Ryan Gosling may have not been Kenough for Barbie, but Sylvester Stallone thinks he would make a fantastic Rambo.
“I met [Ryan] at a dinner,” Stallone, 77, revealed during an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this month. “Obviously, we are opposites. He’s good-looking. I’m not. Seriously! Could you imagine me as Ken? It doesn’t work at all.”
The actor went on to tell Fallon, 49, about the interesting conversation the twosome had, sharing that he was caught off guard finding out Gosling is a huge fan of the movies — and that he actually used Stallone as inspiration for Ken.
“[Ryan] 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. I’d vacation as Rambo,’” Stallone recalled. “He just kept saying that he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo.”
At one point during their discussion, Stallone was so impressed with Gosling’s love of Rambo that he realized how he could keep the popular franchise going for future generations.
“I thought, ‘You know, this is interesting. If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it on to him because he loves the character,’” Stallone confessed.
However, while Stallone felt really good about potentially handing off the role, he did voice one concern about his casting choice.
“I don’t know if anyone would say, ‘Hey, he’s too good-looking to be Rambo,’” Stallone admitted.
As of now, there are no plans to shoot another Rambo movie. Though, over the years, Stallone has been in five films as the titular character. The action franchise put out its first film in 1982 titled First Blood. The most recent installment, Last Blood, was released in 2019.
In the series, Stallone plays lead character John Rambo who is a Vietnam War veteran who is a highly skilled Green Beret. While he is a decorated hero, he will do anything to protect those close to him. However, because his experience fighting in the war traumatized him, he has trouble fitting back into civilian and often times finds himself in dangerous, brutal and violent situations.
Gosling, for his part, most recently starred as Ken in 2023’s hit summer blockbuster Barbie. The actor has garnered a slew of critical acclaim for his performance, which has earned him a Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
