10 'Creatively Different' Film Castings

2 - Rambo (Sylvester Stallone)

This is a bit far-fetched, because we're focusing on a potential, partial inspiration for the source material, a novel, that was later made into the most famous action hero of all time after multiple script re-writes and numerous actors passing on the part until we got the Italian Stallion. Everybody got that? Good. David Morrell wrote First Blood and named his anti-hero protagonist John Rambo. He says that the name was inspired by the Rambo apple. The conspiracy theorist in me raises a dubious eye, because of lawsuits or compensation that could arise if the name was taken from an actual person if he blatantly admitted it. The fact is that A. John Rambo did exist and was a Vietnam soldier killed in action. Of course, the biography of Stallone's Rambo ends there in comparison to the real-life soldier. For one, I doubt that the real John Rambo was actually only 5' 7" tall. Hey, at that height Stallone could play Jack Reacher!
 
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Contributor

Robert Curtis is a columnist, podcaster, screenwriter, and WhatCulture.com MMA editor. He's an American abroad in Australia, living vicariously through his PlayStation 3. He's too old to be cool, but too young to be wise.