The 1980s and 1990s are often considered the Golden Age of action movies. It’s an era that produced stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Dolph Lundgren, the kinds of musclebound heroes who looked cool toting a massive gun and kicking ass with their massive biceps. So, when one of the era’s biggest action stars of the day, Sylvester Stallone, decided to pay tribute to those good ol’ days in 2010 with his action ensemble “The Expendables,” audiences flocked to theaters to see it.
In the film (and its three sequels), Stallone brought together some of the biggest names in action movies, from Arnie, Van Damme, and Lundgren to Bruce Willis, Wesley Snipes, and Jet Li. But even as Stallone continued to pack more stars into the franchise’s growing cast, including some modern action heroes like Liam Hemsworth, Terry Crews, and Jason Statham, there’s one beloved ’80s action star who never joined the team: Kurt Russell.
Despite securing the services of superstars like Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson, it was Russell — who’d starred in action classics like “Escape From New York,” which stands head and shoulders above the rest of his action movies — who remained a glaring omission. As it happens, it wasn’t because of a lack of interest on Stallone’s part; the “Rocky” star actually invited Russell to join the cast of the very first “Expendables” film in 2010. According to him, the former Snake Plissken simply turned down his offer.
Kurt Russell just doesn’t get it
During the development of “The Expendables,” fans practically begged Sylvester Stallone to include Russell in the cast, and the actor let everyone know that he’d tried … and failed. “I know that many people on the site have asked for Kurt Russell. I asked for him too,” Stallone wrote in 2009. “Russell is not interested in ‘ensemble acting’ at this time.” As Stallone said, Russell only seemed to be interested in starring roles, but years later, the actor himself would open up about why he turned down Stallone’s offer. According to Russell, his disinterest is pretty simple: he just doesn’t understand the concept of “The Expendables.”
“I’ve never seen any of [“The Expendables” films],” Russell told IGN in 2014 while discussing his role in the then-upcoming “Furious 7.” “It’s not a beat I get. It’s like looking backwards to me.” Russell’s comments shouldn’t be confused with criticism of Stallone and “The Expendables” films, however, as he had nothing but good things to say about the Italian Stallion. “I mean, I’m glad Sly’s done well with this,” Russell added. “He’s a great person. The fellas all seem to have a good time.”
Kurt Russell also turned down Furious 7
While Kurt Russell was given high marks for his “Furious 7” role as the shadowy government agent known as Mr. Nobody, joining the “Fast & the Furious” franchise wasn’t an easy decision. In fact, when he was first offered the part he reacted pretty much the same way he did when Stallone came to him for “The Expendables.” As he told GQ in 2016, he simply wasn’t interested in big budget blockbusters, and the role as they initially described it to him — that of “a lieutenant arriving with his Special Ops team” — wasn’t all that compelling to the actor.
Thankfully for the franchise’s fans, he was talked into it by a friend. “He said, I just think it would be good for you,” Russell recalled. “And that was one of those times when I said, ‘Maybe you need to hear that—maybe you need to listen instead of just saying: I don’t think so’.” Makes one wonder what might have happened had Stallone pushed a little harder or asked a mutual friend to convince Russell to join “The Expendables.”