Six Iconic Films Sylvester Stallone Turned Down

Sylvester Stallone’s name is synonymous with some of the most memorable action flicks of the late 20th century. While he’s best known for his work in Rocky and Rambo, there’s a long list of classic films that could have featured him in the lead. Over the years, Stallone has both missed out on roles and chosen to walk away from projects that later became cultural touchstones.

Action Blockbusters That Got Away

Before Bruce Willis became John McClane, the creators of Die Hard had their sights set on a few other big names. Stallone was among the first approached, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and a handful of other well-known blokes. According to screenwriter Steven de Souza,

They went to Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. They went to Sly, who turned it down. They went to Richard Gere—turned it down. They went to James Caan—turned it down. They went to Burt Reynolds, and all of these people rejected it.

In the end, Willis’s everyman style set Die Hard apart from the muscle-bound action heroes of the era, and the rest is history.

Stallone was also in the running for the lead in Beverly Hills Cop after Mickey Rourke dropped out. Producers were keen to see him try his hand at comedy, but Stallone rewrote the script as a straight action drama, stripping away the humour that would become the film’s trademark. Director Martin Brest recalled,

My conception of it at the time was to do something with Stallone that nobody had ever seen before, It had some comedic elements by virtue of the fish out of water, but he wrote this thing that was a straight-out action drama.

Stallone eventually left the project, and Eddie Murphy stepped in, making the role his own.

Missed Sci-Fi and Adventure Opportunities

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 in The Terminator, but Stallone was considered for the role, along with Mel Gibson and O.J. Simpson. With Rambo already under his belt, Stallone passed on the part. Reflecting on it years later, he joked,

I don’t look like any comic-book character. Like I could have never played The Terminator. No one would make a robot with a crooked mouth and voice that sounds like a pallbearer. It just doesn’t work.

The rivalry between Stallone and Schwarzenegger only grew from there, with each carving out their own legacy in the action genre.

When it came to Romancing the Stone, Stallone had to choose between that and Rhinestone, a musical comedy with Dolly Parton. He went with the latter, a decision he later poked fun at:

The third thing was picking between Rhinestone and Romancing The Stone and you know which I ended up going for… (Laughs)

While Romancing the Stone became a box office hit and helped Michael Douglas become a leading man, Rhinestone is often remembered as one of Stallone’s more questionable choices.

Drama and Tarantino: Paths Not Taken

Stallone is one of the rare actors to have turned down Quentin Tarantino twice, passing on roles in both Jackie Brown and Death Proof. Jackie Brown, often seen as Tarantino’s most understated work, could have featured Stallone as Louis Gara, a small-time crook. While he never explained why he passed on that role, he did share his reasoning for skipping Death Proof:

There’s no way. I have two daughters, and this fellow, his hobby is putting teenagers in his car and smashing them into a wall’. That’s not going to work.

Despite rumours, Stallone clarified he was never in the running for Butch in Pulp Fiction.

One of Stallone’s biggest regrets is missing out on Witness, a film that allowed Harrison Ford to break away from his action star image and earn his only Best Actor nomination at the Oscars. Stallone admitted,

Witness killed me… Witness was a mistake.

The role could have given him a chance to show off his dramatic chops much earlier in his career, but he remained typecast as the action hero for decades.

What Might Have Been

Looking back, it’s clear that if Stallone had taken on some of these roles—especially in Beverly Hills Cop or Witness—his career might have taken a very different path. Instead, he stuck with what he knew, only breaking out of the action mould much later with projects like Tulsa King. Which of these missed opportunities do you reckon was his biggest misstep?