Who was considered for the role of John Rambo in First Blood before Sylvester Stallone?

The Rambo franchise may have the most confusing set of titles of any movie franchise out there.

The first movie, which I always used to just call Rambo, it actually called First Blood. OK, at least there’s a “first” in there. The next movie? Rambo: First Blood Part II. So it’s a first but also a part 2? And it took until 2008 for the most obvious title, just Rambo, to actually be used.

But throughout all that confusion, there is one clear constant: Sylvester Stallone playing the lead character, John Rambo. Based on the 1972 novel First Blood, it took a full-on decade to get the thing adapted into a movie, and along the way multiple directors, producers, and writers came and went. Finally, someone had the damn sense to hire Stallone and put him in the lead role.

And let’s be honest, it mostly matters because it teed up Rambo: First Blood Part II, the most iconic film in the series. But Stallone very nearly never led this franchise — which actor once turned down the role?