Stallone left movie debts in Brazil

The Brazilian weekly news magazine Veja said Sunday the producers of the movie, The Expendables, owed more than two million dollars 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 63 million dollars.

Stallone, who earned fame from his Rocky and Rambo franchises, 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. It is to get its premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and its worldwide roll-out in mid-August.