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Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes checked in with two new pieces of art that he created. The first is a cool little toon that he did showing the tough side of Sly. The second piece is inspired by word that Quentin Tarantino may move forward with his script for “Inglorious Basterds.”
The current double issue( April 30, 2004 # 762/763 ) Entertainment Weekly ‘ Summer Movie issue contains a couple of Sly items. Jazz sent in two pics and some excerpts…
THE BOYS WHO BURNED A BILLION DOLLARS, How two wild and crazy guys seduced stars for their fledgling studio, spent oodles of cash, and blew up a lot of stuff. Including their own white-hot careers. By DANIEL FIERMAN
“They promised him the film would shoot for three months, and it ended up [ delaying ] Rocky 3. He was really pissed off. One day, right in the middle of this small town in Canada, Sylvester started ranting and raving and swearing a blue streak, ” says Kotcheff.
” Sly was at the pool [ of the Hotel du Cap ] wit all these topless sunbathers surrounding him, and I pitch him the story and he says, ‘ I love it! I’m on board.’ And Mario said, ‘ Good ! Because I already ordered fireworks with the name of the movie on it.’ ” Later that evening, the title of de
Souza’s film, Isobar, lit up the night sky.
Sly Stallone was one of the celebrities who attended the Lakers first-round NBA Western Conference playoff game against the Houston Rockets, Saturday night, April 17, 2004, in Los Angeles.
Hi this is Eric Poll founder of www.slycentral.com. I recently found out that Sylvester Stallone will be appearing on the Tonight Show on April 2nd at 11:35 pm. I have always wanted to have Sylvester Stallone on Jay Leno and now we got our wish.
Thanks Eric Polli .
Thanks Eric! – Craig Zablo
Philadelphia, PA, March 22, 2004 – RKO Pictures has teamed with Philadelphia-area natives Joe Nicolo (Executive Producer), Carl Mazzocone (Co-Producer), Dina Merrill, and Philadelphia’s favorite son Sylvester Stallone, to bring some brotherly love-card shark style-to the Philadelphia Film Festival with the premiere of SHADE. A gritty poker picture about grifters and card mechanics in the shadowy world of the L.A. and Las Vegas underground, SHADE’s ensemble cast includes Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects), Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible 2), Jamie Foxx (Any Given Sunday), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Hal Holbrook (Magnum Force), Patrick Bauchau (Carnivale) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Copland). The ultra high-stakes card game thriller has been selected as the opening night film at The Philadelphia Film Festival on April 8th. SHADE is an RKO Pictures Production in association with Merv Griffin Entertainment, Hammond Entertainment, Judgment Pictures and Cobalt Media Group.
Hammond Entertainment brought Nicolo into the project after Hammond optioned SHADE from Merv Griffin Productions. RKO Pictures then joined the project as a financier, producer and distributor. The films other producers include Ted Hartley, Merv Griffin, Chris Hammond and David Schnepp.
The film is directed by first-time director, Damian Nieman, who also wrote the script. Nieman, a former card mechanic and poker player, knows this world first-hand having honed his skills at the famous Magic Castle in Los Angeles.
This is the first feature film for Nicolo, the former president and owner of Philadelphia-based Ruffhouse /Columbia Records. At Ruffhouse, he was responsible for launching the careers of Lauryn Hill, The Fugees, Cypress Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Kris/Kross. During his 10 years at Columbia Records, Nicolo also produced Billy Joel’s Grammy nominated album “River Of Dreams” and worked with such musical icons as James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones. In the spring of 2000, Nicolo sold Ruffhouse Records to Sony and started Judgment Pictures in Conshohocken.
“We’re excited to share this film with our family and friends,” said Nicolo. “How great to be recognized in your home town. I guess I was very fortunate because I had a great, great cast and production crew on this film. I think the quality of the movie speaks for itself”.
Carl Mazzocone is a 21-year veteran of the film business and is President of Main Line Pictures. He most recently produced Dumb & Dumberer as well as the controversial Julian Sands film, Boxing Helena.
“I love SHADE and had a great time working on the film,” said Mazzocone. “Every low-budget production is a challenge, especially when working with big stars; yet this film captured something special from the start. The material attracted an exceptional cast and crew–probably the best I’ve ever worked with. It’s a rare experience when 150 cast and crew members come together on a picture, endure long stressful hours of tedious work and in the process become as close as a family. I give Joe Nicolo a lot of credit for that. First off, it takes a lot of courage to finance an independent movie. Joe openly placed his trust in us all, which filters down and empowers everyone to do their best.”
ABOUT RKO. RKO is the oldest continuously operated entertainment company in the world, dating back to 1882, and boasting a film and script library of over 1,100 titles. Known for developing, producing, and distributing feature film and television programs for worldwide consumption, the RKO brand with its world-renowned “globe and radio tower” logo is being expanded into an array of new areas. RKO recently produced Never Gonna Dance, a Broadway musical stage adaptation of the 1936 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, Swing Time. The Company also has a number of projects under development with other studios, Suspicion (Dimension), Monkey’s Paw (Dreamworks) and Every Girl Should be Married (Paramount). SHADE opens in select cities nationwide on May 7.
– Craig Zablo
Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes wrote in to tell of another filmmaker influenced by Sly:
Hey kids,
I got this recent interview from the Paul Thomas Anderson site, Coffee and Cigarettes. Paul Thomas Anderson credits Stallone’s ROCKY in influencing him to become a filmmaker.
It would be a personal dream of mine to have Sly work with PTA the way Tom Cruise did in Magnolia.
Question: Was there any one film that you remembered seeing when you were younger that instantly made you realize that you wanted to be a film director?
Paul Thomas Anderson: So many films that I saw — Jaws, Wizard of Oz, Rocky, all the Disney movies.
Thanks Jazz!
– Craig Zablo
Former Heavyweight Champion George Foreman has signed to appear on NBC’s reality show The Contender alongside Sly Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard.
From Liz Smith’s March 19, 2004 Newsday.com column:
Sly’s definitely a ‘Contender’
JEALOUSY, ENVY, hurt pride, hurt feelings – sounds like the recipe for a soap opera or a love affair, doesn’t it? But, no, it’s big business. Big movie business.
For years, Sylvester Stallone has been trying to talk his original “Rocky” producer, Irwin Winkler, and the owners of the “Rocky” franchise, MGM, into another film about the indefatigable boxing hero. Sly sat down on more than one occasion and wrote an unpaid-for original screenplay for what would be the sixth round of the Philadelphia- based classic. The last one he titled “Puncher’s Chance,” giving himself a role in it as a boxing veteran.
So, some months ago, I ran into the gifted Winkler at the theater and, during the intermission, put my two cents in that the world will always be ready to welcome another “Rocky” movie, and why didn’t he get moving? (The original won the Oscar back in 1976; its theme music became a classic, and there have already been four sequels, all of them successful. The “Rocky” idea has earned at least $1.5 billion.)
While I didn’t give myself credit for actually pushing Winkler, it began to look as if he and MGM would finally move on the project. Little did I realize that behind the scenes, MGM’s head man Alex Yemenidjian, who had been saying the “Rocky” idea was passe, suddenly decided that MGM would distribute such a movie, only if the money was raised elsewhere to make it. This reluctance and lack of faith seemed a bit odd since “Rocky” is MGM’s second-largest asset after the James Bond movies.
In the meantime, Stallone, who has waited and waited while MGM and Winkler dragged their feet, was convinced by “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett and DreamWorks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg to star in their coming reality TV show about aspiring young boxers. “The Contender” could bow as early as November and will show us youngsters getting to live out their boxing dreams. Stallone will play a kind of Donald Trump figure; he’ll be the one to say “You’re down for the count” or “Count 10; you’re out!” Stallone will not only star, he’ll be executive producer, and he owns this show with Katzenberg and Burnett for NBC.
Since “The Contender” announcement, MGM and Winkler have both been galvanized and have exploded in fury at their old friend Stallone. Yemenidjian is quoted as saying that, as a result of the planned television series, “Now we, MGM, will do the real Rocky!” Stallone, who created his fame and movie career when he wrote and starred in the original against all odds, is reported saying, with some justification in my view – “They are looking for the real Rocky; he’ll be on NBC in ‘The Contender.'”
Thinking on all of this and the unfortunate circumstance of the severing of the Stallone-Winkler friendship, a thought occurs to me. If “The Contender” is a big hit, as everyone expects since it sold for one of the highest prices ever in tube history, doesn’t this make another “Rocky” feature a hotter idea than ever? Just asking! Of course, I can’t imagine a “Rocky” sequel without Stallone in some guise or other. So everybody ought to kiss and make up.
Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard attended the undisputed 154-pound title bout between Winky Wright and Sugar Shane Mosley at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, March 13, 2004.
Sly Stallone, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mark Burnett and Sylvester Stallone attended a news conference Saturday, March 13, 2004, in Las Vegas to promote The Contender.