Category: 2003

Sly in Entertainment Weekly

Craig / / 2003, Celebs, First Blood

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.

Vajna was the one who saw something in the First Blood script, and they both agreed Sylvester Stallone, an actor fresh off Nighthawks, should star.
In 1985, the First Blood sequel turned into a money-spouting geyser: Rambo grossed $ 150 million–and yielded Rambo bedsheets, Rambo action figures, even, frighteningly, a Rambo Saturday morning cartoon.

” 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.

– Craig

The “Holdup” on “Rocky VI”

Craig / / 2003, Celebs, Rocky VI

The New York Post’s Cindy Adams’ December 8, 2003 column, says that “Rocky VI” is being held up because of producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff.

Everything else is in place. MGM likes Sly’s script and would finance the movie. Sly is willing to forgo his usual multimillion dollar salary and instead work for a percentage of the profits. The only sticking point is that Winkler and Chartoff are playing hardball for up front money.

I hope that this is just a rumor but you can read the entire piece and decide for yourself.

  • Craig Zablo

Sly Guests on AMC’s “Shootout”

Craig / / 2003, Cop Land, Rocky, Rocky VI, TV

Sylvester Stallone Guest Stars on AMC’s ‘Sunday Morning ShootOut’ on December 7 at 11 AM

for Sun. (Dec. 7) –(BUSINESS WIRE)–

AMC‘s weekly half-hour series, “Sunday Morning ShootOut,” hosted by Peter Guber and Peter Bart, brings the smarts and spin of Sunday morning political shows to the world of entertainment.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST: Actor, writer and director Sylvester Stallone. Since achieving worldwide fame with Rocky, which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976, Stallone has acted and co-written such successful films as First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III. His acting credits include Get Carter, Driven, Demolition Man and Copland, which garnered him international critical and audience acclaim. Most recently, Stallone has completed filming Avenging Angelo, co-starring Madeline Stowe.

DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1) The producers of Rocky offered you $150,000 to cast Ryan O’Neal in the title role. What made you turn it down? 2) Why did you agree to take a major pay cut for the film Copland? 3) Lost
Souls Seeking Redemption, Rocky VI — is this a parallel to your own life and life experiences? 4) Your upcoming Rampart Scandal delves into the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. What made you choose this piece and how did it come about?

WHEN: The episode will air on Sunday, December 7 at 11 am ET/PT on the AMC cable network. The episode can also be viewed at http://movies.yahoo.com, beginning at 12 Noon (PT).

BACKGROUND: “Sunday Morning ShootOut” is a new, half-hour weekly series on AMC hosted by entertainment industry veterans, Peter Guber and Peter Bart. Guber is the chairman of Mandalay Pictures, former CEO of Sony Pictures, the producer of dozens of Hollywood‘s most successful movies including Midnight Express, Batman, Rainman, Basic Instinct. Bart is editor-in-chief of Variety, and former Hollywood reporter for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In his career as an executive at Paramount Pictures and as president of Lorimar, Bart played a major role creating classics like The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Like other Sunday morning debate shows, the sparks fly here as prominent producers, directors, writers and stars join the hosts to debate all sides of the week’s biggest stories in the world of movies and entertainment. The experts provide informed and spirited perspectives on the winners and losers at the box-office, the rising and falling fortunes of the stars and studios themselves and the emerging trends that are forever reshaping the business of entertainment.

The pic above comes from an ad in Entertainment Weekly and the text from Business Wire. – Craig Zablo

Sly Not in “Spawn 2”

Craig / / 2003, Celebs

On Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Ain’t It Cool News posted an item in which Michael Jai White, star of the original “Spawn” movie said the sequel is on track and although “…Martin Sheen [the bad guy in the original] isn’t in it this time, the villain might be a guy called Brimstone…” and last he heard, “Sly Stallone was the man for the job.” Click [HERE] for the full report.

On December 1, 2003  IGN FilmForce checked in with Spawn 2 producer Don Murphy who shot down the report: “There is zero truth to any of this story which Harry Knowles,[ AICN‘s webmaster] could have found out from me in one email if he cared.” Spawn 2 remains in development with a script by Han Rodionoff (Man-Thing).

And that’s that about that. – Craig Zablo