Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Iron Man 2) has dropped out of the action star-studded Expendables sequel and is in talks to appear in the next film by writer / director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). Rourke was due to reprise his role in The Expendables 2 alongside Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, and a number of other rumoured actors including Nicolas Cage, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and John Travolta. He did the first film as a favour to Stallone but, according to Deadline, the financial incentive for the sequel wasn’t big enough to tempt him back.
Rourke is instead in negotiations to star in McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, which already has Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken on board. The comedy follows a screenwriter (Farrell) in Los Angeles who is struggling with his script until he gets caught up in his friends’ (Rockwell and Walken) dog-kidnapping plot. When a psychopathic gangster’s pet pooch goes missing, he finds all the excitement he needs for his screenplay but also finds himself in a lot of trouble. The movie starts shooting this autumn.
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Originally published October 19, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
