By Rebecca Ford, Tatiana Siegel
August 12, 2013
The actors will co-star with Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford in the film.
Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson are joining Sylvester Stallone in Expendables 3. Banderas is in negotiations and Gibson is on board, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Earlier this year, Stallone tweeted hints about the castings, writing: “Mad Max vs Barney Ross……” and “Antonio B. …? Could be.” Stallone also recently tweeted that Harrison Ford would appear in the third film, while Bruce Willis would not.
Moments after tweeting that Willis would not be returning, Stallone added: “GREEDY AND LAZY . . . A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE.”
A source with knowledge of the situation told THR that the fallout was over a specific money demand. Willis was offered $3 million for four days of consecutive work on location in Bulgaria for the film. “He said he’d drop out unless he got $4 million,” this source close to the production says. “A million dollars a day. Stallone and everybody else involved said no.”
Lionsgate has slated the Nu Image/Millennium Films action-adventure franchise film to open Aug. 15, 2014. Stallone returns as Barney Ross, who leads the group of mercenaries as it undertakes seemingly impossible missions. Jackie Chan and Nicolas Cage are also set to appear in the film.
Patrick Hughes is directing from a screenplay by Stallone and Richard Wenk and writing by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, represented by Gersh, Kaplan-Perrone, and attorney Rob Szymanski. The Expendables 2, starring Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews and Willis, opened in the U.S. on Aug. 16, 2012, easily topping the box office that weekend with $28.6 million. The Lionsgate and Millennium Films project has earned $300.4 million worldwide. Banderas will appear in upcoming films Machete Kills and Knight of Cups. He’s repped by CAA and Media Art Management.Gibson will also appear in Machete Kills and upcoming actioner Mad Max: Fury Road. He’s repped by Shanahan Management.