The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest member Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists The Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries, but when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, The Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. And you can believe they’ll do it The Expendables way. I sat down with the Aussie heartthrob Liam Hemsworth to talk about the movie and what it was like being surrounded by all his favorite action movie stars!
Tell us about your character?
I play Billy the Kid. He’s the new, young gun Expendable in the group. He’s been trained as a sniper. He’s been in the army for three years and has just left the army. The Expendables were looking for a new person for the group, and he got the job. He’s a good kid and a really good sniper.
And how does one go about training to be a sniper? Did you do any special research or preparation for the role?
I have a security guard friend who is an ex-sniper. I asked him a lot of questions about his missions, and what it’s like and what he wears and just the frame of mind you’re in with those kind of [situations]. That was my research, I guess, and then just being healthy and fit. I’ve been running a lot just trying to keep it really militant, I guess.
What was it like working with so many huge action movie stars?
It was been pretty incredible working with all these guys. I watched all their movies when I was a kid, Rocky, Van Damme’s movies, Bruce Willis’ movies. It’s pretty weird to be on a set with all of them at once, you know, hanging out and chatting like you’re chatting with someone else. It was awesome. They’re honestly all the nicest guys.
How does your character relate to some of the others since he’s the youngster in the group?
Barney, played by Stallone, and Billy are similar because they are both good guys and want to take down bad guys. They feel like they’re the best people to do it if anyone’s going to do it. They are different because Billy basically comes to the realization that he doesn’t want to do this for the rest of his life. It’s not that he doesn’t want to end up like these guys, but I think he wants to have a real life.
And you and Van Damme shared a special “moment” on set, right? What happened?
I got kicked by him on one take, and he wasn’t supposed to. He kicked me in the chest, and I think it was more a gift from him because it’s one of the most famous kicks I’ll ever get.
You can check out Liam, Van Damme and a whole host of your favorite 80’s action icons in The Expendables 2 this weekend. The film is rated R for strong, bloody violence throughout.