Sylvester Stallone starred in two of the most iconic action films of all time, playing boxing phenomenon Rocky Balboa and brutal soldier John Rambo. Late in his career, he also started a new franchise when he took on the role of Barney Ross, the leader of a gang of mercenaries played by legendary action stars called the Expendables.
While the first film starred Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Roberts, the sequel was supposed to up the ante. This was done by adding Chuck Norris to the cameo roster and casting Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain.
Of course, fans are used to seeing Brussels Muscle on the good side of the fight card, but his role as the villainous Villain proved to be a bright spot in the sequel.
Van Damme, however, was not entirely happy with the original script. He told WENN that he had a major problem with the final fight between him and Stallone, saying that fans wanted to see them go toe-to-toe. In an interview, Van Damme admits that he was afraid of upsetting the Rambo actor, but made him change his mind about the final episode.
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Jean-Claude Van Damme recalls in an interview that in the original fight he tried to escape in a helicopter until Sylvester Stallone’s character threw a chain at the propeller and brought it down. The Bloodsport actor says he complained to everyone except Stallone that fans would rather see them fight one after the other, and eventually wrote a letter outlining his concerns. However, when he arrived at Stallone’s trailer, he lost the letter and decided to talk to him.
“Oh my gosh, I’ll tell him how I feel.” “I said,” the action star recalls. “Stallone, I think people want to see Muhammad Ali versus Frazier.
This is a metaphor. Look at your hands, you are strong. We need to put up a fight. This is from me, and hopefully I will cause you some harm.”Any time someone approaches their boss, it comes with a fair amount of fear and nervousness, especially if that boss is one of the most iconic people in the action movie industry. However, Stallone responded well to Van Damme’s recommendation.
“He said, ‘I’ll tell you what. Go and invent a fight!” — said Van Damme. “Later I looked everywhere for the letter. It stuck to my pocket!”
From the moment fans first saw Jean-Claude Van Damme as Frank Dukes in Bloodsport, they knew they were in for their next big thing in action movies.
Casting him as the film’s villain opposite other iconic action stars and then having him go on the run would be a waste. Luckily, Sylvester Stallone listened to Van Damme.
Now Vilain taunts Ross to drop his weapon and fight him. Ross does just that, engaging in a brutal and surreal romp that includes many of Van Damme’s classic maneuvers, such as his signature roundhouse kick. In the end, The Expendables 2 outperformed the other franchise in both critical and public opinion. and scored 67% on Rotten Tomatoes by fans, with Van Damme’s return to form likely giving him the edge over the rest.