Stallone's unpaid Brazil bills
2010-08-02 19:56
Sao Paulo - Sylvester Stallone may be heading for box-office success when his latest action flick opens this month, but in Brazil - where the movie was filmed - companies are complaining he left a string of unpaid debts, according to a report.
The Brazilian weekly news magazine Veja said Sunday the producers of the movie, The Expendables, owed more than $2m to the local partner company O2, a lighting firm, drivers, security guards and other workers.
"Since May of last year, O2 has been trying to get the money from the Americans. However since the beginning of this year, Stallone and his producers have stopped answering their calls," the magazine charged.
The Expendables is billed as the most expensive movie ever filmed in Brazil, with a budget of $63m.
Stallone is banking on a muscular cast - including Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham and Jet Li - to make the film a hit.
The 64-year-old actor not only stars in the movie but co-produced it.
The storyline revolves around a group of mercenaries trying to oust a dictator from a fictitious Latin American country. Much of it was filmed in and near Rio de Janeiro.
The film will premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and its worldwide roll-out in mid-August.
