If you've been counting the months, weeks, hours, minutes and even seconds until you get a fresh helping of John Rambo, your wish is getting much closer to being fulfilled. According to Variety, filming is scheduled to being this month in Thailand on Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra -- the latest, and presumably final, chapter in the Rambo saga.

The article is also reporting that in addition to Sylvester Stallone's return as the title character, the film's supporting cast, which already includes James Brolin, Bruno Campos and the terrific Kim Dickens, has expanded by at least one more with the addition of up-and-comer Matt Marsden. Marsden, fresh from roles in DOA: Dead or Alive and the upcoming Resident Evil: Extinction, will play a mercenary in the film who works closely with Stallone's Rambo to accomplish whatever life-or-death mission he happens to be on at the moment.

Speaking of life-or-death missions. In cases you don't know for some reason, the plot of this latest Rambo film, which has undergone many revisions -- as our own Mark Beall reported before -- and title changes, including Rambo IV: Holy War and the more prophetic Rambo IV: End of Peace, involves Rambo working with Christian missionaries to protect them against pirates. Yes, pirates. Perhaps Stallone is looking to cash in on some of the business generated by those other pirate movies? They made a few bucks at the box office so if he is, that's not necessarily a bad idea.