 In 2010 , Lundgren made a guest star appearance on the TV series Chuck in the fourth season premiere episode , " Chuck Versus the Anniversary " , as Russian spy Marco , with references to Rocky IV 's Ivan Drago . He then played a drug @-@ addled assassin alongside Sylvester Stallone , Jason Statham , Jet Li , Randy Couture , Steve Austin , Terry Crews , Mickey Rourke , Bruce Willis , and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action film The Expendables , which opened in theatres on August 13 , 2010 . The film is about a group of elite mercenaries , tasked with a mission to overthrow a Latin American dictator . It was described by Lundgren as " an old @-@ school , kick @-@ ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other . " This was his first American theatrical release film since 1995 's Johnny Mnemonic , ( although The Inquiry ( The Final Inquiry ) and Missionary Man both played theatrically for one week in Dallas and San Diego in December 2007 ) . Film production began on March 3 , 2009 , with a budget of $ 82 million . Filming commenced 25 days later in Rio de Janeiro and other locations in Brazil , and later in Louisiana . The film received mixed reviews from critics but was very successful commercially , opening at number one at the box office in the United States , the United Kingdom , China and India . 
