Recently Sly headlined an event called “An Evening with Sly Stallone” which raised $100,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association. StalloneZoner, Hisham aka SlyStalloneFan was there and provided this report and photos.
Yo, Craig!
StalloneZoner, SlyStalloneFan here. I just got home yesterday after three amazing nights in Canada to see my idol Sylvester Stallone. The first time I heard about Sly going to Canada was back in October. At that time, I wasn’t sure if it would be possible for me to attend these events. But I know my personality very well and I would feel miserable, if I missed an opportunity to see my favorite actor and hero in person. So I had to get to work to develop a plan. Thankfully as time got closer to these events, everything came together wonderfully.
I flew from Utah to Chicago, Chicago to Buffalo and then drove from Buffalo to Canada. The events were in both Hamilton and Niagara Falls, Ontario. As I approached the US/Canadian boarder, I experienced some problems.
I got to the check point and had all my documents ready. They asked where I arrived from and why are I was visiting. I explained that there was a Sylvester Stallone event that I was going to attend. The officer was surprised by the answer. He asked, “You flew in all the way from Utah to Canada to see Sylvester Stallone?” I explained how big a Stallone fan I am and that attending the events meant a lot to me. Yet he kept asking more questions. “How much was the ticket?” “What would Stallone talk about?” Then he told me to park my car on the side and to step out of the car. They kept asking more and more questions. Then another officer approached asking even more Stallone questions.
Thankfully, I had a picture of me with Sly, that I had enlarged hoping to get Sly to autograph it. The officer saw the photo in my car and came to me saying, “Boy, you really are a big fan!” So, finally they let me go.
The first event was was in Hamilton Ontario. While I was driving, I passed by a big digital billboard with Sly on it with information on the upcoming event for the Canadian Diabetes Association. There was so much great memorabilia for many of Stallone’s movies on display and for people to place bids on. I personally got interviewed that night by a crew from a local TV station.
The next two events were at the Falls View Hotel & Casino in Niagara Falls. I arrived early to the hotel. I am talking way early due to the level of excitement that I had. There were TV screens with Sly’s picture. There were also a couple of posters of Sly.
As I was walking around the hotel, I got approached about 3 different times. I didn’t know these people, but they all approached me saying, “Aren’t you that big Stallone fan? I was very surprised and was curious to how they knew that. A couple said that they saw me on TV. It was the short interview I had from the first event. According to the couple, they said it was playing over and over on TV to the point where they actually remembered exactly what I said during the interview. Another person approached me saying he saw my pic on a Stallone website and we all know which site that is.
The cool thing that night was that I got to quickly talk to Sly’s producer and long time friend, Kevin King. Even though it was short, I made it clear that I came all the way just to show my appreciation for Sly and he was happy about that.
All three events started with a tribute video for Sly. Sly talked about his early days, his career, injuries on set, etc.. Here are some of the highlights..
- According to Sly, the movie he is by far most proud of is Rocky Balboa.
- Sly mentioned being at a restaurant in Mexico on New Years Eve, and seeing people he had worked with in the past who basically thought his career was over. He said he saw his former agent, who fired Sly when his career slowed down. He saw one of the producers for the Rocky movies, who didn’t really seem to care that Sly had interest in one more Rocky. He mentioned that as he was sitting at the table, Joe Roth from Revolution studio noticed that Sly was sitting there and Roth was the only one who came to say, “Hi.” Joe Roth was curious to see what was new with Sly and it was Jennifer, Sly’s wife, who mentioned that Sly has finished a script for a new and final Rocky movie. He went on to thank Joe Roth for that.
- According to Sly, Rocky is done, but Rambo may come back and that he loves the Rambo character and joked around how he would love to make five more Rambo films.
- Sly mentioned The Expendables II and how amazing it will be and that the fight with Jean Claude Van Damme will be absolutely great.
- I yelled out while Sly was mentioning his upcoming projects and asked about THE TOMB. He looked at me and replied saying “Yes, The Tomb with Arnold will start this April“.
- Sly said First Blood was a cursed project and that he was the eleventh actor chosen.
- Sly mentioned that attending the Wepner/ Ali fight gave him an idea but it was Rocky Marciano that he was thinking of while writing Rocky. He stated that Wepner gets way too much credit and that it’s not really him who was behind Rocky.
- Sly remember his father and how tough he was. He said “he was Rambo to me”.
- Sly’s upcoming releases and projects are: THE EXPENDABLES II, BULLET TO THE HEAD, The Tomb and also a totally new project that I forgot the name for.
I would like to say that being part of these events, meant the wold to me. I couldn’t be any happier. It was a pleasure, as always, to see my idol Sly Stallone in person. There is no other person, that I would do what I had to do just to see in person and to show my appreciation. And if another opportunity comes, I WOULD DO IT AGAIN.
Thank you Craig. hope you enjoyed the report and hope Stallone fans around the world enjoy it as well.
Thank you, Sly for a magnificent series of events. You will always have my support. WE LOVE YA, ROCK…..
Yours Truly,
Hisham…
+++++
Thanks to Hisham for another great report! – Craig
