10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cobra
Sly Stallone’s career is filled with some of the most memorable action characters of the past 40 years. You could spend the entire weekend catching up on guys like Rocky Balboa, John Rambo, Barney Ross, or John Spartan but one of my favorite roles from “The Italian Stallion” is from the 1986 film Cobra!
The film isn’t looked at as fondly as many of his others but I’m hoping that after reading a few of these lesser-known tidbits about the film, you might just feel the urge to give it another try…
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cobra
1. There is a very rare workprint of the film available amongst fans that has between 30-40 extra minutes of footage. Most of it had been cut from the film to avoid an X rating.
2. Despite being seen as a flop today, Cobra grossed over $12 million on its opening weekend and had the largest opening box office in Warner Brothers history at the time.
3. Cobretti’s first name is Marion. It is taken from John Wayne’s real name.
4. Nicolas Winding Refn is a huge fan of Cobra and the main character in his film Drive carries a toothpick around in his mouth as homage to Cobretti’s matchstick.
5. Based on the novel “Fair Game” by Paula Gosling. That same novel was also made into a film starring William Baldwin and Cindy Crawford in 1995.
6. The original cut was over 2 hours long but it was edited heavily to not only avoid the X Rating but also to allow for the film to be shown more times per day at the theaters.
7. During filming of the Nightslasher’s monologues with Cobra, Brian Thompson did the scene with the script girl because Sly was off watching the basketball game.
8. Cobra’s vanity license plate says AWSOM50!
9. Cobra delivers what is maybe the greatest exchange of dialogue in film history. He calls a guy a “dirtbag”, “amigo”, and a “disease” all while admitting that he doesn’t shop at the grocery store Kings, doesn’t like lousy shots, is a sucker for a good conversation, and doesn’t deal with psychos. That is a ton of information to give in a just a few short lines.
10. Sly was supposed to star in Beverly Hills Cop but exited the project after his re-writes to the script inflated the budget. Later, much of what he had written would be filmed as Cobra.