The awesome, exciting, and truly interesting casting news coming out of Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables had to come to an end sometime. In addition to the stallion himself, the movie is set to star Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, and Charisma Carpenter in a tale about mercenaries taking down a South American dictator. That list used to include Forest Whitaker as well, but AICN revealed yesterday that Idi Amin has left the building. His big, black, lazy-eyed, Oscar-winning void has already been filled though… by Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson. Stallone apparently contacted AICN and The Stallone Zone via email with a plea to not take this piece of news as negative.
Please tell the loyal followers to be positive not negative in their feedback. I am not self-destructive. The anger of the casting of 50 Cent is understandable, but not fair. A player is only as good as his coach. If a man can communicate in one medium, he can communicate in another if his strengths are brought out and he has the support of well-wishers. So, trust me, the change of Forest Whitaker to 50 Cent AKA Curtis Jackson is a good one. No one thought Dolph Lundgren was a good choice for ROCKY or Mr. T. Carl Weathers was an afterthought when Ken Naughton fell out. The same with Talia Shire and Richard Crenna, who was known as a comedic actor, not a serious one. Nobody wanted Eric Roberts over Ben Kingsley, but I believe it’s a vastly improved casting. The point is, you either believe in me and the project, setting your personal feelings aside, or you take a darker approach…”
Some of you may ignore Stallone’s request and view this as bad news, and some of you may not care, but I doubt anyone sees this bit of casting as positive. (If someone out there does think it’s a good thing please enlighten us as to why in the comments section.) It’s not just that they’re replacing an Oscar winning actor… that already happened when Roberts took over for Ben Kingsley. But while Jackson is obviously no Whitaker, he isn’t even in league with Roberts. Jackson is an actor in the most basic sense of the word only. He was easily the worst thing in last year’s Righteous Kill and that’s a true accomplishment… a bigger pile of shit hasn’t been onscreen since the one Barbara Bach fell into in Ringo Starr’s Caveman.
Thoughts? Does this news temper your interest in the movie?
Related Topics: The Expendables
