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…And just like that, it’s 2014 all over again. Only this time it appears to, at least, finally be official at a corporate level, and in lieu of Cannes, no less.
Jeremy Kay is at Screen International reporting that action star, actor Sylvester Stallone is set to commense principal photography this Fall on the long-teased and anticipated installment of a fifth Rambo film. The news comes four years after progress was made for a 2014 start which followed up with more stagnation, and eventually word of an impasse in 2017 between Stallone and producer Avi Lener regarding the actor’s wish to produce a fourth Expendables film.
Stallone appeared to have stepped away from the Rambo franchise entirely back in 2016, in a report at Variety in which he is quoted saying: “The heart’s willing, but the body says, ‘Stay home!,’… “It’s like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.”
Rambo is the central character featured in David Morell’s 1972 novel, “First Blood”, which spawned four films with Stallone in the title role starting in 1982. The most recent film in 2008 had Stallone serving as star and director on Rambo, which reinvigorated an already decades-hardened fanbase of R-rated action cinema today.
Stallone’s return to action in the long-running series finds him living in a ranch in Arizona, deeply troubled and wrestling with PTSD as he picks up casual work wherever he can.
When a friend informs Rambo that her grand-daughter has gone missing after crossing into Mexico for a party, he sets off with her to find the youngster.
What ensues is a violent descent into hell as Rambo uncovers a sex-trafficking ring. He teams up with a journalist whose half-sister has also been kidnapped and must deploy all his skills to save the girls and bring down a vicious crime lord.
There was also talk of a TV series which the star of EFO’s upcoming Escape Plan 2 & 3, and of Michael B. Jordan’s titular return in MGM’s Creed 2, disentangled himself from along with any talk of film production, and he visibly did the same with The Expendables franchise last Spring. I suppose the question now is if the actor is pulling another bait and switch, but I guess that’s for another article.
Millennium Media is financing Rambo V with cameras rolling on September 1, and with locations including London, Bulgaria, and the Canary Islands.