‘Rocky’ actor Sylvester Stallone and Kung Fu icon Jackie Chan are two of the greatest names in Hollywood. During his career, Chan has turned down four different Sylvester Stallone movies. They are yet to work together.
Jackie Chan had rejected Sylvester Stallone movies
Over the decades, studios have paired Chan with various A-list names in the movie industry. For instance, Chan worked with fellow kung fu legend Jet Li in 2008 when he made The Forgotten Kingdom. The American productions he’s been involved with have featured actors like Owen Wilson, Chris Tucker, and more.
In recent years, he worked alongside Pierce Brosnan in The Foreigner and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Iron Mask. While his illustrious career has allowed him many opportunities to make movies with other action stars, there’s still quite a few he’s never shared the big screen with, such as Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and Stallone.
It is true that Chan and Stallone haven’t worked together yet, there have certainly been chances for it to happen. But, Chan has turned Stallone down on four separate occasions to appear in his films. According to Chan’s autobiography, Never Grow Up, the first was Demolition Man. Before casting Wesley Snipes as the villain, Stallone tried to get Chan to accept the part, but the Hong Kong actor was opposed to playing a villain, as it would go against his image.
The second offer was for the fourth Rambo movie, with the role in question being a drug dealer. In Never Grow Up, Chan said he felt it wasn’t right for him, presumably due to the same issues. Years later, Stallone wanted Chan for Expendables 2 and Expendables 3 [via CinemaBlend]. In the case of the second film, scheduling conflicts got in the way, and the concern that he’d get a small role kept him from signing on for the third installment.
