Before Bruce Willis was cast as Jet Li and Jason Statham - who've collaborated several times - led to fan calls for other action icons to the movie. This morphed The Expendables into a slightly uneasy mix of '80s action movie homage and introspective character piece.
The Expendables notably brought together Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis for the first time onscreen too. While it was fun to see the third action legends trade barbs, the sequence itself proved disappointing since it's relatively brief and involves no action. The Expendables 3 after turning down a $3 million paycheque for four days' work, which led to Stallone denouncing his co-star as "greedy and lazy."
The Expendables 3 dropped the character entirely and introduced Harrison Ford's Drummer as a replacement. In keeping with Stallone's Expendables franchise penchant for on the nose, meta gags, Drummer quipped that "Mr. Church is out of the picture." Mr. Church is the CIA agent who hires the titular team to take care of a rogue operative in the first movie, but casting for the part was difficult. After Schwarzenegger was briefly considered, Stallone offered The Expendables' Mr. Church to his Tango & Cash co-star Kurt Russell.
However, after Stallone sent a letter to the actor's agent offering Kurt Russell the Mr. Church role, the response came back that Russell wasn't interested in "ensemble" acting at that time. Russell would later clarify in a 2014 chat with Fast & Furious movies.
Even his The Expendables 4 either, meaning he's one action icon - like Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen - the series missed out on.
