Corona | Coming Attractions

And now 50 Cent is out of the ensemble. Stallone tells AICN that the rapper's replacement is former NFLer-turned-actor Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris, Idiocracy).

In addition to supplying us a bunch of character names for the actors previously announced, Sly also informs Ain't It Cool that Forest Whitaker had to drop out of the movie due to the start of production being pushed back a month. His replacement will be Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, the rapper who's starting to take on acting roles.

Variety adds former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel cast member Charisma Carpenter and WWE wrestler Steve "Stone Cold" Austin to the cast.

Remember that photo of Stallone from January and how he looked ripped? Here's the video footage that accompanies it showing the man hard at work and getting his body in shape for the production. Those tats aren't permanent ink; they're for Sly's Expendable character, Barney.

More inside intel from AICN and this time every fan of action movies willo have to sit up and pay notice to what's about to be revealed: Arnold Schwarzenegger will make a cameo appearance in The Expendables. AICN creator Harry Knowles says that Arnie's character has some kind of backstory with Stallone's Barney. The Governator will only need one day off from his day-job to film his scenes for the flick.

AICN also hits us with two more juicy pieces of casting news: Ben Kingsley is out but he's been replaced by Eric Roberts, and Mickey Rourke is fo' so' in.

That is an image showing the world how cut Stallone is for his work in The Expendables. And in case you're wondering, Stallone's 62-years-old. (A bigger look is right here.)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning best man Forest Whitaker is in talks and about to join the cast. If he does secure the part Whitaker will play the CIA liason to the Expendables.

And while the cast is shaping up to be a dream team for action fans, the rumor that Sly's old Demolition Man co-star Sandra Bullock is also being eyed for a part in The Expendables turns out to be bogus. A representative for Nu Image/Millennium Films, who is bankrolling the movie, said the casting rumor was never more than hopeful thinking by the fans.

If you want to learn more about what happens in The Expendables, head on over to Ain't It Cool where you can now feast your eyes on a script review.

There's lots to read but if you don't want any spoilers, here's a sanitized summation of the reviewer's thoughts. "I wouldn't say The Expendables is a great script necessarily, but it definitely has potential. He's got a good backbone that now needs some charismatic performances and well-executed action sequences on top. We know it has a good cast and that the action in Rambo was pretty good. So I think this has a good shot."

Another Stallone update, this time to inform us that Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker and MMA fighter/UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture have joined the cast -- and that somewhere in the film

While hitting the red carpet for Transporter 3, Review Nation thrust their microphone in front of Sylvester Stallone and asked what's up. The actor told the press that he was looking forward to The Expendables and that he was "getting pretty close" to placing his former Rocky IV boxing opponent Dolph Lundgren in a part.

Sylvester Stallone's next film will be The Expendables, a project that he will direct from his own screenplay. In it the Rocky and Rambo action star will play the leader of a team of mercenaries hired to topple a South American dictator. Filming is slated to commence in February.

Joining Sly as fellow mercs are (so far) Jason Statham (The Transporter) and Jet Li (The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor).