Sylvester Stallone Once Called ‘First Blood’ Cursed
As many know, Sylvester Stallone once starred in the hit Rambo franchise. But the series went through a long process to make it to the big screen. Stallone even began to think the movie had bad luck.
Sylvester Stallone once called ‘First Blood’ cursed
Although one of Stallone’s most popular roles, his journey as Rambo wasn’t an easy one. For one, the actor didn’t have the same confidence in the movie as he might have had with Rocky. He even thought it might do more harm than good to his career.
“I looked at this, I’m going, ‘this is a career killer,'” Stallone once said on The Howard Stern Show. “This film, when we did it, it was so bad—at least I thought, and even my manager—we both went out, I think we both retched together in the alley.”
In a resurfaced interview with Empire, there came a point where Stallone even considered that the movie was cursed.
“Literally cursed. There were 17 different screenplays. There were some very, very good screenplays. Even Broadway screenwriter David Rein took a shot at it,” he said.
Perhaps what made the film even more cursed was that no other actor wanted to come near it.
“So anyway, I looked at this and nobody wanted to do it. It had been through Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Jimmy Caan, Burt Reynolds, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino… the list went on and on,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone changed the ending to ‘First Blood’
Even after Stallone agreed to do the film, the issues surrounding First Blood didn’t stop. The Suicide Squad star clashed with the film’s director Ted Kotcheff, and took issue with the film’s ending.
Rambo was initially supposed to commit suicide, but it was a fate Stallone wasn’t okay with. The star was so against First Blood’s original conclusion that the studio sued him to make sure he’d stay to complete the film. He hated the ending so much that when he saw a screening of it, he quipped it made him physically sick.
“After the first screening in Las Vegas, I went out into the alley and threw up. It was all wrong,” he once said according to The Telegraph. “Artistically totally correct. Emotionally totally wrong.”
The ending was soon changed, and so was Rambo’s fate.
“That’s the difference. It’s not naturalism. It’s dramatic realism. The films are realistic fantasies. Bullets are easy. You can buy ’em. Emotions are not. They’re priceless,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone’s idea for a ‘Rambo’ prequel
Stallone’s choice for Rambo to live resulted in his character being a part of a major franchise. In his older years, the jury’s still out if whether or not The Expendables star will revisit the character. But in an interview with Screen Rant, he did pitch a potential prequel.
“I always thought of Rambo when he was 16 or 17 – I hope they can do the prequel – he was the best person you could find. He was the captain of the team; he was the most popular kid in school; super athlete. He was like Jim Thorpe, and the war is what changed him. If you saw him before, he was like the perfect guy,” he said.
