Released in 2003, the film Taxi 3 is marked by a cameo from American actor Sylvester Stallone at the very beginning. But then, do you know behind the scenes of the appearance of the Hollywood star in the French comedy? Seriously tells you everything here.
After the success of the first two parts of the saga, released respectively in 1998 and 2000, Taxi returned to service in a third film released in 2003. For this new episode, Luc Besson saw the big picture and called on the American actor Sylvester Stallone for a small appearance as a spy at the start of the feature film.
Pierce Brosnan contacted before Sylvester Stallone for Taxi 3
A cameo which obviously marked the fans and caused a lot of ink to flow. And, yet, Sylvester Stallone was not the French director’s first choice… Initially, for this homage sequence to James Bond in Taxi 3, Luc Besson wanted Pierce Brosnan, who played Agent 007 at the time, to appear on the screen. However, the actor had an exclusive contract which did not allow him to do so.
The director then turned to Sylvester Stallone who had already expressed his desire to work with Luc Besson in the past. The star of the Rocky films agreed to take part in Taxi 3, but on two conditions: the first being that his entire fee be donated to a charity, and the second that the team come and shoot the sequence in question at Los Angeles, where he lives.
So, Samy Naceri and part of the film crew went to Los Angeles to shoot this scene which has become cult. This being supposed to take place in Marseille in Taxi 3, it was captured on a green screen in order to reproduce the setting of the city in post-production.
Another collaboration between Luc Besson and Sylvester Stallone?
Between Luc Besson and Sylvester Stallone, things could have ended there. But a rumor that the director and actor were going to collaborate together again, on John Rambo, began circulating shortly after. Rumor more or less confirmed by Sylvester Stallone who, during the Deauville Festival in 2002, said that he was going to work again with Luc Besson on an even bigger project.
However, this was not the case. In 2005, production company Europa Corp issued a denial saying: “Despite Luc Besson’s friendship with Sylvester Stallone who was kind enough to participate in Taxi 3, there is no question of making Rambo 4. Not only did the script never reach Mr. Besson’s hands, but neither the producers nor Mr. Stallone contacted Mr. Besson about it. This information is therefore completely false.” No hard feelings.