Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham are (re)joining forces after The Expndables 2, but not in the way you might think. The latter is headlining the action-thriller Homefront based on a script by Sly (who's also producing) and under the direction of Gary Fleder, better known for helming such films as Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury.

The Homefront cast has added James Franco, who'll join Statham when principal photography gets going this September down in New Orleans. Franco has recently been working on Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen's The End of the World (where he plays... well, James Franco) and headlines Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful. It looks as though Franco's going to work on Homefront before he reteams with Jonah Hill for True Story.

Homefront bears a passing resemblance to Cop Land (which Sly only headlined, for the record). The former revolves around ex-DEA agent Phil Broker (Statham) who moves his family to a small town, in the hopes of leaving his dark history behind. Once there, though, Phil discovers an underbelly of drug-fueled violence simmering beneath the quiet surface, and eventually attracts unwanted attention from an evil drug lord called Gator (Franco - there's a Green Hornet joke in there somewhere, but, moving on...).

Fleder's film marks a rare occasion where Stallone scripts a project that he neither stars in nor directs. Sly, of course, returns to theaters in Expendables 2 - followed by the buddy-cop thriller Bullet to the Head, the prison escape thriller The Tomb (costarring Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the retired boxer comedy Grudge Match with Robert De Niro.

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Statham's upcoming film slate includes Parker and Hummingbird, the feature-length directorial debut of Steven Knight (writer of Eastern Promises). He's also attached to Brian De Palma's remake of Burt Reynolds' crime-drama Heat, and there's a good chance he'll reteam with Stallone for Expendables 3.

That's all to say: there are plenty of exciting Statham action flicks on the horizon, for fans who aren't overly-enthused to see Stath take on Franco in Homefront.

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Source: Variety