James Franco Joins ‘John Rambo’ Prequel Movie With Noah Centineo (EXCLUSIVE)

James Franco has joined the cast of “John Rambo.”

The actor — currently at the Cannes Film Festival — has a small role as a villain in the film, Variety understands, joining Noah Centineo as Rambo and the recently announced David Harbour as Rambo’s commanding officer Major Trautman.

Being directed by Jalmari Helander (“Sisu”), “John Rambo” is the origin story of the franchise and takes place before 1982’s “First Blood,” the Sylvester Stallone movie that started the popular franchise.

“John Rambo” has now wrapped production in Thailand. Also appearing in the film are Yao (“Sinners”), Jason Tobin (“A Thousand Blows”), Quincy Isaiah (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), Jefferson White (“Yellowstone”) and Tayme Thapthimthong (“The White Lotus”).

News of Franco joining the film comes just as the actor has been spotted out and about around Cannes, seen at the opening ceremony with longtime girlfriend Izabel Pakzad and later in the week at the Chopard dinner and the party for “Club Kid.”

During the gala dinner on the opening night, Franco spoke to Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye and hinted that he’d recently wrapped a role in an unnamed “big studio movie” — his first blockbuster in close to a decade. He added that the film “won’t be ready for this summer, but my guess is it will be end of this year or spring-summer 2027.”

Franco also said he had been focused on living a “positive life” following a sexual misconduct scandal that erupted over allegations of abuse of power and inappropriate behavior towards aspiring actresses at his now-defunct acting school. Franco denied the allegations but acknowledged that the accusers had raised important issues.

Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the screenplay for “John Rambo,” which is produced by Lionsgate, Millennium Media, Templeton Media and AGBO, and will be distributed by Lionsgate.

Producers are Kevin King Templeton for Templeton Media, Les Weldon, Jonathan Yunger for Millennium Media, and Angela Russo-Otstot and Michael Disco for AGBO. Executive producers include Anthony and Joe Russo, Trevor Short, and Dallas Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk for Bonfire Legend, alongside Stallone. The film is produced by Lionsgate, Millennium Media, Templeton Media, and AGBO, and will be distributed by Lionsgate.