One version of Rambo 4 saw Sylvester Stallone’s titular soldier fight against a villain played by Jackie Chan. The Rambo sequels came to represent a certain era of Hollywood action movies, exemplified by the bandana-wearing, bazooka-wielding Stallone. However, Rambo III was the most expensive movie ever produced upon release in 1988, and in addition to grossing significantly less than the second outing, it wasn’t particularly well-liked by anyone – including Stallone. In fact, it would be another two decades before the series returned.
The road to 2008’s Rambo movie was a long one, and various ideas came and went. One ’90s concept saw Rambo and his estranged brother battle against villains during a storm, while a post-9/11 idea saw Rambo fight terrorists inside the United Nations building. None of these versions came together because Stallone never felt they entirely worked, and it wasn’t until he came across the idea of a rescue mission into Burma that a fourth movie clicked for him. Rambo revived the series, which led to one final entry in the form of 2019’s Last Blood.
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Stallone and Jackie Chan have tried to work together many times over their careers. Stallone wanted Chan for the villain role in Demolition Man, but the latter passed as he believes audiences only wanted to see him play heroic parts. Stallone has also tried to get the Hong Kong legend attached to The Expendables movies, which also has yet to happen. They also came close to working together on Rambo 4 around 2000, which would have seen Rambo fight against a drug dealer played by Chan, only for them to eventually team up to fight other villains.
This was during a period when Miramax owned the rights to the property and tried several times to get a new Rambo movie going. During this time, Chan had finally cracked the U.S. market due to the success of the original Rush Hour, so pairing him and Stallone for a movie made a lot of sense. According to a Coming Attractions article (via The Guardian), Chan had demanded several script changes before signing on, including having his character work with Rambo and that he didn’t die in the finale.
Sadly, story details for this take on Rambo 4 – which features the series’ darkest kill – are sketchy, though it apparently involved a right-wing militia group as the main threat. Presumably, Stallone and Chan thought better of it so this version of the sequel fell apart and Miramax later sold its series stake. Stallone and Chan did work together onscreen briefly in the risible 1997 comedy An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, and their latest attempt at working together Project X-Traction eventually saw Sly replaced by John Cena.
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