On Monday 4th August, London’s Leicester Square hosted the World Premiere of the third instalment of The Expendables franchise. At the gala event action icon Sylvester Stallone was joined on the red carpet by his Expendables 3 co-stars Kellan Lutz, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas and Jason Statham. There were hundreds of fans there and it was on the very same red carpet that Stallone himself dropped some interesting news and confirmed that the long-rumoured all-female led action flick The Expendabelles has been given the green light.
68-year-old Stallone joked that Sigourney Weaver, 64, could head up a female version spin-off action movie after winning her own set of mercenaries in a bitter divorce.
‘Are the Expendabelles really part of a divorce where Sigourney Weaver, whose my wife, inherited half the Expendables,’ he said. “You mean she got the house, the kids and my mercenaries?” he joked.
But Sly soon turned serious, adding: ‘With Expendabelles you’ve got a situation where we’re in unchartered waters to put all women together and think will that really work? We don’t just want to use the name – it needs to be something that can hold its own.’
But producer Avi Lerner, 66, soon put a stop to the Rocky star spilling anymore secrets about the project.
‘We are right in the final stages of the script,’ Lerner said. ‘We have lots of ideas about who is going to be the action movie stars and we plan to start shooting next year. That’s all I can say.’
Despite the fact that the action genre has been dominated over the past decades by men, there has also been plenty of women who have really held their own. Pam Grier, Grace Jones, Angelina Jolie and to some extent Jennifer Lawrence have proved that they can pack a punch and still maintain their natural beauty. Now some of you may already know that an all-female take on The Expendables already exists in the form of Mercenaries which stars Brigitte Nielson, Vivica A. Fox, Kristanna Loken and Zoe Bell. However, as Stallone has confirmed that The Expendabelles is currently being developed we couldn’t help but put together our own list of kick ass women.
There no denying that Chloe Grace Moritz is an awesome action star. She always delivers a satisfying performance and has no problems getting her hands dirty. Her role as Mindy/HitGirl in Kick-Ass is a scene stealer and it is for this reason that she could be perfect for the film.
After playing Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson has catapulted herself into the action spotlight. She reprised the role for Captain America: The Winter Solider and will be returning again to play the red-haired assassin in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Her latest action role will be in Luc Besson‘s Lucy where as the title character is caught in the crossfire of a dark deal and inherits powers that defy human logic.
Once playing a Gladiator on American Gladiators it is no surprise that Gina Carano would jump into movies. Her real big break was given to her when she took on the lead role of Mallory Kane in Haywire where she played a black ops super soldier seeking revenge after she is betrayed and set up during a mission. She then went on to appear in Fast Six opposite Vin Diesel and had one hell of a cat fight with Michelle Rodriguez.
A former Miss Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh‘s acting career began when she appeared in an advertisement with Jackie Chan. In 1985 she began making action movies in Hong Kong and like Chan she still does most of her own stunts and has been injured many times. She became popular to western audiences after starring in Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She is currently working on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny.
Uma Thurman is a brilliant actress. She is game for virtually any acting challenge. She has appeared in Dangerous Liasons, Henry & June, Gattaca and Batman & Robin. However, her most famous performances to date have included her portrayal of femme fatale Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction and The Bride in Kill Bill. Both films were directed by Quentin Tarantino whom hailed her as his muse.
Pam Grier was a major African-American actress in the early seventies where she took on roles in such films as The Big Doll House, Coffy and Foxy Brown. Since then she has appeared in Jackie Brown, In Too Deep and exercised her funny bone with her performance in Jawbreaker.
There’s no denying that Michelle Rodriguez is an action star. Famous for her gutsy performances in Fast and Furious, S.W.A.T. and Girlfight she has proved time and time again that she has what it takes to stand against any opponent and can still hold her own.
Cynthia Rothrock has five black belts in Korean and Chinese martial arts and was five time undefeated World Karate Champion in Forms and Weapons (1981-1985). Since her success in the fighting world, Rothrock has appeared in a number of action films in the 1980s and 1990s including No Retreat, No Surrender 2, China O’Brien and Angel of Fury.
Known for playing women who overcome hardship or tragedy, Linda Hamilton‘s most famous performance to date is her portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator 2. Showing a firm development of character, Hamilton’s character turns a complete 180 degrees from helpless woman to self-reliant action heroine.
What list of action women is complete without Sigourney Weaver? Smart, focused and uncompromising, Sigourney is both beautiful and talented. Her portrayal of Ripley in Alien was not only fantastic but her performance sparked a major change in challenging gender roles in cinema. She is everything that an action heroine should be. No other female performance has come close to this since and it is for this reason that she is put at the top of our list of action women.
The Expendables 3 is due for release across the UK on 14th August 2014 and you can check out the trailer for the third instalment below.
