EXPEND4BLES Director Scott Waugh Reveals Film's New Edge

So Scott, this is the fourth film in this franchise. It's the first one you're directing though. So how do you combine your style with what came before? So it's a cohesive unit throughout the franchise. - Well, I think my job is to go back and look exactly what they did. And for me, I really loved the first two this most. And I loved that it was hard R, it was violent, but it was funny and it was entertainment.

So I took that format that Sly started and bounce some ideas off Sly and brought my own style to it that still is cohesive with the brand, but maybe has a little more fun and takes it up a notch.

Definitely is gorier. It definitely has a lot of fun in it. Tell me about working with the new cast members because you have four old ones and then a bunch of new ones. So what was that like meshing that group together?

Well, it was awesome bringing in the new blood. You get just new life and you got talent in there like 50 Cent, right? Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uweis. Then you throw in Andy Garcia, right? Like, yeah, you like that? You just throw in Andy Garcia. And it just, it brings fun to it. They're all talent on their own and they all can fight and do their own stunts, which was exciting for me as a filmmaker.

So I thought old and new was really fun thrusting them together because it's pretty explosive. And then you know what was great? They pick up exactly where they left off on the third one. Like you would never think there was a nine year gap at all. Absolutely. I noticed there were lots of close ups, whether it was the motorcycle in the beginning or Megan Fox yelling at Jason Statham and Sly Stallone.

Was that intentional? And what type of feeling were you trying to get off with that? Those all those close ups? Well, you know, I think the beauty of close ups is It's a style they did in the 80s and the 90s. Filmmaking back then was really all about the macro close-up. And so me wanting to have a throwback and put it back to the movies I grew up on, I'm like, "Man, we gotta go back to some close-ups." And so Sly loves close-ups, so we gave him a lot of them.

[laughter] - What does it mean to be here in Miami for the premiere? What are you hoping that people will get out of the film? - I'm excited to be in Miami. You know, with today's climate right now going on in the movie industry, we still wanted to celebrate this film and we're like, no better place and do it somewhere that's not Hollywood like Miami and let's do somewhere, have a blast.

So I'm really excited that Jeffrey and Yoni are like, hey, let's go to Miami and do it. And I was like, dude, sign me up, I'm there. - We are a lot of fun, we like to party. Thank you so much for your time. Movie's a lot of fun, lots of explosions and I know people are gonna love it. Awesome, thank you so much.