Expendables 3 Shooting Troubles

A while back ManlyMovie detailed the first action sequence of The Expendables 3, a harbor-based set pieces involving jet skis and helicopters, set in Somalia.  Some more news on this today, firstly, it’s among the first sequence to be shot, but will be among the last sequences to appear on film, suggesting that Somalia is a pivotal location.  But from there the news gets slightly more worrying.  A local Varna news agency is reporting some dispute between the film’s producers and port management.  Negotiations were initially settled on July 20th to use 10 berths (big sequence!) and several buildings to shoot a scene involving speedboats and other stunt vehicles, this included storage space.  Now, port management has raised their asking prices.  The scene was due to begin shooting this week.

Port management claims that the increase in prices are a result of increase in production demands.  Stallone and Co. find this unacceptable, and are now racing to find another harbor.  The fact that this price increase comes at the 11th hours seems like a deliberate ploy to extort more money.  If the situation deteriorates or Stallone and the director can’t find another location, it could mean a delay in production.  That’s a problem, because an ensemble movie is always a scheduling juggling act, actors are always in and out to meet their own scheduling demands.  Hopefully this doesn’t result in any of the cast being lost.  Thankfully, probably not Mel Gibson, who isn’t too busy this year.  But the bottom line is, this is probably a calculated move and all of this used against the crew.  But at the same time, when you go to a cheap ass location, expect to get cheap ass people and an unprofessional workplace.

By the way, Wesley Snipes and Terry Crews (TMONEY) are now on location.  Crews just tweeted this;