‘The Mercenaries’: why the female version was discarded

“Action movies of the 1980s and 1990s were mostly driven by men. I think it’s a generational thing.. Now the younger ones dominate the box office, a more progressive, open, more history-focused audience. They don’t distinguish between male and female, as long as you give them a fantastic character”. So, Millennium Films, with Jeffrey Greenstein and Jonathan Younger in the lead, considered developing the all-female version of “The Expendables”.

The successful saga led by Sylvester Stallone, and with an absolutely testosterone-laden cast that included Jason Statham, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes or Dolph Lundgren among its ranks; he was considering betting on a film starring entirely by women, an idea that was eventually discarded. Greenstein explains, in statements to The Hollywood Reporter, that it’s not because the public isn’t open to this kind of proposition, but because the path to inclusion makes more sense to him in another way.

About the new direction of Millennium Films, full of films with female characters, as in the case of ‘Till Death. Til Death Do Us Part “with Megan Fox, or” The Other Bodyguard 2 “with Salma Hayek; the aforementioned producer points out he doesn’t believe the change came from his own production company but rather than “maybe the rest of the world is thinking of other stories to tell”.

“With ‘The other bodyguard 2’, the character of Salma [Hayek] it was so fun that it made sense to build the second film around it. We also like working with the same people, so we did “Till Death” with Megan. [Fox], which is also in the new ‘The Mercenaries’. It’s really about working with talented people. But I say one thing: we tried to develop a female version of “The Expendables”, but my problem with that project has always been trying to find a way to justify why we should have an all-female team.. Instead of trying to explain it, why not include women in the usual team? And instead of having to explain why we decided to add a female character, just do what you would do with a man: kick her ass”.

Stallone’s farewell

“The Expendables 4” will be the last episode led by Sylvester Stallone, an actor who transfers the leadership to Statham after four episodes. Stallone, who directed and wrote the screenplay for the original film, co-written with Dave Callaham; leaves the series hand in hand with a film that recently set its release date. With Fox, Andy Garcia, 50 Cent and Tony Jaa as new additions, “The Expendables 4” will hit theaters on September 22 next year.