We've not spoken about Sylvester Stallone's upcoming action epic The Expendables for a couple of weeks now, and we're afraid that those withdrawal symptoms were becoming far too pronounced. Thus, out of nothing more than duty to your good selves, we feel obliged to offer an update.

Shooting on the project is continuing, and, of course, the ensemble cast which includes Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Danny Trejo, Brittany Murphy, Dolph Lungdren, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others is hard at work. Rumours persist that Bruce Willis has filmed or is filming a cameo too, although there's been no confirmation of that as of yet.

And we're indebted to Moviehole this morning, for its revelation that Steven Seagal was indeed approached to appear in the film. He, according to the site, but turned it down due to "bad blood" with Expendables producer Avi Lerner. Seagal and Lerner had worked on many of the direct to video classics that the ponytailed action maestro had sent to your Blockbuster over the past few years, before they fell out, for unspecified reasons. We suspect it was more to do with cash, than a lack of Oscar nominations.

Also having turned down the project are Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes (although the fact that he's in prison probably added to potential scheduling problems), and Jean-Claude Van Damme (who Moviehole reports was reluctant because he wouldn't get much screen time).

It's all their loss, say we, given that next April's Expendables release date has been circled in the most permanent of permanent inks. We bought a brand new special felt tip, especially for the occasion.

And sorry for the Expendables news blackout of late. We'll try not to let it happen again...

Moviehole