A Rambo prequel film is in development, chronicling the character’s days in Vietnam, where he endured physical and mental trauma that would scar his body and psyche for the rest of his life, as seen in First Blood and its four sequels. Original star Sylvester Stallone, who co-wrote all five films and directed the fourth (and, in my opinion, the best of the series), is not involved in the new movie, which will star Noah Centino as the young Rambo. Jalmari Helander, best known for Sisu and its upcoming sequel, is set to direct.
However, things could have gone differently. During a podcast interview with The Playlist, Stallone revealed his original pitch for a Rambo prequel, which would have seen the now 79-year-old reprise his role as the young John Rambo. Stallone said he envisioned it as an exercise in AI technology, showing Rambo as a young man with Stallone’s face as it appeared in the early 1970s, even before his big break in Rocky. Ultimately, his pitch was rejected and the producers took the film in a different direction, opting for a more traditional recasting with a young actor.
CGI/AI/Deepfake de-aging is a complicated and controversial topic. My hot take “cancellable” opinion is that, lots of the time, I think it’s awesome. Sure, there’s some janky moments here and there, even in the best examples, like Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but getting to see actors play both young and old versions of their characters is a special kind of movie magic… At least as long as they have the budget and filmmaking chops to actually make it look good. The less said about Jackie Chan’s ghastly AI visage in “A Legend,” the better.
There’s also the matter of the voice, something they haven’t cracked yet. Harrison Ford LOOKS amazing as young Indy in Dial of Destiny, but his voice is still that of an 80-year-old man. They tried to solve it with AI solutions, but for Luke Skywalker as seen in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, the voice was the worst part! There’s more to acting than just saying the lines, and AI is incapable of delivering a worthwhile performance. In the case of Luke Skywalker, they would have been better off finding a sound-alike voice actor. In the case of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo, well… Finding a sound-alike for Stallone that isn’t doing a parody sounds like an exercise in futility for the casting director.
Ultimately, casting a new actor to play a young Rambo is probably the better option in the modern era. AI/Deepfake de-aging tech isn’t easy. Maybe one day it will be, but for now, it needs a lot of work (and a lot of money!) to look even halfway convincing. Though, to be fair, the true “better option” in my opinion would be to not make a Rambo prequel in the first place. I’d rather see Stallone continue playing Old Man Rambo. Last Blood wasn’t a terribly good movie (but it certainly could have been much worse!), but Stallone’s acting wasn’t among its problems. In any event, Rambo is an American icon, and that means they’ll keep on making movies about him, with or without Stallone.
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