The Expendables' Waterboarding Scene Wasn't Made With Movie Magic
"The Expendables" franchise has — smartly — allowed its titular roster of tough, never-say-die mercenaries to include women, as demonstrated by 2014's "The Expendables 3" adding Ronda Rousey to the crew and the upcoming "Expend4bles" (type that five times fast) bringing in Megan Fox and Levy Tran.
However, while making the first "Expendables" back in 2010, that wasn't quite the case. That film only features two female characters: Lacy (Charisma Carpenter), the cheating girlfriend of Jason Statham's Lee Christmas, and Sandra (Giselle Itié), the daughter of a South American dictator who wants to use the Expendables to help overthrow her father and his ex-CIA puppet master, Munroe (Eric Roberts).
Although Sandra is an integral part of the film, she's no trained mercenary, and ends up being captured by the bad guys and tortured for information. It must've been difficult for the Brazilian actress to deal with the atmosphere of testosterone-fueled competition surrounding her, as the likes of Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and co-writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone attempted to one-up each other in performing their own stunts.
As a result, Itié caught that spirit of bravery and stood up to the task, electing to perform as much of her own stunts as possible, especially and including the scene where Sandra is waterboarded by Munroe and his goons, a moment that even Stallone would've thought twice about performing himself.
Staying hydrated in the worst way
There were lots of dangerous moments for the cast and crew while filming "The Expendables" — heck, in one instance, actor Steve Austin (as in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) nearly had his foot blown off by a too-close explosion.
Yet it's Itié's ordeal at the hands of Austin (playing the henchman named Paine) and the other baddies who waterboard her character of Sandra that is the most deceptively dangerous stunt performed in the film. As Stallone explained during his director's commentary for the film, he wanted to include a waterboarding scene as a way of bringing the film's macho fantasy a little more down to Earth and immediate, portraying an act that was "in the news" a lot but not depicted too often back then.
Perhaps that relative uniqueness is why Itié elected to put herself through the tough scene. As Stallone remarked in John Herzfeld's documentary "Inferno: The Making of 'The Expendables," he was impressed by her tenacity:
"Giselle [Itié] is a rare breed. She's a Brazilian actress who really insisted on doing primarily all her own physical work, and those were somewhat difficult stunts. Especially when she was going to be waterboarded. I was gonna use a double because it's dangerous, she said, 'No. I wanna do it.' And believe it or not, she actually is being waterboarded in the scene."
Follow the leader
There's an unwritten rule of respect among film directors, where they shouldn't ask their actors to do anything they themselves would not be willing to do. In Stallone's case, he seems to follow that rule in a big way, especially while making "The Expendables." As "Inferno" documents, the actor/writer/director injured himself numerous times while making the movie, resulting in such a mental and physical burnout that Stallone elected not to helm the subsequent "Expendables" installments.
While the making of the movie may have been hardest on its leader, it wasn't easy for anyone; even Itié's waterboarding scene, already uncomfortable, was shot on location in Fort Macomb in Louisiana. The fort was regularly inundated with ocean water filling the space during the night at the time, resulting in the formation of various fungi and other contaminants which made just about everyone on the film sick at one point or another.
As "The Expendables" is about a group who willingly and voluntarily trek headlong into dangerous situations, it's only fitting that Stallone would lead by example, resulting in other actors like Itié following in his footsteps. While Tom Cruise is currently getting the bulk of press in terms of risking his safety on camera for entertainment's sake, let's not make expendable "The Expendables" — it may not all be as groundbreaking, spectacular, and flashy, but it's still just as dangerous.