Novinite.com, a Sofia news agency, posted an interview they recently had with David Varod, a good friend of Sylvester Stallone and the CEO of NU Boyana, the studio where Expendables 2 will be filming in Bulgaria. In the interview, Varod states that some VERY BIG NAMES are joining and some returning for Expendables 2, here's a direct quote of the names.

Q: Would you disclose some of the names coming for sure?

A: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, John Travolta, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke...who else? Of course, Bruce Willis. The director is Simon West, who is also a name. He is already here and has started working on the film. I believe the sequel will be better than the first movie.

Now before we all get too excited, this interview appears legitimate, but in this interview Varod could have simply been listing off names that Stallone has told him he's trying to get and Varod jumped the gun and said they are all for sure part of the cast. We will have to be patient for the next while and see if anyone else can corroborate this news. If it does prove true, this is the first I've heard of John Travolta being involved and the first TRUE confirmation for Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke. I'm intrigued, what do you guys think? Thanks to Trevor for the heads up!!!

According to Randy Couture via TWITTER, Expendables 2 will begin filming September 20, 2011, presumably in Bulgaria which has been mentioned as the prime filming location with I'm sure a few other short visits to other locations. Expendables 2 sees the return of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren to the cast thus far and welcomes new arrivals Jean-Claude Van Damme and Tom Sizemore as villains. Simon West (The Mechanic) will takeover from Stallone as director. Expendables 2 hits theaters August 17, 2012!!!

The news initially came from a site that I was reluctant to trust at first but after reading their interview with him and recalling that Sizemore and Stallone do have a close relationship dating back to their film Lock Up, I am now a believer and convinced that we will see Tom Sizemore in Expendables 2. Tom has revealed that he will be playing a villain in the sequel but was reluctant to reveal any more information at this time. We will have to wait as we always do for official confirmation but for now I say count Sizemore in.

Sorry Arnold fans, its a long way off but it is coming!! Arnold Schwarzenegger will make his triumphant return in a leading role in the action thriller THE LAST STAND hitting theaters January 18, 2013!!! Now if we can just get Arnold to agree to at least a smaller role in a little film before that called Expendables 2....Read on for the full plot of The Last Stand!!

Schwarzenegger will be starring as Sheriff Owens, a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history.

The Last Stand will be directed by Kim Jee-Woon and brought to us by Lionsgate and Maple Pictures!!!

Following the development of Expendables 2 has been an exciting but at times frustrating process. But I guess that's just how it goes in today's entertainment world filled with rumours and the leaks of false information. As news on Expendables 2 has slowly rolled in over the past year, I've tried to always stress to everyone not to take it all at face value, unless I say its 100% CONFIRMED, its not. And heck, I've even been wrong when I said something was CONFIRMED. I helped to feed a frenzy a while back that Sylvester Stallone WAS RETURNING to direct Expendables 2 based on a report I'd seen at Box Office Mojo. I never did hear the whole story behind that but regardless, Sly came out and shot that one down himself, yep I felt pretty stupid, but that's how it goes!! So anyways, I thought now would be a good time to give everyone a refresher on WHAT'S CONFIRMED and WHAT'S UNCONFIRMED/RUMORED regarding Expendables 2.

THE CAST

Returning Cast: Sylvester Stallone (Barney Ross), Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Randy Couture (Toll Road), Terry Crews (Hale Ceaser), Dolph Lundgren (Gunnar Jensen)

New Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme (Unknown Villain)

Unconfirmed/Rumored Cast: Jet Li (Yin Yang), Mickey Rourke (Tool), Bruce Willis (Mr. Church), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Trent Mauser), Steve Austin (Dan Paine), Tom Sizemore (Unknown Villain), Charlie Sheen, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Dwayne Johnson

*NOTE ON JASON STATHAM*
If you've been following closely you'll notice I didn't have Jason Statham listed as an official cast member before now and I realized that was just pretty dumb on my part. He's mentioned in numerous interviews he's game to return and Stallone has mentioned him as a part of the film. Yes there has been no released OFFICIAL confirmation, but I think we can all safely say Jason will be back as Lee Christmas.

I will get to it in more detail later in the article, but a while back a plot summary for Expendables 2 was released that Sylvester Stallone came out and said was either partially or entirely untrue. If that plot summary had proven true, it would have seen for certain the return of Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis to the cast. However, for the time being, without knowing the true validity of the plot summary, we must say nothing is confirmed involving Rourke and Willis. Next to nothing has been menitoned about Jet Li and I would say he is the strongest candidate TO NOT RETURN. We know Sly wants both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger on board Expendables 2 in larger roles but their availablity to take on such roles remains in question for now.

A long while back Bruce Willis came out and said that Sly wanted to bring back Steve Austin to reprise his role as Dan Paine in the sequel. Well he'd either have to come back as extra crispy or with a twin brother. Either way I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in it, its possible but I say highly unlikely. Tom Sizemore revealed in a recent interview that Sly had asked him to come on board to play a villain in Expendables 2. I've only heard this information from one source and haven't been able to get a confirmation from Sizemore's camp so chalk this one up as rumor for now with a stronger then average chance of being true.

Lastly, we have Charlie Sheen, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris and Dwayne Johnson. The Charlie Sheen rumor goes back a long time now, Sly apparently wants Sheen to play a C.I.A agent that was in pursuit of Mr. Church (Bruce Willis). Will we see it? Sheen and Sly are apparently good friends and it might be a chance for Sheen to repair his image a bit but we shall have to wait this one out. Meanwhile, Seagal, Norris and Johnson are all just pure rumour, their names have all been mentioned dozens of times but we've heard nothing definitive for any of them. On a personal note, I WANT DWAYNE JOHNSON in this movie, his humour and action ablilites are perfect for The Expendables and my fingers are crossed that Sly can find him a role.

THE CREW

Director: Simon West (Con Air, The Mechanic)

Writers: David Agosto & Ken Kaufman (Space Cowboys) & Sylvester Stallone

As I mentioned above, it was a roller coaster ride involving Sylvester Stallone, will he direct or won't he? As it turns out HE WON'T and Simon West who has brought us such films as Con Air, Tomb Raider, The General's Daughter and most recently The Mechanic starring Jason Statham, will be our director. Personally I think Simon West is a strong choice and he will have Sly there to guide him to ensure the spirit of the first film remains intact and the franchise can continue to grow.

David Agosto & Ken Kaufman? Who? Yeah that's just what I said. They certainly aren't the most recognizable names and knowing they wrote the film Space Cowboys doesn't get my blood pumping, but that doesn't mean they can't deliver a solid script for us. I really don't know enough about them to pass judgement either way but as was the case with the direction, David & Ken will be working closely with Sly so we should get something solid story wise.

THE PLOT

When Sly first began posting on TWITTER, he revealed he wanted Bruce Willis back to play a 'super villain' in the sequel. The idea sounded totally awesome to me and for a while that was really all we had to go on for plot. A few months back, this plot summary was revealed and it appeared to tell us all we needed to know:

Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Lundgren, Couture and Crews return as hard-edged but  noble mercenaries in the second installment of Sylvester Stallone's old-school action thriller, The Expendables.

As payback for taking out the corrupt CIA agent Monroe (Eric Roberts) in the first Expendables, cagey Agent Church (Bruce Willis) forces the Expendables to do an "easy mission": retrieve a missing CIA package from Gazak, a civil war torn country in Eastern Europe.

The easy mission turns deadly when the Expendables are ambushed by a team of ruthless rival mercs, the Sangunaires, competing to get the same package. Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and souleof the Expendables, is brutally murdered by Vilain, the leader of the bloodthirsty guns for hire. Still, the Expendables manage to pull of the mission and return with the CIA package, but it's a hollow victory.

As their thoughts turn from grief to revenge, Tool's beautiful young daughter Fiona shows up. Cut from the same stone as her dad, she wants to join the Expendables when they hunt down Vilain and his men. Barney (Stallone) promises her the Expendables will avenge Tool's death, but will not risk putting his best friend's daughter in harm's way.

Fiona, who is young and wile, embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters for Barney when she is captured and ransomed by VIlain. Now Barney and the expendables must risk everything to save her, kidnapping CIA Agent Church and pulling off a daring heist of the CIA package they were hired to bring back.

When Agent Church reveals why the CIA package is so valuable to Vilain, the stakes go up even higher. Inside the package are canisters of radioactive cesium which Vilain has been tasked with releasing on the people's uprising that threatens the thirty  year rule of Gazak's vicious dictator, President Dogot.

The Expendables, along with Agent Church, are now faced with an impossible mission: rescue Fiona, foil a dictator's vicious plot to kill scores of innocent people, and avenge the death of one of their own.

To me that plot sounded pretty good but Sly has come out and said its not being used for the film. We just don't know if parts of it will still remain or if in fact the whole thing has been scrapped in favor of a new idea. So for now folks, that is all we know regarding the plot.

SUMMARY

For now, I'd say we still have more questions then answers regarding Expendables 2. The main returning cast appears to be almost fully in place, but aside from the big announcement of Jean-Claude Van Damme, we've learned nothing regarding new cast members. Sly has just begun work on his next film tentatively titled "Headshot" and once filming is closer to completion on that I think we can expect the announcements and news to come flooding in.

We do know filming on Expendables 2 is set to begin in September in Bulgaria for a planned August 17, 2012 release. So stay patient guys we should all know more very soon. Thanks for reading and I hope this got everybody up to date and answered any questions or concerns. You can follow all the news on Expendables 2 on the main page and in the Expendables 2 section HERE!!

Through some digging today I think I've come up with two very strong confirmations for the Expendables 2 cast. In a month old video interview with MovieCricket, Jean-Claude Van Damme confirmed he is on board for Expendables 2 to play a villain as was previously reported. Van Damme is just waiting to receive the final script from Sly. You can check out the full video interview below courtesy of TheActionFans!!

MovieCricket also reports through an interview with Dolph Lundgren that he is also just waiting for the final script from Sly and is ready to put another film project on hold if Sly is ready to go with Expendables 2 in September which is presently the planned start of production. So two great scoops for MovieCricket!! Now I know these aren't quite OFFICIAL confirmations but I think they are as close as were going to get for the next while. So what do you guys think? Excited to have Van Damme joining and Lundgren coming back?

Today. Az, an Azerbaijan website, posted an interview that they conducted with Jean Claude Van Damme and in the interview Van Damme had this to say about his reported involvement with Expendables 2.

Q: Some time ago you turned down an offer from Sylvester Stallone to star in his star-overloaded action blockbuster “The Expendables”. According to the media, and numerous reports it was because you did not like the character you were supposed to portray. As of now, “The Expendables 2” is among the most awaited films of the year. Looking back, do you regret your choice?

A: I will be in Expendables 2, I would have loved to be in part one as well, but my schedule didn't permit it.

Can we call this confirmation? I'm still not completely sold  but let's wait and see what happens! All the Van Damme fans out there should at least get a smile out of this news. Thanks to Bede Jermyn for providing the link and heads up on the news!!

It's been seemingly endless drama and problems lately for Arnold Schwarzenegger and it seemed his big return to film would still be quite a ways away. Not so apparently!! There was rumblings for the past few days that Arnold was now indeed coming back to film and it wouldn't be in the drama Cry Macho as was earlier reported, but instead in the action thriller called The Last Stand. Lionsgate and MAPLE Pictures released a statement confirming this today as well as the plot for the film which you can check out below!! The announcement was made by the President of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group Joe Drake, and President of Production Michael Paseornek.

Korean action-suspense master Kim Jee-Woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, The Good, The Bad, The Weird) will direct the film, which is to be based on a spec script by Andrew Knauer that was subsequently rewritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Lionsgate has domestic and international distribution rights, with the film having pre-sold well in several overseas territories already. Lorenzo di Bonaventura will be producing the film through di Bonaventura Pictures.

Schwarzenegger will be starring as Sheriff Owens, a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger will bring incredible magnetism to this complex but classic role," explained Drake of the perfect fit between the material and the star. "When he came on the screen in 'The Expendables,' it always electrified the audience. In this film, the Sheriff Owens character grapples with some really tough stuff, but ultimately triumphs, and we knew he'd truly elevate this high octane ride."

The film certainly sounds entertaining and as action fans we all can't wait for Arnold's triumphant return in a leading role!! One question still lingering is this though, would Arnold now be up for Expendables 2? It would likely have to be a small role again but anything is possible!! Stay tuned!!

I can't tell you for sure just how legit this information is but according to DIY, actor Tom Sizemore (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down) is set to join Expendables 2 in the role of a villain. A recovering drug addict, Sizemore apparently has a comeback planned with a recurring role on the next season of the hit show Hawaii Five-O to go along with his Expendables 2 role.

Tom Sizemore apparently revealed all this while attending the London Film and Comic Con this past weekend. Stay tuned as I'll try and dig up more as to the validity of this news. If it does prove true, Tom Sizemore is a great actor and would be a very interesting addition to Expendables 2. What do you guys think?

Sylvester Stallone's upcoming action thriller which is still untitled, it has been known as Headshot and Bullet To The Head, the second name coming from the graphic novel its based off of, has added three more cast members according to Variety. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christian Slater and Holt McCallany have all joined the cast. The article also reveals that the already cast Sung Kang (Fast Five) will be taking over the role of New York Cop Eric Carlisle, the role that Thomas Jane (The Punisher) was fired from. The name of the character may be changed with the change of ethnicity in the character.

Akkinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, The Bourne Identity) will portray a villain, a powerful attorney who's trying to cover up his scam to exploit poor neighborhoods that have been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and Christian Slater (Broken Arrow, 3000 Miles To Graceland) will play a mid-level handler in the New Orleans crime world. Lastly, Holt McCallany (TV's Friday Night Lights) will play a dirty cop who partners up with Sung Kang's character on an investigation.

Also cast in the film are Sarah Shahi (Fairly Legal), playing Stallone's daughter and Jason Momoa (Conan The Barbarian)  playing a villain named Keegan.

Overall, the film revolves around a hitman (Sylvester Stallone) teaming with a young NYPD detective (Sung Kang) in a high-stakes investigation that leads all the way to the power corridors of Washington, DC. The unlikely duo, brought together by two vicious murders, take on all who stand in their way, and are willing to sacrifice everything to exact revenge. Walter Hill (48 Hrs.) will Direct.