24 Frames are reporting that
Sylvester Stallone has decided not to write or direct
The Expendables 2 and that he is currently meeting with various helmers in order to find his own replacement. Stallone will still star in the sequel but presumably doing the Orson Wells-gig on the first just took it out of him and perhaps he wants somebody with a bit more action flare and va-va-voom to improve the follow-up.
David Agosto and
Ken Kaufman (Space Cowboys) will write the actioner which we already know Stallone wants
Bruce Willis to return as 'a super-villain', though aside from Stallone, only
Randy Corture is an Expendable confirmed for a reprisal so far. We were particularly vocal last summer
in our dislike of The Expendables but we commend Stallone for pulling off the impossible - bringing a cast of action legends together in Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and more, for one gigantic muscle-man fest and if you just forgot the plot for a second and focused on the stars... there were a few moments to enjoy. With a new writing team and a new director, perhaps an improvement on the creative side of things, along with a few more gems of actiongasm hiring (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Kurt Russell???) and maybe the shoot-outs and the explosions, if they can make sense this time, will please us a lot more. Once a director can be found the movie will quickly go before camera's.