Sylvester Stallone has developed a strong with his relationship with his fans.  Years ago, he did an ask-me-anything on AICN before AMAs even existed.  He’s willing to critique his past work, and he’s happy to share what’s happening with his latest projects.  Stallone recently took to his Twitter feed to provide some updates on The Expendables 3.  He revealed the return of Mickey Rourke by tweeting, “Mighty Mickey is back…..”.  Then Stallone teased a couple of new additions to the cast.  In December, Jackie Chan said he was on board, and Stallone tweeted yesterday, “What’s the plan? Ask Jackie Chan….”  And now that Wesley Snipes is out of prison, Stallone says, “Talked to WESLEY today … He can not WAIT to fight to the top again !!!!!!! Over…”  I’m sure Wesley Snipes’ stunt double will be glad to hear it.

Hit the jump for what Stallone had to say about The Expendables 3 trying to outdo one of the best action films in years, The Raid.

A director has been set for the next Expendables film.  Though franchise gatekeeper Sylvester Stallone admitted that he reached out to Mel Gibson for the Expendables 3 directing gig to no avail, he has now filled the chair with relative newcomer Patrick Hughes.  Stallone announced on Twitter that The Expendables 3 needed “freshness, class, and much badass” and that he had found it in the Australian filmmaker, who made his feature directorial debut on the 2010 thriller Red Hill.

Little is known about the plot for The Expendables 3 at this point, but Stallone recently stated his intention to add more humor to the franchise and noted that he hopes Jackie Chan will join the cast.  Hughes received strong marks for Red Hill (read Steve’s interview with the director here), and it’s refreshing to see a young talent like him being brought into the franchise.  With a director now set, we should start to hear more solid word about The Expendables 3 soon.  Hit the jump to watch Hughes’ short film Signs.

One of the reasons why G.I. Joe: Retaliation looks better than the first film is, quite simply, Dwayne Johnson.  I’m of the opinion that if you want to make any franchise better, all you need to do is add The Rock.  Look what Universal did with Fast Five…they added Johnson and it’s the best of the series.  And in the G.I. Joe sequel, Johnson has been brought in as Roadblock and he’s front and center leading the Joe’s against Cobra.

During a fantastic group interview on set when the production was filming in New Orleans, Johnson talked about how he got involved in G.I. Joe, why he wanted to play Roadblock, the WWE, his weapons, working with director Jon M. Chu, the Fast and Furious franchise, interacting with his fans on social media, and so much more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

You can tell Sylvester Stallone is having a helluva good time with The Expendables franchise, but the writer/director/actor wants to bring a bit more humor into the mix.  Taking to Twitter this evening, Stallone commented on the tone of The Expendables 3, which he is currently writing, and hopefully getting Jackie Chan into the cast as was previously rumored.  He also gave a brief update on an action star who would not be making the cut and alluded to an injection of “young blood” into the franchise.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Jason Statham teams up with Jennifer Lopez in the new crime thriller Parker set amidst the unparalleled wealth and glamor of Palm Beach and based on the crime novel Flashfire by Richard Stark, one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake, the prolific crime fiction author.  The most daring, meticulous and ruthless thief in the business, Parker (Statham) is an expert at planning and executing seemingly impossible heists and he plays by a strong code of ethics.  Opening January 25^th, the film is directed by Academy Award winner Taylor Hackford and features a terrific cast that also includes Michael Chiklis, Clifton Collins, Jr., Micah Hauptman, Wendell Pierce, Patti Lupone and Nick Nolte.

At a roundtable interview at the film’s recent press day, Statham talked about playing the iconic title character of Westlake’s popular series of crime novels, collaborating with Hackford on his first action film, performing some of the film’s carefully choreographed and incredibly intense stunt sequences, and working opposite Lopez and veteran actors Lupone and Nolte.  He also updated us on Homefront written by Sylvester Stallone and rumors that Jackie Chan may be joining him in The Expendables 3. Hit the jump to read more:

Sheila spoke to the cast of Parker at roundtable interviews today.  We will have the full interviews for you soon, but we want to pass along what Jason Statham had to say about The Expendables 3 and Homefront.  Statham has only heard rumors about the Expendables sequel, but he too likes the one about Jackie Chan joining the cast: “[Chan has] broken every bone in his body for his commitment and dedication to doing his own stunts. So he’s the real deal.”  Statham is open to all potential newcomers—including Nicolas Cage—and mentions, “I like Clint Eastwood as well.”

Statham was honored when Stallone brought Homefront, a script that Stallone wrote intending to star, to Statham and offered the lead role: “He adapted it to suit me.  It was like a tailor-made suit and Sly did all the sewing.  Fantastic!”  Hit the jump for the full quotes.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this evening.  First up, The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson is in negotiations to star opposite Benicio Del Toro in the Pablo Escobar drama Paradise Lost.  Per Deadline, Hutcherson will play the lead character of Nick, “a young Irish surfer who visits his brother in Colombia” where he meets the love of his life and her uncle Pablo.  Actor Andrea Di Stefano (Life of Pi) is making his directorial debut on the project, with production set to get underway in March in Panama.  Hutcherson is currently filming the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in Hawaii.

Hit the jump for news concerning Jackie Chan joining the cast of The Expendables 3.

It appears that Nicolas Cage has forgotten how to use the word “no.”  The actor has signed on to a large number of projects as of late, including a reboot of the Evangelical Christian series Left Behind.  He’s now adding another project to his slate, though this one is more in line with the fun Nic Cage of the 1990s.  We learned back in August that producers were trying to rope in some high profile names for the invetiable action sequel The Expendables 3, and Cage was on said wish list.  Now Sylvester Stallone has revealed a bit about the confirmed follow-up, stating that Cage is indeed onboard.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say. [Update: A new report indicates that Cage is not actually signed on.  Hit the jump for further explanation.]

There’s a lot of American Film Market (AFM) craziness on the way with announcements, confirmations, first images and synopses from plenty of upcoming films.  The Expendables 3 has looked like it’s pretty much a go since August, and a flyer from Nu Media/Millennium Films has confirmed that the studios are selling the international distribution rights, which will likely help fund the upcoming action flick.  A more surprising announcement is that Nu Media/Millennium Films are planning The Mechanic 2, a sequel to the 2011 action flick about a hitman (Jason Statham) and his protégé (Ben Foster).  We have absolutely no details on the plot for either sequel, but The Mechanic 2 is a bit of a surprise since the original flopped at the box office.

We’ll be sure to bring you any updates on both projects as we get them.  Hit the jump for a full look at the flyer, which also includes Nu Media/Millennium Films’ non-sequels.

The minds behind The Expendables series are keen to start work on the next sequel. But as they busy themselves with adding more replaceable cogs to their wholly replaceable cast, today comes news that if/when The Expendables 3 does get rolling, current cog Chuck Norris won’t be there. The reason for his departure is unconfirmed; however, Norris did make headlines a few months ago when he unsuccessfully lobbied to have The Expendables 2 edited down to a PG-13 (lest his legion of young fans be traumatized by profanity while they’re watching old men murder people). The uninformed might also attribute the decision to Norris being in his 70s, not realizing that in Chuck Norris-years, he’s only 26.  At any rate, hit the jump for the action legend’s comments on his departure from the franchise.

Simon West‘s The Expendables 2 opens this weekend, and the film has Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his gang of mercenaries out for revenge while also having to deal with a baddie (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who wants some weapons-grade plutonium.  I was very disappointed with the first film, but the sequel is a blast.  I think one of the big problems with the original was the lack of a great antagonist.  But by bringing in Van Damme (who is one of the best parts of the sequel), the fight scenes are a lot more fun.  The Expendables 2 also stars Jason Statham, Yu Nan, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Randy Couture and Terry Crews.  We talked about the first time they heard about the sequel, how they prepared for the second film, the big action scenes, and who would they like to see in The Expendables 3.  Hit the jump to watch.

Simon West‘s The Expendables 2 opens this weekend, and the film has Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his gang of mercenaries out for revenge while also having to deal with a baddie (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who wants some weapons-grade plutonium.  I was very disappointed with the first film, but the sequel is a blast.  I think one of the big problems with the original was the lack of a great antagonist.  But by bringing in Van Damme (who is one of the best parts of the sequel), the fight scenes are a lot more fun.  The Expendables 2 also stars Jason Statham, Yu Nan, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Dolph Lundgren.  We talked about his reaction to the first film and the sequel, how he prepared for the second film, filming in Bulgaria, the big action scenes, and who would he like to see in The Expendables 3.  Hit the jump to watch.

Simon West‘s The Expendables 2 opens this weekend, and the film has Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his gang of mercenaries out for revenge while also having to deal with a baddie (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who wants some weapons-grade plutonium.  I was very disappointed with the first film, but the sequel is a blast.  I think one of the big problems with the original was the lack of a great antagonist.  You can’t have all these huge action stars fighting a no-name actor in the middle of nowhere.  But by bringing in Van Damme (who is one of the best parts of the sequel), the fight scenes are a lot more fun.  The Expendables 2 also stars Jason Statham, Yu Nan, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Jason Statham.  We talked about how he prepared for the sequel, filming in Bulgaria, who would he like to see in The Expendables 3, and what’s the status of Crank 3.  Hit the jump to watch.

I haven’t seen The Expendables 2 yet, but the biggest selling point for the sequel and the original is the cast.  If you were an action movie star, then The Expendables franchise wants you to pick up a gun and blow shit up.  According to Producer Avi Lerner, they’ve already got Nicolas Cage signed up to do just that in The Expendables 3.  It’s worth noting that The Expendables 3 isn’t a done deal.  Lionsgate hasn’t given the third film a greenlight, but the studio will most likely continue the franchise if the upcoming sequel dominates the box office this weekend (and it probably will).

Cage is the latest addition to the cast (all of which are slated to return, according to Lerner), but he may not be the only big name to join the series.  Hit the jump for more.

At the ESPN portion of the TCA Press Tour, Arnold Schwarzenegger was there to talk about the first installment of the 30 for 30 Shorts documentary series, premiering online.  Focusing on his teenage years in the Austrian Army, the short shows how the young Austrian farm boy’s mandatory military service played a critical role in his journey to international fame.

Before the panel ended, talk naturally turned to his acting career, and Schwarzenegger commented on why it’s taken so long for him to team up with Sylvester Stallone, how he originally got involved with The Expendables, what it took to work the first film and its sequel into his very busy schedule, how The Expendables 2 looks like it will be a big enough hit to do a third film, and teaming up with Stallone again for The Tomb, an action thriller due out in 2013.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.