Harry Knowles Persuades Stallone to Avoid Trip to Hell

Written by: Tony Lazlo, CC2K Staff Writer

In one of the weirdest developments in movies this year, Sylvester Stallone called Harry Knowles to talk about his new Rambo movie, Rambo: To Hell and Back – and Knowles talked him into changing the title back to what it was.

I told him that I didn't feel the title JOHN RAMBO meant that this was the last Rambo movie, but that like with ROCKY BALBOA – it was more about a personal journey for the character. That JOHN RAMBO meant less cartoonish and a commitment to making the franchise a real quality return to the character. That the title, without a hyphen or a colon meant – this was a story about JOHN RAMBO.

That seemed to resonate with Sly and he stated, "Alright, that's the title. JOHN RAMBO."

More after the jump!

If memory serves, Stallone decided on a plot for this movie after reading a random article. Now we hear that he throws his marketing department into disarray by changing the title twice in the space of a week based on one brief conversation.

I admit I like that Stallone listened to the fans on this one – John Rambo is a much better title – but it weirds me out that he handles a major Hollywood production in such a cavalier way.