Sylvester Stallone in "Rambo"
(Credit: Karen Ballard/Lionsgate)
- Photos:
-
No, it's not a premature sequel to "The Bucket List." It's “Rambo,” the fourth film in one of Sylvester Stallone's best known franchises, arriving in theaters nearly 20 years after "Rambo III."
One big difference on this one: the degree to which Stallone poured his heart into it. He not only stars and writes as he had with previous "Rambo" films, but also directs for the first time in the series.
"Rambo" opens with the expatriated hero minding his own business as a lowly snake wrangler in Thailand until a group of missionaries appear on his jungle doorstep needing a guide up the river to Burma. Armed with a pretty blond ("Dexter" co-star Julie Benz), the missionaries get the hesitant Vietnam vet to take them up river into the warzone.
It's not long before John Rambo tightens his bandana, sharpens his machete and kicks major military butt, leading to the insanely high body count "Rambo" fans will be hoping for, augmented by contemporary CGI violence.
Rambo, er, Stallone himself took some time to talk to us about using CGI to blow people up, how he'll be remembered in film history and the answer to the most pressing question of all: “Why?”
So, why did you want to make another Rambo movie so long after the last one?
You know, you have a career that has peaks and valleys and you hearken back to things that you’re sort of known for. I said "boy, if I could have my career end on something I would like to finish up the loose end on 'Rambo.'" I wanted to focus on an issue and, as fate would have it, the world has gone through a transition the past 20 years. 10 years ago this may not have been acceptable. But right now, with this inundation of violence and this constant bombardment of CNN every day, I think there’s a kind of frustration building up and it needs a release. It was just time.
Can you talk about your choice to use doc footage at the beginning of the film?
I was depending on the audience not knowing anything about Burma, even though two months ago we learned about the genocide of the monks, but I just wanted to bring them up to date. There’s nothing more impressionable than seeing actual newsreel footage, so I thought it would add a little gravitas to it and just bring you up to speed.
The film is extremely violent. How were you able to get an R-rating and avoid the dreaded NC-17?
You’re dealing with a real subject. As we’re speaking right now people are dying and being tortured in the most brutal fashion you can ever imagine, and this film will show that. If we’re going to do anything [besides entertain], it is to perhaps save a few lives and bring an awareness of this. People can turn away. But we don’t just cut away from it. This is a different kind of movie, it has to walk that thin line.
You’re a part of the old school action film genre before CGI. How did you feel about working with all the CGI on this project?
When you’re hit flat out with a 50 caliber, you are literally emulsified. It's not like little bullet hole and "ouch, that hurt." You’re gone. I wanted to show that when people go to situations of great violence, it's horrifying. So the CGI was necessary because we couldn’t even put that much explosives on people. This was the first time and I don’t like it, but how do you put holes through people?
What was it like directing and acting in Rambo? How was it different than other films you have directed?
I thought this one would be like the character: jerky, erratic, unsteady, always moving. It always blows my mind when you see a jungle film and then you see dolly shots. It's like "wait a minute, there’s nothing smooth about the jungle!" I can’t walk five feet without tripping over a vine, so I thought the camera should be that way. And also because of economics, we didn’t have time to put the camera on anything that resembled a dolly.
Which scene was the most difficult to film?
The toughest part was the night rescue scene. The rain was driving up a lot of the snakes and centipedes--which you have no idea, they look like hot dogs. It was brutal. We couldn’t afford CGI snakes, so there was a king cobra. We used scotch tape to try to keep its mouth shut.
There’s an interesting dream sequence in the film that takes footage from the previous "Rambo" films. What was the idea behind that scene?
I don’t know if it comes across, but [the message is] “Accept who you are, accept who you are.” It ends with “I kill for myself, I don’t even kill for my country.” Like "stop using this excuse as a hero." [He's] not, [he] just has this penchant for violence inside that has to come out.
Do you think this is the end for John Rambo on film?
This is it. Well, I have a very, very bizarre idea. It’s probably so absurd, but I just have to formulate it a little bit. If I told you I was going to do a movie about a 61-year old boxer, you’d go "yeah right." But if you can find the right formula, almost anything is feasible. It's just coming in there and making the audience believe, "OK, that’s possible." It's weird, I mean, “Space Cowboys,” hello? But it worked.
How do you think you’ll be remembered by the next generation of actors?
I think up and coming actors will look at me as this archaic, kind of prehistoric creature that belongs in a certain bygone genre that no longer exists, because now we have become more scientific, less personal. Most of my peers were very physical, you know like Arnold and Bruce, and we were just more hands-on. I think a lot of actors today are hands-off and more intellectual. So I think we’ll be kind of when you go back to the Natural Museum of History, like looking at a pterodactyl.
Add a comment