Producer Already Pondering 'The Expendables 3' Casting

With "The Expendables 2" hitting theaters this weekend, producer Avi Lerner clearly thinks resting on laurel's one's not yet earned is for weaklings. He told Total Film recently that he already has still grander plans to escalate Sylvester Stallone's mushroom cloud of testosterone into a thrilling trilogy.

It’s fair to wonder, how much more manly payload Stallone and Lerner could pour in, between “The Expendables 2” boasting not only Stallone and expanded roles for “The Expendables” cameo players Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, but the likes of Terry Crews, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Jason Statham and Liam Hemsworth.

Who’s left to speed Stallone’s blockbuster opus of explosion to a trilogy? Lerner has four fresh names in mind that could yet muster a higher plain of machismo.

“We’ve approached Clint Eastwood to be one of the guys. We’ve got a character in mind for him,” Lerner said. “We’re talking to Harrison Ford. Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison. I’ll give you one more name – we’ve got Nicolas Cage.

“We’re going to bring Mickey Rourke back, if he won’t be too crazy,” Lerner added. “I like Mickey. And of course, all the existing stars [will return].”

So, one possibility at a time…

How very interesting, his tense when addressing Cage.  A sure-thing casting could add maybe not so much more pulverizing action, but an added degree of fun if Cage could indeed be at his manic, Michael Bay-muse best that he channeled in his days of “The Rock” or better still, “Face/Off.”

Snipes could be a treat, but he’ll be indeed coming off a lengthy prison term on tax-evasion charges.  Unless Lerner has some inside-track information that’s not yet become public knowledge, Snipes isn’t eligible for release until July 2013. Once he’s free, how quickly could he perhaps snap back into “Blade” shape to stand his ground amid Stallone’s toughest and roughest?

Now, Harrison Ford? Well, do go on. If Willis can keep pace, perhaps so, too, could the good Dr. Indiana Jones. He has the presence unquestionably.

Speaking of presence….Eastwood feels like a one who so dearly needs to be etched in this trilogy’s lore. If this is truly to be a celebration of and “Thank You” to the greatest icons of gritty, physical action cinema, to exclude the eldest man on Earth who could convincingly mop the floor young guns a fourth his age would be no less than a crime against every generation of men.