“The Expendables” was a gift for all action nostalgics: not only was the harsh, sometimes politically incorrect cinema of the eighties and nineties spoiled. They also insisted on bringing the old hit-and-run heroes back in front of the camera. It so happened that Sylvester Stallone (“Rambo”), Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Terminator”), and Bruce Willis (“Die Hard”) finally appeared together in a dialogue scene—before appearing in “The Expendables 2.” could also cause a riot hand in hand.
It is said that the plan to put Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone in one movie was planned much earlier. It was an adaptation of the DC comic series “Sgt. Rok”. The focus here is on a soldier (the eponymous Franklin John Rock) and his unit during World War II, who must fight their way through various missions. Sergeant Rock first appeared in 1959’s Our Army At War.
A much earlier “The Expendables”?
The fact that this plan could not be carried out was not only due to the bitter rivalry between Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s and 1990s. Of course it was also a matter of money. Because all three actors received far too high a fee at their wedding to really be able to make a film with the action trio. However, an adaptation of the comic was a subject for a long time, with Schwarzenegger starring and Stallone and Willis in supporting roles.
Although the film would be produced by Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Predator, The Matrix), many different writers worked on the script during the 1980s and 1990s, including David Peoples (Blade Runner), Steven E. De Souza ( Gemini Man), John Milius (Conan the Barbarian) and Brian Helgeland (Payback). Here, Sergeant Rock was portrayed as a German-American father all along, before John Cox wrote a new screenplay that had nothing to do with the previous drafts and also no longer starred Schwarzenegger.
Then, in 2007, it was announced that Guy Ritchie, in another attempt at “Sgt. Rock” film adaptation to direct. However, nothing came of it, as Ritchie was busy with Sherlock Holmes – and the project was again shelved. Until today. Incidentally, it is also not clear whether it was really planned to bring Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Willis in front of the camera all the time, in all stages in which the film would be made. It is more likely that the three stars as recently as “Sgt. Rock” were linked together, but then separately again at different times.