Trivia / The Expendables 3

• Actor-Inspired Element: In the first drafts of the screenplay, Antonio Banderas' character was named "Matador" (a Spanish term for a bullfighter, literally meaning "killer"). After Banderas agreed to play the role, he made several suggestions for the character. One of them was to change his name to "Galgo" (Spanish for "greyhound").
• All-Star Cast: Along with all the returning actors, there's the addition of Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, Kelsey Grammer, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, and even some rising names in Ronda Rousey and Glen Powell.
• Billing Displacement: Although billed third, Jet Li has less than five minutes of screentime. And fifth and sixth are the minor roles of Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger, right above Mel Gibson as the villain.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Wesley Snipes was supposed to play Hale Cesar but couldn't leave the States due to his tax troubles.
• The Cast Showoff: Like his character in the film, Harrison Ford is a skilled pilot (both fixed-wing and helicopter) in real life. In fact, Ford has conducted some search-and-rescue missions, just like his character does in the film.
• Content Leak: The full movie was leaked almost a month before release.
• Creator Backlash: Sylvester Stallone regretted making the film PG-13, believing it was "a horrible miscalculation", and assured it would never happen again in the franchise.
• Fatal Method Acting: Almost. While shooting the secene of the truck, brakes failed and the vehicle fell into the sea with Jason Statham inside. Luckily, Statham is a trained diver and managed to get out and reach the surface.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Sylvester Stallone told Antonio Banderas to "forget he was an actor" and expressly made him behave the craziest way possible. The results were awesome.
• On-Set Injury: Sylvester Stallone suffered a serious back injury from a bad fall, requiring surgery that involved adding metal plates to his spine. In a separate scene, Antonio Banderas sustained a knee injury.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Harrison Ford's best known characters were all about getting paid, or preserving history - here he's the Blood Knight.
  • Mel Gibson usually plays heroes or anti-heroes.
• Reality Subtext:
  • Doc, much like his actor Wesley Snipes, is initially prevented from working with the Expendables due to a prison sentence.
  • This is why Mel Gibson plays the villain of the third film. After a recording of an anti-semitic drunken rant of his became public and the resulting public backlash damaged his career, it made sense for him to play someone as loathsome as Stonebanks.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Mickey Rourke was set to return as Tool, but scheduling problems made it impossible, so the character of Bonaparte was created to replace him. Nicolas Cage (who almost appeared in the second film) was considered for this role before it settled down in Kelsey Grammer.
  • The character of Stonebanks was written for Mel Gibson, but he initially declined and the producers offered the role to Jack Nicholson. It was all scrapped when Gibson changed his mind and took it.
  • Galgo could have been played by Danny Trejo, who almost appeared in the first film in Rourke's place.
  • Steven Seagal was offered an appearance for the third time (he was also offered it in the first and second movies), but he refused again.
  • Clint Eastwood, Jackie Chan (for a second time, as he was also in talks with the second film) and Milla Jovovich were considered for the movie.
  • Bruce Willis was getting paid $3 million for three days worth of work on the film. Out of nowhere he demanded $4 million and Stallone refused to pay. Within 36 hours he reached out to Harrison Ford as a replacement and he immediately agreed to take the part.
  • Jack Nicholson and Tom Sizemore were considered for Stonebanks.
  • Stallone considered filling the void left by the Mr. Church character with a role originally intended for Charlie Sheen in the second film, a CIA operative opposed to Church. The role was ultimately removed from both scripts.
  • Early drafts of the script included Gunnar's daughter.
  • In addition to his role of main villain, Mel Gibson was offered the chance to direct the film, but he declined.

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