‘Let’s do it with action heroes’: How did Stallone get the idea for The Expendables?

At the fourth crossroads of his career, Sylvester Stallone had the idea to create one of the most famous action franchises of the 2000s. In a Netflix documentary dedicated to it, Sly revisits the event that inspired the Expendables saga.

While attending a former rock star concert with her husband, she realized that her advanced age was not a problem as long as it was accepted. Stallone was so impressed by the performance of these rock granddads to a packed room that he had the idea to bring the concept to action movies.

Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis reunited on screen for the first time. Consumables: special section, film script and director Sly. Next to them, other big names of action cinema, such as Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li, then Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris in the second part.

As Schwarz notes in the Netflix document, several actors have seen their names attached to three of cinema’s highest-grossing franchises. It shows what the interpreter of Rocky and Rambo was at the dawn of his seventies, when the first part of The Expendables was released in cinemas.

Since 2010, four parts of the saga have seen the light of day. However, Sly backtracked in the fourth episode (in which Schwarzenegger does not appear at all). A shortened runtime that may be the root of this Expendables 4’s monumental flop at the box office…

But Sylvester Stallone has no shortage of projects, as he will soon be filming a second season of his TV series Tulsa King, as well as a sequel to Cliffhanger and his superhero movie Samaritan, among his many projects that have been announced or are in the works!

The documentary Sly: Stallone by Stallone is now available exclusively on Netflix.

Discover the list of movies currently available on the platform!