Story of Rambo 4

http://funhike.blogspot.com/2007/09/story-of-rambo-4.html


If watching the Rocky Balboa has you asking how long until Sylvester Stallone resurrects John Rambo, that monosyllabic ex-GreenBeret last seen in 1988 shouting profanity at an approaching Soviet army in Afghanistan, you're not alone.

Okay, we may be alone, but i am going to tell you anyway. First announced in 2005, production on Rambo IV (final title to bedetermined) is finally expected to commence Oct. 1 in Thailand. But while America braces Balboa's hangover, Rambo has yetto land a domestic distributor. Why have studios had a tough time picturing the old guy back in battle? Maybe because the writer-director - that would be Mr. Stallone - couldn't figure out which war he'd be waging.

''You know, it's hard,'' says the 60-year-old star. ''Politics have changed so much. Who do we fight? The Finns? You can't do that. TheDutch? That's not gonna work. Wooden shoes are not gonna look cool.'' Stallone may be joking, but finding Rambo a fresh foe was actuallya serious problem for the Nu Image/ Millennium Films production. After ruling out the Mideast, Africa, and Korea, the actor finally hiton a solution. ''I called Soldier of Fortune magazine and said, 'What is the most critical man-doing-inhumanity-to-man situation rightnow in the world? Where is it?''' The answer was Burma.

So, the script that emerged - a ''first draft'' Stallone has written with Art Monterastelli (The Hunted) - finds Rambo living a monasticlifestyle in Bangkok and salvaging old PT boats and tanks for scrap metal. (''It's like he's stripping himself down,'' says the actor,pensively. ''That old piece of military equipment.'') When a group of volunteers bringing supplies into Burma disappears, a relative ofone of the missing missionaries begs Rambo to find them. He heads off with a team of young guns, a plot point required by thefinanciers, who wanted to hedge against Rambo's possible mono-generational appeal.

''It might work,'' Stallone says, laughing. And if not, we will dream for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot 2: Granny's Revenge.

Arun