Funniest casting story of the day has to go to Sly Stallone's The Expendables, which, in case you haven't noticed, has lined up one helluva awesome cast full of washed-up 80s action stars and a few legendary character actors. But then there's 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) … who AICN tells us will replace Forest Whitaker in the film since that actor had to drop out due to schedule conflicts.
Okay, so we're going from an Oscar winner to … 50 Cent, but it's not the end of the world, right? Wrong. Fans were furious over the casting decision, and their wrath ('we have nothing better to do so let's harass Sly Stallone!') forced the writer-director-actor to speak out on behalf of the rapper-turned-actor.
In an effort to calm down his fans, Stallone says, "The anger of the casting of 50 Cent is understandable, but not fair. A player is only as good as his coach. If a man can communicate in one medium, he can communicate in another if his strengths are brought out and he has the support of well-wishers. So, trust me, the change of Forest Whitaker to 50 Cent AKA Curtis Jackson is a good one. No one thought Dolph Lundgren was a good choice for ROCKY, or Mr. T. Carl Weathers was an afterthought when Ken Naughton fell out. The same with Talia Shire and Richard Crenna, who was known as a comedic actor, not a serious one." You can read the rest of his pro-Fitty rant over here.
On a side note, Stallone also said of the action film – which follows of a group of mercenaries who head to South America to overthrow a dictator – that "there's enough testosterone and ego in this film to float a large continent covered in elephants." I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a sign of brilliant things to come.
What do you think of 50 Cent as an actor? Good? Bad? No comment?
