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F.A.Q. |
STALLONE,
HARLIN REUNITE
Wednesday April 25 12:31 PM ET
Stallone, Harlin Reunite in 'Driven'
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Since collaborating on the
mountain-climbing hit ``Cliffhanger'' in 1993, Sylvester Stallone
and Renny Harlin have taken some tumbles off cinematic cliffs.
For Stallone, there were such bombs as ``Judge Dredd''
and ``Get Carter,'' plus ``Cop Land,'' an effort to take on a
serious role that earned him mixed reviews at best.
For Harlin, there was the pirate-flick fiasco ``Cutthroat
Island'' and the poorly received action yarn ``The Long Kiss
Goodnight,'' both starring his wife at the time, Geena Davis.
The actor and director figured they had such good
fortune with ``Cliffhanger,'' why not try again? This time, they're
hoping they can transfer the adrenaline rush of ``Cliffhanger''
to the race-car thriller ``Driven.''
``I think there's something to be said for team combinations,''
said Stallone, who also is a producer on ``Driven'' and wrote
the screenplay, his first since ``Cliffhanger.'' ``Certain actors
have tied up with certain directors six, seven, eight times.
There's a reason for that.
``I get Renny. He gets me. We talk in shorthand. I
know that if I write a scene, he's going to make it three times
bigger and it's going to be mounted in a more elaborate fashion
than I had written it.''
Stallone and Harlin have had financial successes along
with the recent failures. Harlin had a middling hit with his
shark adventure ``Deep Blue Sea'' in 1999, while Stallone did
well with ``Demolition Man'' and ``The Specialist,'' which had
unremarkable domestic grosses but topped $100 million each overseas.
But with a domestic gross of $84 million and a worldwide
take of $255 million, ``Cliffhanger'' remains the biggest hit
for each in the past decade.
Harlin's biggest domestic hit was ``Die Hard 2'' ($113
million) in 1990, while Stallone's best domestic return remains
the first ``Rambo'' sequel ($150 million) from 1985. The box
office for Stallone's action flicks bottomed out last fall with
``Get Carter,'' which grossed just $15 million domestically.
``I think a lot of actors like Sly and Arnold (Schwarzenegger)
and many others are dealing with the fact that the sort of '80s
action hero thing is over, and you have to look into different
kinds of things,'' Harlin said. ``That whole punch-and-shoot
thing seems a little bit passe.
``We were very aware of creating a character for him
that is not a superhero and not the best driver in the world.
I think Sly was sort of brave and humble in the way he wrote
this movie. He didn't make his character be the guy in the forefront
or the coolest guy in the world.''
Stallone, 54, plays a has-been racer brought back
to the big leagues to tutor a promising but rash rookie (Kip
Pardue). Burt Reynolds, Gina Gershon and Robert Sean Leonard
co-star.
Intrigued by the racing world, Stallone began developing
``Driven'' in the mid-1990s. Harlin, a Finland native and lifelong
racing fan, had been trying to secure film rights to the life
of Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna, who died in a crash in 1994.
When that fell through, Harlin signed on to Stallone's
project.
Both could use a hit. After 1997's ``Cop Land,'' the
closest thing to serious acting he had done since ``Rocky'' in
1976, Stallone did not release another movie for three years.
Audiences seemed unable to accept Stallone in a more dramatic
role.
``It broke my heart a little bit,'' Stallone said.
``I think there was just resistance to it. If I saw a guy playing
fullback his whole life and all of a sudden he tries to be a
place kicker, I don't know.''
``Get Carter'' did nothing to resurrect his audience
appeal. Stallone is quick to point out that ``Get Carter'' has
done all right overseas, but the movie was a critical and commercial
dud in the United States.
``I never expected this to be a breakout film, but
I thought, God, of all the projects I've received lately, `Get
Carter' seemed to be one that at least I could visualize and
say, oh, it's not bad,'' Stallone said. ``But I got hammered
on this film. The performance is OK. I'm sorry if the film doesn't
work. I can't control the film. I can only control the performance.''
Harlin is fresh off solid results for ``Deep Blue
Sea,'' but that film was preceded by ``The Long Kiss Goodnight''
and ``Cutthroat Island.''
The director feels ``Long Kiss Goodnight'' is his
best picture but that audiences weren't quite ready for a female
action hero in 1996. ``Cutthroat Island'' fell victim to another
kind of bad timing, Harlin said.
``It was sort of my childhood fantasy to do a pirate
movie,'' Harlin said. ``But we got in a situation where the script
wasn't ready but the money was there to make the movie. So we
couldn't take the time to make it right, and we had to go ahead
without getting all the things worked out. It was a bad situation
from the very get-go.''
With the growing popularity of racing and their movie's
breakneck pace, Stallone and Harlin hope their latest film will
pack audiences in the way ``Cliffhanger'' did. Harlin said he
and Stallone have talked about a sequel if ``Driven'' does well,
and they've discussed collaborating on another film project.
Stallone has a historical ensemble film he's interested
in doing. And there's also an idea for another ``Rocky'' film,
but Stallone laughs off that notion because of the poor reception
for ``Rocky V,'' when the aging champ hit the skids.
``I know it's absurd,'' Stallone said. ``Even though
athletes are not going quietly into the night. If there's one
thing I learned from the last `Rocky,' it's that no one wants
to see the downside of a hero. We don't want to see the enlarged
Elvis. We don't want to see the angry Charlie Chaplin. We want
to see Marilyn Monroe as Marilyn Monroe.
``Because they represented such a high point. When
you saw them you felt elated. You don't want to see them fallen.
That was the mistake I made.''
- Craig Zablo (April 26, 2001) |
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