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Why Sylvester Stallone Has Such A Small Role In Expend4bles


There’s a reason Sly stands behind Statham on the poster.
When the Expendables franchise launched in 2010, Sylvester Stallone was at the center of it… literally. The original concept for the series was bringing together an ensemble of big action stars, but Stallone was given the most prominent position on the poster, and he was given top billing. This remained true for the two subsequent sequels, but 13 years later, things have changed: on the Expend4bles poster, Stallone’s name is below Jason Statham’s, and he is positioned just slightly behind his British co-star.

The reason for this is explained in the film, as Stallone’s character Barney Ross is “killed” in the first act and doesn’t return until the very end of the adventure. But why is that the case? According to the movie’s producers, it was a creative decision made in the development of the script and a choice to promote franchise longevity.
During a virtual interview earlier this month with filmmakers Kevin King-Templeton and Les Weldon, I asked about Sylvester Stallone having a smaller than expected role in Expend4bles, and they told me that it was always a part of the plans for the film. According to King-Templeton, the decision to have Barney Ross die early in the story was written and ultimately accepted by Stallone as the right direction for the series. Said the filmmaker,

That was the script that was developed. Sly read it and was fine with it. He was definitely on board with it. But again, it’s a modular movie. Each movie’s modular. Maybe, God forbid, there’ll be another one, we don’t know. Maybe it’s more Megan [Fox]-centric or Sly centric or Dolph [Lundgren]-centric. You don’t know. You have to change; keep your core foundation, but you have to change certain things – change it up a little bit. Because otherwise, the franchise does get a little stale. You have to make it different. You have to have that twist, that reveal. We’re not gonna kill Barney off, but sometimes more is less. Sometimes less is more.
In Expend4bles, Barney Ross is featured alongside Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture), Easy Day (Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson) and Galan (Jacob Scipio) when the titular team goes after Rahmat (Iko Uwais) in the film’s first act, but things go all kinds of wrong. Not only does the villain escape, but she shoots down the plane that Barney is piloting.

Following up King-Templeton’s comments, Les Weldon added that while Barney might not be physically present for most of the action in Expend4bles, he is present in spirit because the surviving characters both seek revenge in his name and take down an antagonist from Barney’s past. Said Weldon,
To be fair, even though you have that kind of plot point, the Barney specter is still being carried through the whole film. It’s not forgotten in the film. You know what I’m saying? So it’s one of these things it’s not just, ‘OK, done – Act 1 done. Now, it’s a whole new franchise, a whole new group of people.’ It’s still the Expendables and he’s still hanging over it up until the end and the reveal. That’s why it worked, I think. The whole movie is about avenging Barney. Every other sentence mentions Barney’s name. So his essence is right the way through the movie.

According to Kevin King-Templeton, who has spent over 25 years producing Sylvester Stallone films (staring with Cop Land in 1997), the actor/filmmaker felt like the decision for him to have a reduced role in Expend4bles was “fine.” He also made the point that the franchise could go back to having Stallone in a prominent role in the next adventure because the end of the movie reveals that he faked his death. King-Templeton added,
That’s why I think even Sly was fine with it. Sly understood, ‘Hey, this is still an Expendables movie. It’s just, you know, a little bit different Expendables movie. But it can pivot right back to what it was before as well.’
Starring Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, Levy Tran, and Tony Jaa in addition to all of the names mentioned above, Expend4bles is now playing in theaters everywhere and placed second at the box office this past weekend.
For a look ahead at all of the films coming out between now and the end of the year, head over to our 2023 Movie Release Calendar.

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‘I am officially off the market’: When Margot Robbie revealed she made the ‘conscious’ decision of not dating actors


Margot Robbie revealed her decision to not date actors because of the media scrutiny that came with a public relationship of two high-profile actors
Back in 2015, A-lister Margot Robbie made a declaration that she would not be dating any actors. The actress may have alluded to her fiance Tom Ackerley, who she married the following year in 2016. In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire, she revealed that being in a relationship as an actor herself came with its own set of challenges. She believed that dating someone who was popular would add on to the media scrutiny.

Margot Robbie opened up on why she made a conscious decision to not date actorsTalking to Marie Claire, she claimed, “I am officially off the market.” She then shared the reasoning behind her decision and added, “I made a conscious decision not to date actors.” She continued to explain, “But not because I hate actors. That’s a nasty generalization to make, and that’s not the case. People take such an interest in your love life when you have a profile, it puts a lot of stress on a relationship.”
The Barbie actress continued, “So two people with profiles, I figure it’s just double the amount of scrutiny, and I’d like to avoid that at all costs.” This came after reports of her locking lips with Tarzan co-star Alexander Skarsgard started making rounds. It was reported that she was caught kissing the actor during the Sundance Film Festival.

Margot Robbie revealed she opted for a minimal lifestyle even after becoming an actorIn the interview, Robbie also opened up about how she was adapting to fame. She shared, “I have a normal 24-year-old life. If I were a waitress, I’d probably have the exact same lifestyle. I’d go to the same clubs I go to already, live in the same house with the same housemates, hang out with the same people.”
However, Margot Robbie tied the knot with Tom Ackerley who is an English producer and actor. The duo met on the sets of 2013 movie Suite Francaise where Tom was working as an assistant director. Post marriage, both of them launched their production company LuckyChap Entertainment.

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Monica Bellucci and Tin Burton at lunch in the restaurant in Selci Lama


For All Saints’ Day, the Hollywood star from Tiferno returned to his native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and then visit his parentsOn the occasion of the All Saints’ Day celebrations, the Hollywood star of Tiferno origin, Monica Bellucci, returned to her native Umbria to enjoy a moment of relaxation and to visit her father Pasquale and her mother Brunella.Flanked by her current partner Tim Burton, she went to lunch, together with about twenty old friends, at the Osteria del Musicista, which has always been her favorite restaurant, in Selci Lama.Menu dedicated to typical dishes of the area, which includes an appetizer with breadsticks lined with coppa, duck in porchetta and grilled pork livers, polenta with wild boar sauce accompanied by the very typical cappelletti in broth.To conclude, a dessert based on fried “ciaccia” with Nutella and roasted chestnuts.
Having paid the bill and greeted the restaurant owner and lifelong friend, Roberto Polchi, Monica brought home cappelletti and broth for a family dinner.

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‘Rocky’ Was Quite Different In His Original Screenplay, Sylvester Stallone Claims


Sylvester Stallone took his friend’s advice on a rewrite of the original screenplay to Rocky. A few tweaks later, he was on his way to major success.
In the new Netflix documentary Sly, Stallone discussed how he initially conceived of the project, which had a much harder edge. In the early version, Rocky was depicted as a “thuggish” character, inspired by Martin Scorsese’s crime drama, Mean Streets.

But Stallone’s perspective changed when a friend read the script and thought the boxer was too cruel for audiences to actually care about him.
Stallone recalled her crying.

“She goes, ‘I hate Rocky. I hate him. He’s cruel. He hits people. He beats them up.’”
Stallone took it to heart, and asked what he could do to soften the character.

“I said, ‘what if you stop short of it?’ Like, maybe he almost did. He could have, that’s his job, but he doesn’t?’ ‘That’d be nice,’” he added. “I said, ‘What if he had a girlfriend or something?’ ‘Yeah, that’s nice.’ So I go back, start writing that: ‘Girlfriend. Nice.’”
$117 million in box office later, a franchise was born.

Stallone also revealed that actor Dolph Lundgren sent him to the hospital during one fight scene in Rocky IV.
“Dolph Lundgren… he pulverized me,” Stallone says in the documentary. “Later that night, my heart started to swell—which happens when the heart hits the chest—and then my blood pressure went up to 260, and they thought I was going to be talking to angels. Next thing I know, I’m in intensive care, where I’m surrounded by nuns, and I thought, ‘OK, that’s curtains.’”
Stallone was in the hospital for nine days following the incident, praying for “one more round.”
“For the first minute of the fight, it is going to be a free-for-all,” Stallone told Lundgren. The Swedish actor joked in a separate interview that all he did was “obey orders,” explaining, “[Stallone] was the boss. I did what he told me.”
Doctors allegedly told Stallone that he received a blow to the ribs that made his heart rattle around in his ribcage, a condition typically seen in head-on collisions. “I did hit a bus, of sorts,” Stallone joked.

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