Lionsgate has signed a first-look, multi-year film development and production deal with Stephen “Dr.” Love, the Emmy-winning producer and entrepreneur behind the Made With Love Media production company, Lionsgate motion picture group chairman Joe Drake announced Wednesday.
Love is currently producing “Shadow Force” with Kerry Washington and Sterling K. Brown, an action film in the vein of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” that Lionsgate recently acquired.
Love is also producing “They Cloned Tyrone” from Juel Taylor for Netflix, and he recently set up “Assisted Living,” written by Kay Oyegun, at Paramount Studios. He’s also working on another project, “Notes from a Young Black Chef,” based on Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir, which will be adapted by Randy McKinnon.
“Stephen is producing an extraordinary range of the highest quality short and long form content that speaks viscerally and authentically to audiences,” Drake said in a statement. “We want to be in business with storytellers who have a unique world view and a strong slate of ideas that they are developing. We are tremendously excited to be working with him and his team on Shadow Force and look forward to many other ways that we will be able to partner together.”
“Lionsgate shares our mission. We have exciting plans to bring creative opportunities to emerging filmmakers as well as established talent on projects that are unique, artful, bold, commercial, and that have something to say,” Love said in a statement. “This partnership with Lionsgate provides an opportunity to work with a best-in-class team as I expand my footprint as a producer.”
Prior to his current slate, Love was a producer on “The Land,” which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, was purchased and theatrically released by IFC Films and is now available on Netflix. He is also an Emmy winner and Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner for Procter & Gamble’s “The Talk,” and a 2017 Cannes Lions Gold and Titanium Winner.
Love is represented by CAA and Morris Yorn. The deal was negotiated by Bonnie Stylides, executive vice president of business and legal affairs for Lionsgate.
All 5 'Rambo' Movies Ranked Worst to Best (Photos)
John Rambo has had a more complicated journey than most franchise heroes. The blockbuster character, played for the past 37 years by Sylvester Stallone, has symbolized the evils of war, the awesomeness of war, the evils of America, the awesomeness of America, the evils of violence, the awesomeness of violence -- sometimes in the same film. He’s come to represent the nation’s complicated views about war, which are at turns condemned and celebrated, often without much concern for continuity or rationality. Watching the whole “Rambo” franchise is like having a conversation with somebody who has convictions, but isn’t 100% sure who they are. The films are sometimes cartoonishly self-serious, sometimes accidentally amusing, and occasionally genuine eye-openers.
5. "Rambo: Last Blood" (2019)
Rambo spent 10 years living a good life along the Mexican-American border, but when human traffickers kidnap his niece, it’s up to the one-man army to slaughter everyone all over again. “Last Blood” has some astounding acts of violence. But the storyline is specifically tailored to make a white American hero who lives on a ranch and rides a horse look entirely justified in murdering practically every person of color he can find. Director Adrian Grunberg’s film exploits xenophobia and fear-mongering to produce “crowd-pleasing” acts of violence. “Last Blood” is as grotesque as it is irresponsible.
4. "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985)
George P. Cosmatos’ sequel to the original, harrowing antiwar thriller sends Rambo back into Vietnam. His mission is to find and rescue POWs, but the movie’s mission is to give audiences a “happier” ending to the war, one in which macho movie star Sylvester Stallone murders America’s enemies, both foreign and domestic. “First Blood Part II” is so jingoistic it’s hard to take seriously, and that imbues the film with some value. But the production rings false, contradicting the message of the previous film and turning serious issues into fodder for two-dimensional cartoons.
3. "Rambo III" (1988)
Rambo is pulled back into action, again, this time rescuing his old commanding officer Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna), who’s being held hostage by the Russians. He teams up with the Afghan Mujahadeen and kicks all kinds of Soviet butt. It’s another rah-rah American exceptionalism story, made somewhat awkward by the fallout of the Afghan-Russian War -- and America’s real-life involvement, personified here by Rambo himself. But as blockbuster entertainment it’s slick and muscular, with over-the-top highlights that typify the "badass" brand of action cinema from the 1980s.
2. "Rambo" (2008)
Rambo has been trying to live off the grid. When Christian missionaries ask him to lead them into war-torn Burma, he refuses, but when they’re kidnapped and tortured, he’s enlisted by soldiers to help mount a rescue mission. Directed by Stallone himself, the confusingly titled “Rambo” is the best of the sequels. The excessive violence has a visceral impact, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been smoothed over. It’s exhilarating, not “fun,” and that severity elevates the simple but morally complicated plot into something nearly as potent as the original.
1. "First Blood" (1982)
Ted Kotcheff’s “First Blood” is one of the smartest action movies of the 1980s, a bitter, politically charged character piece that gradually transforms into a survivalist thriller. Stallone plays John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran who’s drifting from town to town. He runs afoul of a corrupt local sheriff played by Brian Dennehy, who arrests Rambo and tortures him until his PTSD is triggered. Rambo flees to the woods, but Dennehy and his men pursue, and it turns into a giant, deadly manhunt. The set pieces are a thrill, but at its heart this is the story of a soldier’s unexamined trauma, and Stallone gives one of his finest performances throughout Rambo’s complicated emotional breakdown. “First Blood” is thoughtful, pointed, harrowing entertainment. And an exciting, action-packed, hair-raising drama.
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How does Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo: Last Blood” stack up?
John Rambo has had a more complicated journey than most franchise heroes. The blockbuster character, played for the past 37 years by Sylvester Stallone, has symbolized the evils of war, the awesomeness of war, the evils of America, the awesomeness of America, the evils of violence, the awesomeness of violence -- sometimes in the same film. He’s come to represent the nation’s complicated views about war, which are at turns condemned and celebrated, often without much concern for continuity or rationality. Watching the whole “Rambo” franchise is like having a conversation with somebody who has convictions, but isn’t 100% sure who they are. The films are sometimes cartoonishly self-serious, sometimes accidentally amusing, and occasionally genuine eye-openers.
