Rambo is a big movie for a lot of guys, guys who grew up dressing up as Sylvester Stallone for Halloween. I won't pretend to be the world's greatest expert on the Rambo movies, but I do like my blood and guts, I do. Even so, this movie is brutally violent, so I had to ask Stallone about that right off.
"This is how it is today," he says. "If we're ever going to do something responsible where art has the ability to influence people's awareness, don't dilute it. Don't water it down. It's got to be uncomfortable. It's miserable."
Oh, Sly, I wish you told me that before the screening.
The man is Hollywood royalty, and he has lots to say, so let's gun up and go. Gun up? Is that even a phrase? Oh well. Here goes the play-by-play of the screening/Sly talk...
Whoa, I Am a Wimp! Midway through the screening, I hit my limit when a bunch of girls are onscreen and it seems that a gang rape is forthcoming. I flee the theater and, lo and behold, there are many other female journalizers outside chain-smoking and shaking. Rambo is not for the faint of heart.
Sly's Crew Needs to Lay Off the Cologne: When the legend walks in, I'm distracted by the sensation that I am locked in the men's fragrance counter at Macy's. He has these bodyguard types. And these guards, they have this cologne. Oh. My. Nostrils.
Sly Still Has It—in Spades: First of all, the guy journalizers were so excited for this movie some even came dressed in costume. And that is something I have never witnessed at a press junket. Stallone walks in, and it's exciting. In this age of Orlando Blooms, Stallone is, well, Stallone.
Death Wish Still Matters! "I think Death Wish, if done today, would be volcanic," he says, so aware of how brutal movie violence has become since Charles Bronson's flick shocked America in the '70s. "I would focus on the people who are really allowing [crime] to happen, who permits it—and what if it happens to you? And what if your daughter down the hall was grabbed and her eyes were put out? There are moral questions being presented here that have not been answered in 30 years." Anyone wanna go there?
He Watches His Dailies: A journalizer lays into Sly about a scene from an early teaser reel wherein Sly punches a guy's head off. "I know, that's an optical confusion," he explains. "It was actually a knife. It was such a bad print that it looked like I punched his head off."
Rambo Knows How to Say No: This movie took so long for good reason, Stallone explains. The Weinstein brothers went to Sly 12 years ago, for example, and said they had "this great idea" for a Rambo movie where the presidential retreat at Camp David is attacked.
"I'm out," he laughs, retelling the story. "There's something about nature as part of the character, a primitive man. He's almost like an Indian. So, it died for 10 years. At one time [Survivor producer] Mark Burnett was talking about doing it. That didn't work. Then I called Harvey Weinstein and talked about these missionary groups going to Afghanistan. That didn't work."
Rambo Is Packed with Heart and Intellect: Sly wanted to find a world horror that wasn't getting a lot of attention in the press. So, he did his research, learned about the tragedy of Burma and here we have our movie. It's painfully accurate, emphasis on the pain. "We did the research and found that Burma is one of the great hell holes, near Vietnam. There's a synergy."
This Is Sly's Favorite Rambo: "There was much more vanity involved," he says of the earlier flicks. "This character, to me, is much more interesting. It's just like Rocky. I like the first and the last."