New Stallone “Bullet to the Head” Interview

On May 2, 2013, the St. Augustine Times posted Sly Stallone: The Bullet to the Head Interview.  Here are a few tidbits:

KW (Kam Williams, interviewer): Let me start by asking what interested you in Bullet to the Head?
SS: Well, I liked the idea of a very simple story with a dark morality. There’s humor in that later on, but you start with the basic idea that you have two total opposites having to work together for a common cause who you know are going to have to take each other out at the very end, at least that was the original premise. I also really liked the idea of doing it with Walter Hill after the first director bowed out. That made the project especially enticing.

SS: Yes, and also because he’s kind of gone down the same path as I did. There was a period when I was pretty much untouchable for about 8 or 9 years until I got a big break with Joe Roth when he helped produce Rocky Balboa. That was a big, big, long shot. Everybody thought it was a joke, but it worked. [Chuckles] I think there’s a lot of music left to play in a lot of these old instruments. And I felt that Walter Hill is a pro at this genre, yet he’s not getting the opportunity. So, when I saw the opportunity present itself, I decided, “If he does the movie, I’ll do it.” And it worked out that way.

KW: Larry Greenberg asks: How did you develop your character, Jimmy Bobo?
SS: I decided to approach it this way. I, Sylvester Stallone, am really not much like Rocky. Rocky is a much more ethical, moral person than I am. [Chuckles] He’s really a great guy. And Rambo is a much darker person than I am, and much more reserved and withdrawn. I thought, let me try something different. What if I, Sylvester Stallone, were transported into the world of hit men? In other words, what if I were the hit man but just played myself. So, that’s the way I approached this character. I wanted to be as casual and comfortable with the character as possible. I said, if Sylvester Stallone were a hit man, this is how he would be. So, pretty much what you see up there is Sylvester Stallone as a hit man. Rather than trying to create a character that was different from me, I tried to make the character the same as me, and just add the story. I don’t know if that makes sense to you. It’s like as if you were going to play a hit man and asked me, “What do I do?” And I went, “No, no, you Kam, you just have to play yourself.” It would be your personality, but you would play a hit man. That would be an interesting choice. That’s different. That’s unusual. So, this was the first time I’ve ever said, “Let me just be myself, but pretend I’m a hit man.”

KW: Is there a message you want people to take away from the film?
SS: That a tiger never really changes his stripes and that Jimmy Bobo is what he is, without regret. But he’s not an amoral person, since he only takes out, as he puts it, “the hard to get at stains.” That his job. He takes out the trash. In effect, he’s doing a service. He’s a people person. He removes the bad people.

Bullet to the Head: It’s Sly Doing What He Does Best

On February 4, 2013, Pegasus News posted a review of Bullet to the Head by Liz Tramer titled Bullet to the Head is a Fully Loaded Flick: It’s Sly Doing What He Does Best.  Here are a few quotes… – Craig

Let’s be honest, if you are planning on seeing Sylvester Stallone’s new movie, Bullet to the Head, you are not looking for a high-brow film. You are looking for a shoot ‘em up that kicks ass, and you won’t be disappointed.

In an age where previews and opening weekends can determine a film’s success, Bullet to the Head is exactly what it promotes itself as … Sylvester Stallone doing what he does best …

Sly: “I Can’t Maintain Bullet to the Head Physique

On February 4, 2013, Digital Spy posted Sylvester Stallone: “I Can’t Maintain Bullet to the Head Physique.  Here are a few quotes… – Craig

“Looking as ripped as I do on the Bullet to the Head film poster is a temporary situation – you can’t maintain it… “

“I have all kinds of chest injuries; I tore my vein during Rocky II and had 60 stitches. If you’ve seen Rocky Balboa, you’ll know how bad they look… covered them with a tattoo of my wife. Then the tattoo started to grow and it went to a skull and before I knew it, I was a mural.”

Are Stallone And Schwarzenegger’s Careers Over?

On February 4, 2013, Sean O’Connell at Cinema Blend asked (and answered), Are Sylvester Stallone And Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Careers Over?

No doubt that this article was brought on by the much lower than expected box office of Arnold’s The Last Stand and Sly’s Bullet to the Head.  Here are a few tidbits from O’Connell’s piece…

Stallone’s Expendables franchise, for starters, proves that ticket buyers will show up to see these action icons kicking ass on screen.

… you can also point to Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise as a lucrative property built on the shoulders of an older action hero. The 60-year-old Irishman’s only a few years behind Schwarzenegger (65) and Stallone (66), yet he doesn’t lean on his seniority as a punchline, and audiences have very little trouble accepting him as a lethal weapon.

I’d say that both men have some life in their action-hero legs, and these two abysmal openings just coincidentally occurred within weeks of each other.