Trivia / The Expendables 2

• Actor-Shared Background: We learn Gunnar has a degree in chemical enginering, which Dolph Lundgren also has. Almost all of Gunnar's backstory (Swedish, Fulbright Scholarship to MIT, leaving to become a bouncer, having a relationship with a celebrity he met as a bouncer) is taken from Lundgren's actual life.
• Ascended Meme: The Expendables treat Chuck Norris's character with the same reverence as the internet gives Norris himself, to the point where they make their own Chuck Norris Fact.
• Billing Displacement: Jet Li was billed third, despite only appearing in the opening scene. Meanwhile, the little-known Nan Yu, who has a significant amount of screentime as Maggie Chan, is billed no less than thirteenth.
• California Doubling: The "Albania" was filmed in Bulgaria, while the abandoned military "simulation town" is clearly a Hollywood studio backlot, most likely that of Warner Bros..
• Cast the Runner-Up: Jean-Claude Van Damme was offered a part in the first film, but declined.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub, Maggie is voiced by Chiaki Kuriyama, aka GoGo Yubari.
• The Danza: Vilain's first name is Jean. Van Damme later joked that he could return for the next movie as his identical twin brother, named Claude Vilain.
• Deleted Role: Tennis player Novak Djokovik filmed a cameo for the airport shootout, but the scene in which he appeared was cut out.
• Fake Nationality: The Albanians are actually Bulgarian, and Vilain and his crew aren't Russian, for obvious reasons.
• Fatal Method Acting: While filming in Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, a stuntman was killed and another was left in critical condition during a staged explosion on a rubber boat. The surviving stuntman underwent a five-hour operation that reportedly left him in stable condition.
• Hostility on the Set: Bruce Willis caused a great deal of tension and trouble on the set. Sylvester Stallone called Willis "greedy and lazy" after negotiations broke down for Willis’ appearance in the next sequel. (Reportedly, Willis wanted $4M USD for four days of work.)
• On-Set Injury: Both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had to have shoulder surgery after filming was completed.
• Playing Against Type: Jean-Claude Van Damme playing as a villain... magnificently.
• Reality Subtext: Possible case in that Barney's speech following Billy's death could also apply to the death of Stallone's son in Real Life:
  Barney Ross: Why is it the ones who deserve to live, that want to live the most, die - and the ones that don't deserve to live, keep on going?
• Wag the Director: Chuck Norris asked for the film to be PG-13 in exchange for his participation, but he was refused by more or less everybody, so the film was produced R-rated as it was planned.
  • Though they did meet Norris halfway by cutting out most of the harder profanity from the script at his request.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The first draft of the script had Tool returning and being killed as the team's main motivation to chase Vilain, but Mickey Rourke left the production to pursue other projects and Liam Hemsworth was brought to replace him as the new character Billy.
  • The final fight between Vilain and Ross was originally going to be stunt-heavy, with the villain trying to run away in a helicopter, but Van Damme insisted on a straight-up fist-fight because he knew his character needed to die in a very satisfactory way. Vilain even breaks the fourth wall during the fight when Ross struggles to get back up to his feet. "Is that all? The people want more for their money!"
  • Donnie Yen could have been added to the cast due to an agreement with an unnamed Chinese distributor, but this fell apart and it was never heard again. Yen was then personally approached for the film, but although he felt flattered by the offer, he did not like the role he was being offered (it was apparently either a Satellite Character to Yin Yang or a Suspiciously Similar Substitute) and declined. Interestingly, Yen still liked the concept of the film and toyed with the idea of producing an all-Chinese Expendables, going to the extent of talking to Jet Li and Jackie Chan about it, but the project never materialized.
  • Speaking of Chan, he was also approached for this film along with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, but they all had to decline due to scheduling conflicts.
  • As accustomed in the franchise, Steven Seagal was approached to make an appearance, but he wasn't interested.
  • Charlie Sheen was considered for a character Stallone had written (specifically, a CIA operative pursuing Mr. Church), but it was scrapped when its entire subplot was removed from the script.
  • The character of Maggie could have been played by Gina Carano.

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