Machete V. Rambo?
Before the geek community blows a collective slow-mo load in their pants….it’s not an upcoming film or even a leaked logline, but a conversation the AV Club had with ex-con turned cult action star Danny Trejo. In one of the site’s regular columns where they sit an actor down and randomly ask them about various roles they’ve played, things got interesting when A.V. asked Trejo about his supposed role in Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming, “The Expendables”:
“Let me tell you about The Expendables. [Writer-director Sylvester] Stallone said I was in The Expendables so he could raise his money, you know what I mean? [Laughs.] Because I bring in the Latin audience. So I was in The Expendables all the way up until the time they started casting. I’m not in The Expendables. That’s one of Hollywood’s ploys to… how do you say it? They have this huge cast, and then all of a sudden, when it comes time to cast, the people that actually raised the money aren’t in it.”
When asked if he felt as if he’d been used by Stallone, Trejo said “Of course. Come on, man. [Laughs.] All them guys—supplements are making them nuts.” Ouch.
Trejo seems like a good dude, but we’re not sure why he’s calling out Stallone’s film in particular here. Films get financed by shady methods and people all the time (hello, David Bergstein). But it’s a fascinating anecdote to the film and certainly goes a long way to explaining the host of names that have been tossed around ever since the film was just a kernel of an idea in Stallone’s brain.
“The Expendables” opens on August 13th.
–Written by B.T. Webster