Prepare to be underwhelmed, ladies, because Hollywood made a big deal about looking for a female director for the forthcoming Expendables spin-off film, ExpendaBelles — but guess what? Millennium Films, powerhouse behind the film, choose a dude instead: director Robert Luketic.
To be fair, Luketic directed Legally Blonde, Monster-in-Law and The Ugly Truth, so he understands lighthearted, female-targeted films. But why doesn’t he have a vagina? We were promised a vagina!
The Luketic choice flies in the face of Millennium Films chief Avi Lerner saying in October that he was looking for a woman to direct The Expendables spin-off. The choice also seems odd considering Green Street Hooligans director Lexi Alexander said she was rejected for the film because she wasn’t hardcore enough to direct action films. But the guy behind Reese Witherspoon’s pink explosion is?
Deadline reports that Luketic will reconnect with his Legally Blonde scriptwriting team Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah, the pair who penned the first ExpendaBelles screenplay. Here’s the synopsis:
When America’s Navy SEALs are wiped out trying to penetrate the island lair of a deadly despot who has captured one of the world’s top nuclear scientists, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as the right man for the job and that this is a mission so impossible that only women can handle it. The only way in: some of the world’s deadliest female operatives must pose as high-class call-girls shipped in by private plane to satisfy a dictator–and instead save the scientist and the day.
The ExpendaBelles will begin shooting this summer, so casting should begin shortly. Lerner said back in October that he hoped for Meryl Streep (drawing on her action moments in 1994’s The River Wild), Cameron Diaz and Milla Jovovich.
Image via Getty.