Stallone wants Ryan Gosling as next Rambo; does Ryan have the grit?

Last Updated on February 13, 2024

He’s just Sly? Sylvester Stallone not only has some surprising ties to last year’s mega-hit Barbie but thinks that one of its stars could be the one to play John Rambo if the series were to ever continue with Sly. Stallone has indeed said he is done playing the character, but could Ryan Gosling handle it?

Speaking with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Sylvester Stallone remembered having dinner with Ryan Gosling, in which the Oscar-nominated Barbie star gushed over just how much he loves John Rambo. “He goes, ‘I was fascinated by Rambo, and I used to go to school dressed as Rambo, and people would chase me away, but I still didn’t stop. And, I, you know, vacation as Rambo.’ He just kept saying he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo…And I thought, you know, this is interesting. If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it to him.” But Stallone wasn’t oblivious to just how opposite he and Gosling are, adding, “He’s good-looking, I’m not. That’s how it works…”

This tied directly into Stallone’s links to Barbie, a far cry from any Rambo entry. As it turns out, Sly was a direct inspiration for one of Ken’s outfits: his white fur coat, as Stallone once took quite fondly to them. Stallone was even asked to be in the movie but couldn’t appear due to commitments on Paramount+’s Tulsa King. “Can you imagine me as Ken?…That doesn’t work at all.”

While Stallone also expressed a little concern that Ryan Gosling might be a little too handsome to play John Rambo, he has remained steady on this pick, even saying as far back as 2015 – four years before Sly led his final go as the character in Last Blood – that Gosling is the guy.

Gosling as Rambo is definitely a hot take from Stallone; then again, he is a fantastic actor, so it’s possible that Gosling would be able to channel the intensity Sly had in the first Rambo film, First Blood.

Do you think Ryan Gosling could handle the role of John Rambo or should he be retired with Sylvester Stallone? Give us your thoughts on Sly’s dream casting below!