Sylvester Stallone is doing the press rounds for RAMBO nowadays, and one interesting interview popped up on IGN, where he describes his thoughts and take on what’s probably his next flick: DEATH WISH. It sounds like a different beast than the early 70s original, tell you that.
In the original DEATH WISH, Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey was a liberal pacifist who sprung into vigilantism after his wife and daughter were brutally murdered by punks. In Stallone’s version? Not quite the same character…
“He was a very violent human being, completely violent, an ex convict who walked the walk, was accepted back into society and did everything he could to be a [good person] like these thieves and junkies who now work on the side of the law. They’ve gone that way, but when something happens he reverts back to that guy.”
Hmm… actually sounds kind of like… Rambo! But Stallone goes on to indicate that there’s more to the story than just the protagonist going around baiting then shooting muggers (as was mostly the case in Michael Winner’s version). “I think Death Wish, if it were done today, would be volcanic. The idea of Jeff Goldblum being a mugger who breaks into an apartment is very simplistic. It gives you an idea how bad the elevation of violence has become. I would focus on defense attorneys, I would focus on [the people] allowing this crap to happen — not so much the guy on the street. It’s like, ‘Who permits it?’ What if it happened to you, that your daughter was grabbed and her eyes were put out? Would you want to sit there and defend that guy?”
I must say, I really do hope Jeff Golblum reprises his role from the original as a scumbag rapist – who doesn’t want to see that?
Sly continues: “Now you’ve unleashed a man who really understands the world of violence. He isn’t burdened with this passive-aggressive, conscientious-objector kind of thing. That’s been done. It’s like what happens when the wolf has gone from wolf to wolf in sheep’s clothing back to the wolf. Now the fellow on the street has a problem because he knows how to deal with that kind of mentality because he was a prisoner.”
Stallone ends with a major understatement: “So it would be a different take.”
It’s still not an absolute certainty if this is indeed Stallone’s next project, but it seems likely. Of course, we’ll be keeping an eye on this one, so if there’s significant movement, we’ll toss the info your way!