The Rock, Steve Austin And Hulk Hogan To Star In Expendables 4?
Take this with a grain of salt for now, but Christian Today is reporting that The Expendables 4 is now confirmed and will star The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, who would play the main villain. The report was picked up by a few websites, including Movie News Guide. Variety did report in October that the film would be filmed in China in 2016 with a $100+ million budget, with a 2017 release, however they noted at the time that "neither director nor cast have yet been announced."
I would be wary of the report for several reasons. First, there has been no official statement from the movie studio or Sylvester Stallone, who would once again be the star of the film. Also, there has been no mention of the movie from Hogan, Austin or The Rock, who is usually quick to tweet announcements related to his projects. Third, Austin already starred in the first Expendables movie and his character was killed off. Hogan also noted as recently as late October that he hadn't had any talks about starring in the film, although he also said at a Q&A months earlier that he had.
"Was talking on the phone with Sly [Stallone] about doing The Expendables 4," Hogan said at the Body Power Expo in the U.K. in May. "We're trying to figure out a way to maybe turn me into the most evil man in the world. Y'know, Stallone gave me my first break and he's been a great friend for all these years ? We had a great conversation, talking about the possibilities. Can I still run, can I still jump? Well, not as fast or not as high, but I think Hollywood could find a good stunt man to help me out."
Hogan told a different story to The Star five months later.
"I haven't talked to him. But there's a bunch of people who have thrown my name around and done stuff. I'd love to read the script. I don't know how many more Expendables they're going to make, so I'd love to be in the next one. I'd love to be the bad guy again in a Stallone movie. It would be a lot of fun."
The Rock also expressed interest in starring in an Expendables film in the past, but only if he was cast as an atrocious villain.
"If you're asking if I would consider being in the EXPENDABLES franchise – then the answer is yes," Rock stated during a Reddit AMA last year. "BUT.. I don't want to be on their team and be buddies with them. F*ck that noise. I want to hunt every single one of them down and tell them to 'send your soul to heaven cause your ass is mine.' Rousey lives cause she'd be my characters training partner and Crews lives as well cause my character would need someone to compete at pec popping with."