Kurt Russell once snubbed a key role in The Expendables, and his reason for doing so makes little sense considering his part in the Fast & Furious movies. The Expendables is essentially the Pokemon of action franchises, where the filmmakers behind them tried to collect as many legends of the genre as possible. The series featured everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Wesley Snipes and Jet Li to Harrison Ford, but some notable actors passed on The Expendables too. Donnie Yen dropped out of The Expendables 2 during pre-production as he didn't like his role.
Jackie Chan also declined two of The Expendables movies as he felt the number of characters would diminish his own screen time. On the surface, The Expendables shares a lot in common with the Fast & Furious series. The latter is more successful by a large margin, but they're both action franchises with large ensembles and elaborate action sequences. Fast & Furious has its own impressive collection of action icons too, including Dwayne Johnson, Tony Jaa, Charlize Theron and Kurt Russell. The latter was once approached about the original Expendables, but his snubbing is curious thanks to his subsequent Fast & Furious role.
Why Kurt Russell Passed On The Expendables
The Expendables creator Sylvester Stallone has revealed he had a tough time casting the part of Mr. Church, the mysterious CIA agent who recruits the team. Russell was his original Mr. Church pick, with the two having worked together on Tango & Cash in 1989. Stallone also thought his former box office rival turned best friend Arnie would work, but the actor's being the Governor of California at the time made that tricky; Schwarzenegger would instead make a brief cameo as rival mercenary Trench during the Mr. Church scene. Bruce Willis would ultimately play Church and reprised the role for Expendables 2.
In a message posted to StalloneZone in 2009, Stallone opened up about Russell passing on The Expendables. He revealed that he "put the request in a letter" to Russell about the role, and was called back by the actor's agent several days later. Apparently, Russell's agent refused even to send Stallone's letter, proclaiming his client was not interested in "ensemble acting’" at this time. Russell himself explained his reasons for passing on The Expendables to IGN in 2014, stating he was glad for Stallone's success with the series, but that he'd "never seen any of them" and "It's not a beat I get. It's like looking backwards to me."
Fast & Furious' Mr. Nobody Is The Same As Mr Church
In The Expendables, Mr. Church is an unnamed CIA agent who tasks the titular crew with dangerous missions. Church is there to set up assignments before stepping out of the way, though as shown in Expendables 2, he's willing to pick up an assault rifle and join in if need be. He might be stern and no-nonsense, but he ultimately proves to be trustworthy and earns the grudging respect of Stallone's Barney during the second movie. On the surface, the character shares a lot in common with Russell's Mr. Nobody, the mysterious government agent introduced in Furious 7.
Nobody recruits Dom and his gang to retrieve a stolen device in exchange for helping them track down Jason Statham's Shaw, and he reappeared in the next two Fast & Furious movies. Like Church, the character's real name was never revealed, though Russell's Nobody is at least friendlier than his Expendables counterpart. He shares a drink with Dom in Furious 7 and even joins the family for dinner in the eighth entry's finale. While Willis and Russell approached their respective nameless government agents differently, they in essence serve the same story function. This makes Russell snubbing one ensemble action saga for another all the stranger.
Why Kurt Russell Was Wrong About The Expendables
In the aforementioned IGN conversion, Russell further elaborated on passing up The Expendables but accepting Furious 7. While he feels the former is looking back, he believes the Fast & Furious series has a "mystery" to it, and "I think now you can take that from 15 to 45, and I think that's what's interesting about that." In essence, he passed on The Expendables because he felt it was too reliant on nostalgia and callbacks, whereas the Fast & Furious movies were a little more forward-looking and appealed to a wider audience.
In truth, the actor isn't wrong about The Expendables, as they're almost defiantly rooted in the action spectacles of the '80s and '90s, and designed to appeal to an older crowd. That said, they're still entertaining, and like the Fast & Furious movies, they're designed to be entertainment for a mass audience and not high art. It should also be noted that Expendables was offered to Russell during a period when he had mostly stepped away from acting to focus on making his own wine, so that might have informed his decision to pass on the movie too.
Source: StalloneZone, IGN