The Rambo prequel will be "stripped down, raw and real", according to director Jalmari Helander.
The moviemaker is bringing Sylvester Stallone's character back to the big screen in an origins movie called John Rambo - a prequel to 1982's First Blood - which stars Noah Centineo as the titular action hero and will follow Rambo’s time in Vietnam with the Green Berets.
Helander recently started production on the film in Bangkok, Thailand and he's now shared his vision of the movie, saying in a statement: "When I was 11, I saw First Blood for the first time, and it changed my life.
"Rambo wasn’t just a film to me - it stayed with me growing up and was a defining influence on why I wanted to become a filmmaker.
"As we begin production on the origin of John Rambo, we’re going back to the beginning. This is Rambo stripped down, raw and real - a survival story about endurance, persistence and lost innocence.
"It’s an honor to shape this next chapter with deep respect for the character and the legacy, and to bring audiences the start of John Rambo’s journey."
The John Rambo cast also includes Sinners star Yao, Jason Tobin, Quincy Isaiah, Jefferson White and Tayme Thapthimthong.
Stallone played the title role in five films from 1982’s First Blood until 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood and he was previously hoping to explore the origins of John Rambo in a new movie but the project failed to get off the ground.
The 79-year-old actor admitted he had toyed with the idea of using AI to digitally de-age him for the film.
During an interview with Screen Rant, he explained: “I wanted to do the first AI … not retroactive … but I wanted to rewrite history of the earlier Rambo because I wanted Rambo to be the nicest guy in the school, the valedictorian, the prom king, and all that stuff.
"And when he goes to Vietnam, he thinks it's going to be a three-week hit-and-run, and you see him being tortured and captured, his friends murdered, one thing after another, and [his] life in Saigon.
"And that's how I became the way I became, but originally I was bon vivant–that kind of thing. “And I thought, ‘We could do this with AI’, but [we] procrastinated too long and they took it over and, I hope, you know, good luck."
Stallone had previously suggested he wanted Ryan Gosling to succeed him as Rambo after discovering that the Barbie star was a big fan of the franchise growing up.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Rocky actor said: “I met him at a dinner and obviously we're opposites. He's good-looking - I'm not. That's how it works.
"But he 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.’
"He just kept saying that he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo, and I thought, this is interesting. If I ever pass the baton, I'll pass it on to him because he loves the character."
