Liam Hemsworth is not just aiming to be a heartthrob with The Hunger Games movie; he also has his heart set on being an action hero after signing up to the sequel to the surprise smash hit The Expendables.
Written, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone, the film garnered huge attention and excitement during the shooting because of its cast. Harnessing actors from eighties and nineties action cinema, it included Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and current movie star Jason Statham.
The synopsis by the film’s company was this:
The only life they’ve known is war. The only loyalty they have is to each other.
They are The Expendables: leader and mastermind Barney Ross (Stallone), former SAS blade expert Lee Christmas (Statham), hand-to-hand combat specialist Yin Yang (Li), long-barrel weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Crews), demolitions expert Toll Road (Couture), and precision sniper Gunner Jensen (Lundgren). Living life in the fringes of the law, these hardened mercenaries take on what appears to be a routine assignment: a covert, CIA-funded operation to infiltrate the South American country of Vilena and overthrow its ruthless dictator General Garza (David Zayas). But when their job is revealed to be a suicide mission, the men are faced with a deadly choice, one that might redeem their souls…or destroy their brotherhood forever.
Director, co-writer and star Sylvester Stallone brings together a powerhouse cast of action superstars – never before seen together in one film – in Lionsgate’s hard-hitting action thriller, The Expendables. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas with Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke. The Expendables was directed by Sylvester Stallone from a story by David Callaham and screenplay by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone, and is produced by Avi Lerner, John Thompson and Kevin King Templeton.
After making nearly $300 million worldwide, a sequel was given the green light. This time Simon West will be on directing duties, with new cast members including Liam Hemsworth, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis will also return in much larger roles.
The plot revolves around Van Damme’s mercenary killing one of The Expendables. Seeking revenge, they recruit a young sniper named Billy the Kid, played by Hemsworth. The film is released in August 2012. Hemsworth was meant to be in the first movie too after impressing Stallone, but it didn’t happen – however, he was delighted to land his man for the sequel.
Speaking about future roles Hemsworth has said: ‘My favourite actors are Matt Damon Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith. I love films that they have done. I love The Departed and would love to do a film like that. Or a film like The Bourne Identity, something that’s physical and on the edge. But it’s almost impossible to plan out what you want to do. You choose things that interest you, what feels right at the time in your career. I want to do things that I’m genuinely interested in. I want to make good stories and to make the most out of this. You know, I was laying floors for six months, and I can tell you, acting is definitely better than that! It made me really appreciate what I have at the moment. It’s been an amazing couple of years.’
Showing off her bright pink hair, which is the height of fashion, Effie isn’t too happy to be the appointed escort for her District 12 Tributes, as she is used to the luxury life that Capitol offers, and wants to be looking after a more prosperous District. Initially brusque with her charges, her attitude softens.
She is played by Elizabeth Banks. Deciding that she didn’t want Effie to be ‘too British’, Banks decided to make her to be a ‘little highfalutin’. She told Entertainment Weekly: ‘It’s a combination of The Philadelphia Story and Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame. Rosalind Russell is just amazing, it’s one of my favourite performances ever. I wanted Effie to be really theatrical.’
She told People: ‘She’s a very outrageous character. And she was one who was easy to come to because it’s all very external – she’s all about the hair, the clothes and the make-up. She had very interesting nails, which made it impossible for me to go the bathroom and zip up the dress and type on my Blackberry. I don’t know how women who have those nails do it!’
She added: ‘I would be in the hair and makeup trailer and I was Elizabeth, and then the wig went on and very suddenly I was Effie. Every day I would have that aha moment, like: “We did it! We found Effie!” Effie is a very complicated woman. She’s a spinner. She spins everything into something positive. These kids have been pulled from their loved ones to compete on television in this horrible event in which they will likely lose their lives.
‘For sure the biggest challenge of playing Effie was the shoes! All my shoes in the movie are completely amazing but highly uncomfortable. I said to Gary: ‘You better be shooting these shoes, because they’re killing me,’ Banks explained.
Elizabeth Banks was born in 1974, and she is an accomplished actress, equally impressive in both blockbusters like Spider-Man and comedic fare like Zack and Miri Make a Porno and 30 Rock – the latter performance saw her receive an Emmy nomination.
She has claimed in the past that she grew up in a loving but ‘lower-middle class’ household, recalling: ‘We had days where we went to grandma’s house for a bath, and it was like “Yay, we’re going to grandma’s house to take a bath!” But it was because we didn’t have hot water, which my parents didn’t want to tell us. So instead we had fun nights at grandma’s house.’
Banks only ended up acting after she broke her leg playing baseball. Deciding that she wanted something else in her life she tried acting, auditioning for her school play. Roles would stack up, but it was her performance in 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin that won acclaim, and bigger roles followed, most notably playing Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s George Bush biopic W.
She has a short memory, recalling an embarrassing moment: ‘Jake Gyllenhaal once approached me in a valet line, and I thought he thought I was someone else. I was confused and frosty and I’m sure I was very off-putting, and he had to remind me that we had met, that we had done a partial reading of Romeo and Juliet. I don’t have a good memory for names and faces, so my husband now calls it “The Gyllenhaal” – like if we go to a lunch and meet new people, he tells me: “Don’t Gyllenhaal these people!”’
Banks has worked with Gary Ross previously, starring in his 2003 effort Seabiscuit. Talking about Ross, she said: ‘He’s a great moviemaker and storyteller. He’s a writer too, so every character matters and it’s about the fun performances he’s trying to get for everyone. I mean, Effie Trinket is an amazing character, so we had a great time figuring her out together. I can’t wait for people to see it. It’s very different from Seabiscuit, but I think all his movies are different. I’m really impressed by Gary’s taste in everything; he has such great taste.’
Banks will be seen next in pregnancy comedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting, which was released in May 2012. She said: ‘I cried when I read the script. It has a really great ending: at the end of the movie, everybody has a baby! It really is just a very relatable story for everyone: anybody who is a parent, has considered being a parent, has a baby, whatever. It’s just very universal, what happens in the film. We really explore so many great storylines and different paths to getting a child. I had a unique path to getting my son, so I understand how everybody’s path to their child is different.’
She added: ‘My character, Wendy Cooper, owns a store called The Breast Choice, here in Atlanta, which caters towards breastfeeding. My husband is a dentist, and I imagine that we met during our medical training, and that I studied to be a Registered Nurse, and became a lactation specialist, and then ended up doing that as a consultant, and then opened my own little boutique.
‘My character is probably closer than anyone else in the movie to how I feel about pregnancy. I definitely feel that it’s an amazing thing that sets us apart from the lesser race, men [she laughs]. But at the same time, I think it’s different for everyone and I find that there’s a lot of judgment in our culture surrounding pregnancy. I think what’s great about my character is that she goes at the judgment head on. She is a very judgmental person at the beginning of the movie and really learns a lesson over the course of it, that everybody has her own experience, and you can’t tell people how to live, and you’ve just got to go through it for yourself.’