Well, when you've got a bunch of mercenaries running around the jungles of South America, and they're being led by the man otherwise known as Rambo, you need an official guy in charge, right? Apparently Forest Whitaker is that guy, reportedly eyeing the role of a CIA liaison in The Expendables, the action movie Sylvester Stallone will write, direct, and star in.

Forest Whitaker doesn't really have the action pedigree of his co-stars, who also include Jason Statham, Jet Li, and wrestler Randy Couture. I'm not sure how well he learned how to do roundhouse kicks while picking up Oscars and the like. But The Hollywood Reporter says he's a lot more likely to be on board than Sandra Bullock, whose casting in the movie, according to production company Nu Image/Millennium, was mostly "wishful thinking for fans."

Whitaker isn't above taking some random action movie paycheck jobs-- I actually saw Vantage Point, guys--so this doesn't seem particularly out of ordinary out of him. Nor does it seem like the best use of his actorly skills, but hey, who am I to judge what someone does with their post-Oscar leverage. Get those boys home safe, Forest!