10 Movie Roles That Almost Were Cast VERY Differently

Rambo creator David Morrell recently distanced himself from the latest entry in the franchise, citing that Last Blood lacked soul. Indiscriminately killing Mexicans in a bloodthirsty Trumpian fantasy, the trajectory of John Rambo is far removed from the original intentions of Morrell's novel.

When the film adaptation was released in 1982, it reflected the soul-searching that was taking place in American society following the disastrous war in Vietnam. However, later in the 1980s, Hollywood would stage more desirable versions of the conflict in films like Predator. And so, John Rambo morphed into a one-man pro-American killing machine. First Blood however, has much more in common with Taxi Driver than Team America.

It's therefore not surprising that the film was originally conceived as a thriller about a veteran, disillusioned by America, embarking on a suicide mission. One of the actors offered this grittier version of the story was Al Pacino, riding high after complex roles in the likes of The Godfather and Serpico.

Pacino turned the role down as he felt the script lacked the original novel's intensity. Had a tortured Pacino been cast rather than action-hero-in-waiting Stallone, it's likely that the test audience who demanded Rambo's survival would have been more accepting of this bleaker interpretation.