Sylvester Stallone reveals attempt to buy and destroy original Rambo film

Sylvester Stallone revealed during an appearance on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ that he once attempted to buy the rights to the original ‘Rambo’ film to prevent its release. The actor described the initial cut of the 1982 film as so poor that he wanted to ‘torch it.’

Stallone noted that the original edit exceeded three hours, and he eventually helped reduce the runtime to 89 minutes, a process that involved cutting many of his own scenes. He mentioned that the role of John Rambo was initially rejected by several major Hollywood actors, including Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, and Michael Douglas. Reasons for these rejections included the script being perceived as too violent or not politically correct.

Stallone was approximately the eleventh actor considered for the role before ultimately starring in five films within the franchise.