James Cameron and the action genre go hand-in-hand like popcorn and salt. But of the many popular franchises he’s tackled over the decades, film fans forget that he had a hand in writing the screenplay for 1985’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” the explosive sequel to one of Sylvester Stallone’s best movies.
The initial story for “Rambo: First Blood Part II” was conceived by Kevin Jarre, but the screenplay is credited to both Cameron and Stallone. According to Cameron, he only met with Stallone once to discuss the script. “I admire the film’s success and I’m happy for everybody involved, but I always have to distance myself from it because it’s not the film I wrote — it was substantially rewritten by Sylvester Stallone,” Cameron revealed to The Los Angeles Times (via Terminator Files) in 1991. “The script that I wrote was pretty violent, but not in such an amoral way.”
Cameron claimed he wrote the script “for the money,” which is understandable. At the time, Cameron was simultaneously penning both “The Terminator” and “Aliens,” the two films that arguably made his career, so writing for a sequel to a Sylvester Stallone-starring blockbuster in between helped pay the bills. And it wasn’t like he took the job begrudgingly, as Cameron was a fan of 1982’s “First Blood,” and felt there were new places to take the Rambo story.
Sylvester Stallone may have secretly directed Rambo: First Blood Part II himself
In contrast to James Cameron’s budding career at the time “Rambo: First Blood Part II” was being made, Sylvester Stallone had the clout to do just about anything, laying down the law for the “Rambo” movies with few to oppose him. He wasn’t starring in other people’s films; instead, they were in the Sylvester Stallone business.
There’s a longstanding belief that the action superstar didn’t only have a major influence over the script, but also the direction of the sequel. Italian filmmaker George P. Cosmatos is the credited director of “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” but many believe he was only a figurehead and that Stallone actually directed the movie. After all, Cosmatos wasn’t a well-known Hollywood director, and Stallone had already proven his talent behind the camera with “Rocky II” and “Nighthawks.”
It would be Kurt Russell of all people who would reveal Cosmatos’ real role in “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” having worked with him in a similar capacity for 1993’s “Tombstone.” “I got him from Sly Stallone — called up Sly, said I need a guy,” Russell told True West. “Sly did the same thing with ‘Rambo 2’ with George. And I said to George, ‘While you’re alive George, I won’t say a goddamn thing.'” Essentially, Russell hired Cosmatos as a ghost director — like Stallone had done years before.