Sly thought making 'Rambo' in Afghanistan would insult troops

London, Jan 17 : American actor, director, producer and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone thought that making the fourth Rambo movie in Afghanistan would insult the troops stationed there so he chose Burma instead.

With the current political situation in Afghanistan, it would have been the ideal location for shooting the movie. However Sly, who directed the movie, decided not to use Afghanistan or Iraq as the setting. "I thought it would be an insult to the men who are fighting, to think that a fictional character could come and change everything. I thought Burma would be more real," the Sun quoted him as saying.

The film, simply called Rambo, finds the cynical Vietnam veteran leading a solitary life in the mountains and jungles of northern Thailand. His peaceful retirement is shattered however when a group of human rights missionaries seek him out and ask him to guide them into Burma to deliver medical supplies.

"All you see in the movie is authentic - it's real cannons, real amputees who had lost their legs in landmine accidents," he added.

"You have one small area with peasants being overwhelmed by this brutal military force. They are picked out because they are Christians and Rambo is an atheist at this time and he had lost most of his humanity."

"I wanted to do something more spiritual and visually interesting," he said.

Shooting in the politically unstable area was very daring, with Burma having hit the headlines last year when thousands of Buddhist monks led protests against military rule in the country.

The new Rambo movie follows the successful revival of another hit Stallone character from the Eighties - Rocky, whom he brought out of retirement in 2006.

And Sly admitted that his desire to revisit both Rocky and Rambo was partly borne out of his dissatisfaction with the last installments of both series. But he claims Rocky and Rambo are very different men.

ANI