Hi, my name is David C. Frison.
I’ve lived in Los Angeles 10 years now. Two weeks
ago, a casting director calls me up and offers me a modeling
job that works Friday, Dec. 16th 2005. On Thursday
the 15th, she gives me the hotline number for
me to call so I’d get all the info a propos the photo
shoot the next day. Little did she know, she gave me the
WRONG number, ‘cause here is what I heard when it
picked up: “Hello everyone, this is the hotline number
for all my actors on the movie ROCKY BALBOA…”
Yaaaaaaaaah!
I thought that after having shot 9 days straight in Sin City*
the team would go straight to the city of Brotherly Love*.
Nope, they had scheduled two weeks in Lala Land*.
I call the casting director,
tell her about the little slip-up and of course tell her that
I am 100% available during the next two weeks
in case she would have a spot as a background actor or whatever
on the set of ROCKY. “I’m sorry, everything
has been filled, but I’ll keep you in mind in case
something opens up” she says.
It’s now Sunday the 18th, in the StalloneZone
headline news update, I see my friend Adam on photos
taken by “SlyGuy” in Vegas along side
“Jazzman” and others. I envy Adam naturally!
What to do…?
I decide to take my destiny in my own hands and call
the “ROCKY BALBOA hotline information message”
again on Sunday night; it had been updated for Monday‘s
(Dec. 19th) shoot in Tinsel Town*. Sly
is shooting scenes in a small boxing gym belonging to DUKE
(fun fact on Tony Burton below). I was told that for
these scenes, the actors/boxers would be all but Caucasian,
ouch for me! ;-)
Too late, I had already made
up my mind; I was going to be on the set, ONE WAY
OR ANOTHER! So I came up with a “disguise” (out
of respect for Sylvester Stallone and his crew, I will
not divulge my “secret” so that others wouldn’t
copy me) that would allow me on the set without too much trouble.
Monday, the 19th, 7:30 am, I park my motorcycle
across from the set and hesitate. Will it work, will I be noticed?
I observe from across the street how things are run, trying
to come up with a master plan. Soon an hour has gone by and
I am still not on the INSIDE. Then 50 feet away from
me, a group of people cross the street to go on set. The guy
in bright red is none other than Sylvester Stallone.
I was very excited!
I finally decide to wing it, I’ll improvise, I know I’m
good at it. So two minutes later I too cross the street.
I remain outside among the crew, caterers, electricians
and more, and I act my part (remember I cannot tell you), NO
ONE NOTICES!
9:30 am, after having checked and organized a few things,
the director, Sly, as you know everyone calls him, leaves
the set to go change into his sparring clothes. At the mean
time, the six background actors/boxers (including a white
guy – how dare he steal my part? –) are gathered just
next to me. They are told that any time now, Sly would
call them inside on set so they could be placed.
Sure enough, they get called in, and, you may be proud of me
… I followed.
So there I am, in this little gym, surrounded by people like
Frank Stallone, Burt Young and Tony Burton.
Even John Herzfeld (Sly's college mate,
friend and filmmaker) showed up with his son.
After the first rehearsal Sly asks a P.A. (production
assistant) if there aren’t any more boxers. ”That’s
it” she replies. So Sly asks a couple of guys on
the set who weren’t busy at that time to step on and portray
boxers. I wished I had not hesitated again.
Just about ready for picture (ready to shoot), the makeup
artist sprays water on The Man while he’s talking
with the D.P. (director of photography) composing the
shot. That’s where yours truly undresses into his shorts
and tank top and walks over, interrupts and addresses the ROCK:
“I box, can I be helpful?” “Yeah, Yeah, shadow
box right here” he says!
That’s it, I’m on!! I’m now part of Classic
American Cinema… The shoot went on for hours, and I,
was part of ROCKY.
Earlier, Burt Young came up to me and said: “You’re
a south paw, huh?” I was proud he noticed, that
means he had an eye on me. We had various talks after that,
generally very humorous. Burt’s very well spoken
English caught me by surprise. Although his character
Paulie’s infamous wit relates to him, the actual
funny lines delivered in the movies are conjured up by Sylvester.
It’s with another great
actor that I spent quite some time chatting with, a true
gentleman: Tony Burton, ladies and gentlemen! What
a guy. Here’s a fun fact that happened on the set of the
“ROCKY saga”. Before the start of this picture
(ROCKY BALBOA), the prop master (person in charge
of most objects and/or pieces of clothing on a set) was worried
about Duke’s cross necklace. You see, he has one
in every movie, so prop master was wondering how she would match
it.
“Rest assured” Tony said, “It’s the
very same one I wore since we started in 1976”.
Also about this cross; in the original ROCKY, although
Tony wore it over his clothes, it was always “cut”
in his close-ups. So he showed me what he came up with: He shortened
the chain by using a small safety pin. Smaaaart!
While the Rock was doing
his thing in the ring, I was talking to Tony, we were
commenting on Sly; on how playful he is, on how much
he enjoys boxing and choreographing the fights.
At some point, I look to my left and there was Burt Young,
sitting beside me too. I just had to look at that picture in
the giant mirror in front of us; there is Paulie, myself
and Duke sitting together on a bench… LOOKING
AT ROCKY FIGHTING IN A RING!!!
I started laughing, I could hardly believe it.
With Sylvester Stallone as
the director, a very familiar atmosphere reigns. The
man cracks joke after joke yet remains very focused in his art,
and ART is what he creates. He knows exactly what he
wants and gets it done very efficiently, no waist of time.
Today, about half of whole the scenes shot were Sly in the
ring. This man has enough energy to light a small city.
Up, down, around… then off of the ring and running to the
camera to review what was shot, of course cracking a couple
of jokes on the way.
He is absolutely passionate and contagious!
People love working for him; Sylvester is really sweet,
he listens, pays attention to everyone and although he directs
this picture, he always remains humble.
At the end of a very long day for him, he accepted to pose with
me for the camera.
I tell you my friends, after
having met him officially for the second time, he confirms once
again that it’s an honor to be a fan.
Before I sign off, I want to
tell you this; Sylvester and a close partner discussed
in front of me things that were written about him on the internet.
Yes!
So SLY, from me and on
behalf of many others, thank you for a formidable day, thank
you for your inspiration throughout my life and thank you for
the many others you keep on touching with your magic.
Tony Burton in a conversation
on “The Rocky Attitude” that made me laugh:
“WINNING ISN”T EVERYTHING… (pause)… IT”S
THE ONLY THING!”
David C. Frison
Great report, David.
Thanks for sharing! - Craig
