Sylvester Stallone Is ‘Giving’ James Franco a ‘Real Shot at Redemption’ With ‘Rambo’ Prequel

James Franco‘s casting in the upcoming Rambo prequel has raised eyebrows. However, a source tells the National Enquirer that Sylvester Stallone is committed to helping the embattled actor, 48, kickstart his Hollywood comeback after he was hit with sexual misconduct claims in 2021.

According to Variety, Franco has a small role in the film, which stars Noah Centineo as the titular former Special Forces soldier made famous by Stallone, 80, who serves as an executive producer.

“Casting James in this new Rambo movie is a risk, but Sly has built his entire career on making counterintuitive choices that pay off big down the road,” says the source. “What Sly hasn’t factored in [however] is how disliked James still is among certain people in Hollywood.”

As the Enquirer previously reported, Seth Rogen stood by his decision to cut ties with Franco in a new interview with The New York Times‘ The Daily podcast, adding that he has no plans to work with his former costar in the near future.

Franco “still has a ton of enemies,” admits the source, and while “there’s no getting around that,” the John Rambo prequel isn’t “being made for the Hollywood in-crowd.”

Rather, “it’s being made for the generations of Rambo fans all over the world who want to see a fresh adventure with the character,” the source notes. “And Sly’s bet is that they won’t care about the cloud of scandal that has followed James for the last several years.”

In 2021, the Pineapple Express star agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle two lawsuits, per The New York Times, including one in which former students of his acting school alleged fraud, and another in which two former students accused him of sexual exploitation. As part of the settlement, the students agreed to drop their sexual exploitation claims and Franco did not admit wrongdoing.

(He did, however, confess on the Jess Cagle Podcast in 2021 that he did have sex with students, which “was wrong,” and that he had been in sex addiction recovery since 2016.)

Franco “continues to maintain” that “the allegations are false,” adds the source. “Sly is simply taking him on his word and backing that up by giving him a real shot at redemption.”