Sylvester Stallone Reveals A-List Star He’d Want to Replace Him as Rambo

Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo is widely considered one of the greatest action film characters of all time, but the iconic actor thinks there’s at least one A-list star who could replace him in the role. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Stallone revealed that he thinks Ryan Gosling could make a good John Rambo. 

Stallone explained that he “met [Ryan] at a dinner” within the past year, and the two struck up a conversation that eventually turned towards Gosling expressing his affinity for Stallone and his films, and admitting that he used Rambo as inspiration for his performance as Ken in the . 

“[Ryan] goes, ‘I was fascinated by Rambo, and I used to go to school dressed as Rambo, and people would chase me away and I still didn’t stop. I’d vacation as Rambo,’” Stallone recalled. “He just kept saying that he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo.”

Stallone even said that Gosling’s love of Rambo helped him realize he could keep the franchise going for future generations. “I thought, ‘You know, this is interesting. If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it on to him because he loves the character,’” Stallone said.

Stallone also joked that, while he thinks Gosling could play Rambo, he doesn’t think that he could play Ken. “Obviously, we are opposites,” the actor said. “He’s good-looking. I’m not. Seriously! Could you imagine me as Ken? It doesn’t work at all.” Stallone later added, “I don’t know if anyone would say, ‘Hey, he’s too good-looking to be Rambo.’”