Maybe The Expendables has forever taken the shine off the idea of multiple action stars teaming up together, but if not, you’d have to be pretty excited to hear about Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa joining up for A Man Will Rise. Even if Dolph sort of looks like a homosexual gold prospector in these pictures.
It was back in late January that rumblings began to emerge that Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa was slated to co-star with Jean Claude Van Damme in an upcoming international action film. The project at the time was titled Local Hero and we’re told that project has shifted slightly with Dolph Lundgren now starring opposite Jaa and retitled A Man Will Rise.
The first images from behind the scenes have arrived, tipping the fact that it is some sort of Eastern / Western with Conan Stevens (Game Of Thrones) and – I believe – Patrick Kazu Tang (Raging Phoenix) also starring. We’re told Tang may also be contributing on the fight choreography side of things. [TwitchFilm]
One of the problems with The Expendables was that with the possible exception of Jet Li, there wasn’t anyone in it really known for fight choreography. It was mainly just a bunch of aging dudes we like to watch grimace. It was a whole lot of almost the same texture, to make a food analogy. If this can combine Dolph Lundgren grunting and flexing and looking huge with Tony Jaa doing backwards helicopter kicks off an elephant, it might go quite nice together. Man, aren’t action movies awesome?
I know being an action star seems like it would be nothing but glamour and chesty women and cocaine, but sometimes it’s more like posing in a photobooth at the county fair.