Author: Craig

Otis Frampton’s Jack Carter

Craig / / 2009, Craig's Sly Art, Get Carter

Otis Frampton is an extremely talented artist who loves drawing for his fans. Every Sunday [okay, ALMOST, every Sunday], Otis has a live UStream broadcast that he calls the 7×7 Sunday.  Lucky fans can get a headsketch of ANY character drawn live by Otis on a 7X7 inch bristol board for 7 bucks postage paid.   It’s the best deal going.

I’ve been lucky enough to get four pieces from Otis and the Jack Carter shown above is just one of them.  I’ll be showing the rest in the coming weeks.  In the mean time, check out Otis’ Gallery.  Most likely, after seeing more of his work, I’ll be competing against you in Otis’ next 7×7 Sunday.

Miguel Insignares’ “Cut Me, Mick!”

Craig / / 2009, Fan Art, Rocky

Miguel Insignares is back with a new e-mail and art.  Miguel says:

Hey Craig–
Good to see you at the show. Here is another Sly piece NEVER seen before!  This one is from Rocky and the always quotable, “Cut Me Mick” scene.  Hope your readers dig these Stallonezone Exclusives–I got a brand-new  Rambo illustration that I’ll send your way in 2 weeks!

Thanks again and keep up the great work!

-Miguel

Miguel — thanks for sharing your Stallone art here at the SZ.  I also look forward to your The Rufnex: Island of the Dead comic [www.islandofthedead.com.

Stallone on Corman for EW

Craig / / 2009, Death Race 2000

On November 13, 2009, EW.com posted a piece called: “Roger Corman: Scoreses, Stallone, Sayles and other A-Listers talk about the B-Movie King”. Here’s Sly‘s section:

Sylvester Stallone (before Rocky, the future Italian Stallion costarred in two 1975 Corman productions, Capone and Death Race 2000, pictured) “In ‘72, Lords of Flatbush came out and I thought that was going to be my entrée into movies. But nothing happened. Henry Winkler got the role of the Fonz on Happy Days. I told him I really needed a break and I could be his mentally challenged cousin on the show. So I swung out into obscurity living way way out in the Valley. It was bad. I had to sell my dog. I hadn’t written Rocky yet. So I would read these trade papers and there was a casting ad for Capone. And I got this tiny part. What happened on that set is I finally got an idea of what it was like to be on a serious movie set. Everything was such clock-like precision. When we did Death Race 2000 in 2 1/2 weeks, it shows you it could be done. It was the only unofficial college of the arts where you got to learn filmmaking for free by a master. I guess after Capone, I must have become a part of the Roger Corman family because when Death Race came up, I got the part automatically. The director of Capone said, ‘You did this classy film, you showed that a dramatic side of yourself, Death Race is gonna kill your career, it’s a step backward!’ And I thinking, ‘Excuse me, Capone was a rip-off of The Godather.’ If anything, Death Race was a lot more original than Capone! I was very happy to do it. Roger’s a very sophisticated man. He looked like a senator and yet his films were done in such an assembly-line way. I really enjoyed it because it was the first time I felt like I was really in the big time. If I hadn’t done those parts I probably wouldn’t be here today. That he was a launching pad who allowed a lot of unguided missiles to be launched into space. He provided a forum for a lot of us to grow. We were the seeds and he owned the farm. If you look at those early movies with Jack Nicholson, you can see it — that he was building his rhythm back then. You can see that he had it. He would allow out-of-the-box people like Scorsese and De Niro to flourish. He didn’t go with the status quo. He was a master at spotting talent.”

Rambo Changes Course

Craig / / 2009, Fan Art, Rambo, Rocky Balboa

Hey SZoners – I just received an e-mail from Sly for all SZoners:

From Sly

Hi Craig,

This is from Sly to your followers:

To all the loyal SZoners out there,

I’m letting you know that Rambo has changed course and the story about hunting the man/beast will be done using another character in the lead. RAMBO himself will be heading over the border to a violent city where many young women have vanished .

There will be blood.

Best,
Sly Stallone

This is great news since it means that we should get two Stallone movies – a new “Rambo” [back to the concept everyone seemed to dig] and what sounds like “Hunter” based on the novel written specifically for Sly by James Byron Huggins.  It’s no secret that I and many SZoners have been hoping that Sly would adapt the novel for the big screen. – Craig

John Beatty’s Quick Carter

Craig / / 2009, Craig's Sly Art, Get Carter

My buddy John Beatty recently did this quick sketch of Sly as Jack Carter.  Not too long ago John began doing a weekly Wednesday Night Sketch Session live on UStream.  These are full figure pieces and fans have the option of getting them with or without gray tones.  Here are a few of examples [with tones /without tones / and again with tones]. Fans get on his list, John let’s them know the date he’ll be doing their piece and they can tune in [along with others] and interact with John as he completes the art.  This has been going over so well, that John is booked through the end of the year.

In addition, John set aside a monthly time [usually a Saturday midday] that he goes live on UStream and does Ten Dollar Head Sketches.  Because these move at a much faster pace [usually 20 to 30 minutes] and the turnout is so great, I serve as co-host.   Here are two of my favorites – Captain America and Two-Face from the last session.

If you’re interested in getting in contact with John, just click here!

Rourke Considers Sly a Friend

Craig / / 2009, Celebs

On November 7, 2009, the Daily Mail ran an interview with Mickey Rourke.    If you’re a fan, it’s worth a read. A point of interest for Sly fans is this exchange:

A lot of those who let you down are those who seemed the closest to you.

They’re the ones running out of your house with the silver when it all goes wrong, and when they jump ship that hurts. There are some people who stuck with me: Sly Stallone has always been a good friend to me…

“Rambo: The Savage Hunt”

Craig / / 2009, Fan Art, Rambo, Rocky Balboa

On November 4, 2009, Clint Morris did a report on the American Film Market for Moviehole.com.  At this event companies try to get distribution deals for their films.  One of the films marketed was “Rambo V: The Savage Hunt”.  Here’s what was said:

Rambo 5 – Nu Image/Millennium Films will be selling shares in the latest bullet-in-the-abdomen commercial. The flyer says the Sylvester Stallone is now in pre-production, which means it’ll be the big guy’s next film. I’m assuming Lionsgate have the U.S rights in the bag – since they released “Rambo” – but I’m not certain. Either way, if you represent a Croatian distributor, and know there’s an audience out there who’d kill to see another protein shake advert headlined by a 65-year-old mass of mutton, then pull up a seat…. Avi Lerner has a number he wants to show you.

One suggestion, I would change the title to simply “Rambo: The Savage Hunt”.

++++++++++

On November 6, 2009, Movieline.com posted an article by Mark Lisanti about the American Film Market and “Ten Modestly Budgeted Mindblowing Films to Watch”.  “Rambo V: The Savage Hunt” was listed first under the subheading :“The Big One”.  Here’s what was said:

2008’s surprisingly excellent Rambo (and by “surprisingly excellent,” we mean “so incredibly ultramegaviolent that the entire theater whooped with delight each time an evil Burmese soldier was sheared in half by machine-gun fire”) left many unanswered questions: How will our mom-jeans-wearing hero readjust to life in an ass-hugging, boot-cut world? Can Stallone improve upon his frenetic 2.59 kills-per-minutes pace? Will a back-to-basics Rambo abandon high-powered weaponry in favor of eviscerating each foe with his bare hands, jamming his meaty, battle-hardened paws into the soft bellies of his enemies and withdrawing steaming handfuls of wriggling, soupy guts? We may finally get those answers, and sooner rather than later. (More on the actual plot here, for those who aren’t content to let their imaginations run wild.)