Time to report on EX3. A lot has been going on over the past couple of months after the announcement of Patrick Hughes by Sly as the director of the franchise's third instalment. So let's recap the state of "EX3" affairs.
Release Date: Lionsgate has announced August 15, 2014 as the release date for EX3, keeping the tradition of the franchise's release month of August in every two years, since 2010 now.
Production: According to Schwarzenegger via The Arnold Fans, production will start in LA. Two Other locations have been announced: Bulgaria and New Orleans, and Asia has been suggested by Sly but not confirmed yet.
Schwarzenegger, Nu Boyana (the Bulgarian Studio), and a few Bulgarian news agencies have confirmed August 2013 as the beginning of EX3 production.
Lundgren has announced on the Late Night show that he might be filming in fall!
August, Fall? More clarification on the production timeline to be further confirmed.
Returning Cast:
Stallone will return as Barney Ross in the lead role. He is also writing the script for this 3rd chapter.
Schwarzenegger has confirmed via The Arnold Fans that he will reprise his role and will start filming in August in LA. A Bulgarian source has since announced that Arnold would not be present in Bulgaria, raising doubts about Arnold's extent of play in EX3.
Statham has also confirmed his participation and has made arrangements to shoot EX3 and F&F7 back to back.
Rourke was confirmed by Stallone via his Twitter (Mighty Mickey is back..).
Couture stated back in summer 2012 that he was going to shoot EX3, no information has since been communicated regarding his participation, but he is very likely to be cast again.
Crews, no official confirmation of his participation either but he is also very likely to be cast again.
Lundgren has hinted at his participation to Jimmy Fallon on the Late Night show.
Li & Willis have not been officially confirmed. Although this website seems to have confirmation of their participation without revealing any reliable source, further official announcement would make the news more solid.
There were rumors about Van Damme's return as Vilain's twin brother last summer but nothing has been further advanced and his participation is very unlikely in the 3rd instalment.
Norris has publically announced that he would not return.
New Cast:
Snipes has been confirmed by Stallone via his Twitter (Talked to WESLEY today ... He can not WAIT to fight to the top again !!!!!!! Over..). No official announcement has been made since.
The CEO of Lionsgate announced that Cage, Chan & Jovovich were in advanced negotiations.
Chan has since sent out mixed messages during various interviews about his desire of being cast in EX3, saying at one time that he would be more interested in doing a buddy movie with Stallone, and at another time that he was still waiting to see the script.
Jovovich has also confirmed via her Twitter that she was contacted and was waiting to see the script.
No official confirmation of any of the above actors since, other than what has been reported on this website (no reliable source of info is mentioned). Other mention by Lundgren who thought they had signed Chan & Cage (during his interview with Fallon on the Late Night show).
Seagal was contacted but turned down the offer first. He was later contacted again by Stallone himself and was announced via Stallone's Twitter to be interested (Just talked to STEVEN S. in Moscow ...Sounds great and says he wants to be in EX3, if the part fits....), no news since.
Gibson has been strongly rumored by many news agencies in the US & the UK, and confirmed by many news agencies from Bulgaria to be cast as the main villain. No official announcement yet.
Yen who had turned down EX2 has recently expressed his interest in EX3, no news on whether he was further contacted.
Stallone expressed interest, via his Twitter, in casting Uwais from The Raid if he spoke English (Thinking about Raiding, THE RAID....), no news since.
This is it for now, stay tuned for more news soon!
