The Expendables: news update and set photos

We've been in danger of a little Expendables neglect again, as shooting continues on Sylvester Stallone's star-laden action epic. Last time we wrote about the movie, we took a look at some of the stars who had turned it down. But since then, a few titbits have emerged that we feel honour bound to share with you.

* The most worrying was the news that Stallone is planning to deliver a PG-13 rated cut. If true, this seems to go against what we all thought the project was about - getting lots of action stars together to give us a good old fashioned throwback to the action movies of yesteryear. However, there is good news, too, as an R rated cut will also be produced, and then the theory is that the two of them will be tested to see which to get with. Can we cast our vote now?

* According to producer Avi Lerner over at UGO, there's already talk of a possible sequel, and longer franchise, depending just who makes it to the end of the first movie intact.

* As one of our commenters (eellitho) correctly pointed out, Danny Trejo will not be appearing in the movie after all. Instead, he's making Machete for Robert Rodriguez.

* Also not appearing is Brittany Murphy. She was originally announced for The Expendables, but her character was excised completely during a recent rewrite of the script.

* Finally, over at the blog tracking the film's production (thelmae.wordpress.com), a couple of set photos from the movie have gone online. Which we've attached to this article.

The Expendables will be released next April. They already, if you hadn't guessed, sold one ticket...