Award-winning Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan has revealed why he did not feature in Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Expendables’ alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.
With ‘The Expendables’ franchise putting together every veteran actor on the same team, Jackie Chan was of course invited to the party.
The actor, however, has not made an appearance in the franchise to date despite being asked many times.
Chan was one of numerous action icons that Sylvester Stallone tried to recruit when putting together the cast for his Expendables movies.
Assembling a large ensemble of popular action heroes is one of Stallone’s biggest goals each time he makes a movie in the franchise, and seeing so many legends together is one of the reasons they’ve proven so popular.
Usually, Stallone has a wish list of actors in mind for each Expendables movie, but he isn’t always able to get everyone on board. Among that list is Jackie Chan, but it’s not for a lack of trying.
According to Chan, he was offered a role in The Expendables 2 but didn’t accept because of scheduling conflicts with his movie, CZ12.
Later, Chan initially agreed to appear in The Expendables 3 if he could get a larger part in the story, but ultimately backed out.
When a potential fourth installment was being discussed, Jackie Chan shed light on why he didn’t appear in the previous two sequels.
Stating his reasons, the Rush Hour actor stated that he never refused Sylvester Stallone but he felt that it already had too many Hollywood legends in the movie.
Jackie Chan admitted that he would not have minded if it was just a one-on-one battle between Stallone and him but the inclusion of other actors like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, and Jean-Claude Van Damme made him back out of the franchise.
‘The Expendables’, as the name suggests, is a team of fighters that change the world on their bikes and planes.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Jackie Chan admitted that he found the format of the movies boring and redundant.
Stating that there was no point in making an appearance for barely 5 minutes, Chan stated that he did not refuse Sylvester Stallone but he refused the format of the franchise.
“…this morning I did hear – the office called – Sly [Stallone] wants me for Expendables 4. I said, “Okay.” Because they already asked me to be in two and three, but I refused. Well, I didn’t refuse, but I said, “Sly, can’t we just do you and me? Not just a bunch of people and me only coming out for five minutes.’ Because then the audience is, ‘Oh!’ And then I’m gone.”
