There is confirmation that The Expendables 2 has added Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme to the cast. The pair join recently cast Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the sequel to Sylvester Stallone‘s high-octane action flick. EW, who confirmed the casting, is also reporting that Face/Off’s John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are in talks to join the ensemble cast that includes Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Giselle Itie, Charisma Carpenter, Gary Daniels, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke
Stallone has some high expectations for Van Damme’s casting saying,
“We’ll have a big showdown between me and Van Damme,” Stallone told the outlet, “which has been anticipated for a long time, so it should be a good one.”
The cast of high-level testosterone action junkie actors continue to fill the casting sheet and as we wait to hear confirmation that Travolta and Cage being cast, who do you think is missing from this list? Could the cast list grow out of control? Possibly. But even with all of its convoluted plots, and boring action sequences, I believe that everyone who was given a part in the first Expendables served their purpose, and with Simon West, who is no stranger to high-octane action films, at the helm, I think that The Expendables 2 could have some repeat success at the box office next year.
With production beginning next month in Bulgaria, Stallone is still finalizing plans about who will appear, though he hints that Cage is close to a lock and Travolta is bit more uncertain.
“It’s possible,” he said of the unconfirmed casting, “The one thing I’ve learned is what is a fact on Monday is a complete fallacy on Tuesday. A lot of it is scheduling. It’s not financial. It’s just that Bulgaria is definitely a jaunt. It’s a commitment, you know what I mean? Especially in the dead of winter.”
The Expendables 2 is scheduled for a tentative August 17, 2012 release.