Rambo IV: Shan officer "demoted"

No.07 - 2/2007
20 February 2007
Thai-Burma Relations
 
Rambo IV: Shan officer "demoted"
 
He has been recasted in the role of a river pirate down from the role of a Burmese commander as reported earlier, said sources close to the former resistance member from the Shan State Army who was picked up among hundreds of applicants to take part in Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye.
 
According to the sources who have seen the script written for him in Burmese, he is shot down by Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, during the hold-up of a group of Christian missionaries who are on their way along the Salween to deliver relief supplies to Karen villagers displaced by the war inside Burma.

"The company is still looking for a new man to play the role of the Burmese commander," Sai Mawng aka Harn Hser Mao, who resigned as a lieutenant last year was quoted as saying. "Maybe they think I don't look bloodthirsty enough."
 
Other sources from the circle of migrants say the Burmese commander, who will be prominently featured throughout the story, is to be selected among half a dozen of applicants within the week.
 
"Whatever role I'm assigned to play," he reportedly promised, "I'm going to do my best."
 
According to the story line posted by the film crew, Rambo is hired by Christian missionaries while working as a snake hunter in Thailand to deliver medical and religious supplies to the persecuted Karens of Burma. The missionaries are captured and Rambo is saddled with the job of rescuing the surviving missionaries.
 
The film is to be shot in Chiangmai begining next week.

Last updated: 23 February 2007