Action star Wesley Snipes is back on the big screen in the new Expendables 3 film alongside Sylvester Stallone.

Snipes spoke to reporters ahead of the film’s world premiere on Monday, and revealed that Stallone had penned him for the first film, however he was a bit “preoccupied at the time.”

In 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for failing to file his income tax returns. He started his jail time in 2010, and was just recently released. “They reserved a spot for me and when the opportunity came along he reached out again and said come join us, we would like you to be a part of this,” the 52-year-old actor said.

Snipes tries not to take his time in prison too seriously, and the film even makes reference to Snipes in the first scene with a tax-evasion joke.

“Whether I do something really funny or really stupid, it is okay with me,” Snipes said. “I think that is what life is about. You can’t take life itself too seriously.”

“At the end of the day, nobody really cares. You’re going to be forgotten anyway. The issues and problems that you think are like mountains that you have to deal with now, after time goes by, nobody cares,” he added. “Might as well have a good time with it.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons