchise. But his daughter, Tess, played by Brie Larson, will next be seen in Fast X. The Expendables 4 will also release in 2023. As such, it will be interesting to see which franchise comes out on top.
Fast X will be released on May 19, 2023, while The Expendables 4 will hit theaters on September 22, 2023.
Source: IGN
