Sylvester Stallone revealed his number one pick to play the next Rambo would be Mr. "Beach Ken" himself, Ryan Gosling.
In addition to playing Rocky Balboa in several films in the boxing drama franchise, Stallone is also famous for the Rambo films, in which he played the title character, a Vietnam veteran who fights corrupt police officers, enemy troops, and drug cartels.
So why would Stallone select the Barbie actor to take up the mantle as his successor?
"Because he loves the character,” Stallone disclosed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The Tulsa King star recalled a dinner conversation he once had with Gosling, and he noted:
"Obviously we're opposites. He's good-looking. I'm not. That's how it works."
When Fallon frowned at the self-own, Stallone did an unflattering impersonation of Ken before confirming, "It doesn't work at all."
He resumed with his anecdote and reflected on Gosling's fascination with Rambo.
“He 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.'"
The 77-year-old filmmaker said that Gosling “just kept saying that he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo.”
It suddenly occurred to Stallone that:
“If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it on to him because he loves the character."
When Fallon asked if that could "ever be a real thing" and if Gosling could be in a Rambo movie, Stallone confirmed, but with some apprehension over Gosling's easy-on-the-eyes looks.
“I would say yes," he said, adding:
"But I don’t know if anyone would say, ‘Hey, he’s too good-looking to be Rambo.’”
You can watch the interview here.
Sylvester Stallone Remembers Carl Weathers and Reacts to the Barbie Outfit He Inspired (Extended) youtu.be
Fallon was then prompted to say he would like to be Rambo, to which Stallone enthusiastically shouted out, "Jimbo!"
In response, the SNL alum joked that "Dumbo" would be better for him.
On X (formerly Twitter), some moviegoers thought Stallone's Rambo casting choice wasn't a stretch.
In all deference to Gosling's acting talent, however, not everyone was convinced.
In 2011, Gosling said on The Jay Leno Show that watching Rambo as a kid was love at first blood.
He said that watching Stallone debut the character in the first film of the franchise, 1982's First Blood, "put a spell on him" and made him think he was Rambo.
“I even thought my face felt like Sylvester Stallone’s and I put a bunch of steak knives in my Fisher-Price Houdini kit," he said.
Gosling continued:
"I took it to school the next day and I threw them at all the kids at recess."
He emphasized that his dramatic charade didn't hurt anyone but he wound up getting suspended for it.
Long before there was Beach Ken, it appears Gosling was already Rambo from the very beginning.
We'll have to wait and see if Stallone's dream becomes a reality.
