Sylvester Stallone’s most iconic character has to be the underdog boxer, Rocky Balboa. In addition to playing the Philadelphia legend in six of his own movies, Balboa’s legacy stretched over to the Creed franchise, which Michael B. Jordan currently is carrying. But the debate can be made that Stallone’s second-most famous character in his filmography is John Rambo, the Vietnam veteran who never found his place in the world after serving his country in the military. Rambo made his debut in the 1982 drama First Blood, though Quentin Tarantino thinks that story is ripe for a remake.
Quentin Tarantino often has a lot of fun casting out projects in his imagination, knowing full well that that won’t come to fruition. The acclaimed writer-director has told everyone that he has one more movie left in him, and he plans to “retire” from filmmaking after his tenth picture because he doesn’t want to drag out his filmography and end on a string of duds. He has no clue what the topic of his next movie will be, but Tarantino told The Big Picture podcast that if he wanted a layup hit, he’d simply adapt the novel behind First Blood, and he knows exactly who he would cast. Tarantino said:
If I just wanted to make a good movie, that I knew would be good, I would take David Morrell's novel for First Blood and do the novel. Not the movie that was made out of First Blood. I would do the novel. And Kurt Russell would play the sheriff, and [Adam Driver] would play Rambo. Every time I read it, the dialogue is so fantastic in the David Morrell novel that you're reading it out loud. It would be so good. But now I want to do more than that. But if it was just about to make a good movie, that's out there.
Sadly, I’m not nearly as familiar with David Morrell’s novel as I am with Ted Kotcheff’s movie, but this quote has inspired me to add it to my Amazon shopping cart. Quentin Tarantino knows dialogue, so him praising conversations immediately perks us up and makes us pay attention.
The casting of Kurt Russell in the sheriff’s role (which went to Brian Dennehey in the 1982 film) makes sense. Russell collaborates with Tarantino all of the time, as recently as in the director’s last film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Adam Driver does appear to be one of those performers who’s open to anything, and stepping into a vintage Stallone role fits his bill. Strangely, Stallone has said who he’d like to see play the part, and his voice was Ryan Gosling. One time, I got to tell Gosling that, and his reaction was priceless.
Needless to say, this movie isn’t going to happen. Quentin Tarantino only plans to make one more movie, and it won’t be a Rambo reboot. We can’t wait to learn exactly WHAT the auteur’s final film will try to cover, but the minute we know it, we’ll have it here. While you are waiting, download the director’s latest appearance on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast, a two-hour conversation in front of a live audience in L.A.
