According to Hong Kong newspapers, while Donnie Yen and his family were on holidays in the US recently, he was invited to dinner by producer Avi Lerner. Reportedly, Lerner has offered Yen a 'tailor-made' role in the upcoming sequel to THE EXPENDABLES, which is due to commence shooting in October.
A spokesperson from Yen's company confirmed that there was in fact an offer, and went on to say that Yen may be interested in THE EXPENDABLES, but because he currently has a number of projects to choose from, he will not decide until he sees if the script appeals to him or not.
Back in the early 2000s, Donnie Yen was already working in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Shanghai Knight and Blade II (for which he also acted as fight choreographer). Of course, he is a much bigger star now following the recent success of Ip Man 1 & 2 and BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS.
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Donnie is bad ass, so why not?
Although I only hope that it is a proper role :) I rather see him in other projects than a crappy role in Expendables 2
I hope he takes it, only cause I'd love to see Jet Li and Donnie Yen work together again. I mean I know he's not a big name to most people in the States but I hope he gets a meaty enough part for people to remember him.
If the role is good, and he get`s good screentime, do it.
it was Jet Li.
but it should be Jackie Chan.
But Jackie Chan doesn't suit that kind of movie, he's more of an action+comedy:)
But casting Donnie Yen is cool.
people in US should accept him since they all know him now because of 'I'nternet 'P'rovider Man 1 & 2.
If he doesn't take the role, they would have to look for someone who is famous and well known in martial arts.
I just hope he can speak in this movie. Because I watched one interview and his english was amazing! I asked why he couldn't speak in Blade 2, and someone said they didn't give the character a script to talk in:/
Blah, The Expendables sucked. Donnie, don't do it!
I know. No dialogue and he dies so easily. Not even given a proper fight. Same as Highlander. If Donnie does take the role, it better do him Justice. I think all of the roles he had in Hollywood, he was killed off haha.
He plays a mean piano too. No kidding!
The first Expendables movie was so pooly shot and badly edited, we couldn't see anything during the fights scenes and most action scenes... The talents of Jet Li, Gary Daniels, Dolph Lungren and the others were wasted in that movie.. I hope for Donnie, if he accept it, that it would not be another missed opportunity and a waste of his incredible talents...
He should focus on his projects in Hong Kong. He said he's gonna retire soon so time is running out.
The problem is that it's 2011. Donnie is 48. He only has a few prime action movie years left in him and I don't want him wasting them in an over-edited Hollywood MTV-style piece of shit. What's worse, he might get a ton of Hollywood offers, resulting in even more time being eaten up in films with overlong production schedules where he has little control over the action. Meanwhile, he could've made 6 Chinese films in the time it took to make 2-3 Hollywood ones.
Plus the truth is that Donnie choreographs and shoots the freshest martial arts scenes in the world right now. He's not just a performer anymore like Jet and he's not tired like Jackie (no disrespect to those 2, but they really aren't a guarantee of original or cool fights anymore).
Leave Expendables to the aging stars who need to combine like Voltron to be interesting again.
I say if anything, he should serve as a fight choreographer.
his work in Flashpoint brought grit and thunder to Kung Fu cinema, and grace and order to street style movie fighting (aka MMA style). The combination was so unique and thrilling and i think it would work perfect for The Expendables.
That, and i think it'd be awesome to see him fight in a movie that doesn't wear it nationalism on its sleeve...
Donnie appears to have some major skills, but honestly, when I read that Li was stepping out, my first thought was... Ooohhh, they should see what Bolo Yeung is up to these days!!! He's a vet. He's tangled with Bruce and Jean Claude in films... shouldn't that be some decent credentials?
He should star in the expendables 2. so that he will become a huge in usa as well as Hong kong.
He should star in the expendables 2. so that he will become a huge in usa as well as Hong kong.