Category: 2010

Brent Smith of Shinedown Praises Sly

Craig / / 2010, Celebs

On October 28, 2010, Blabbermouth.net posted an interview with Brent Smith of Shinedown perhaps best known at the StalloneZone for their song “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)” which appeared in trailers for “The Expendables.” The band got to meet Sly and here’s what Brent had to say about that…

“It was really, really awesome to meet him and it was really cool ’cause he [Sly] was like a kid,” he [Brent] said. “He was excited to show us, you know, what he was doing, and it’s really refreshing to see a man, you know, that’s been in the business for so long and has just played some legendary, I mean legendary characters, still be excited about art and movies and blowing stuff up and making people go, ‘Wow,’ you know.”

You can read the full piece here.

The Contender One of the Best Ever

Craig / / 2010, Honors, The Contender, TV

The Bleacher Report posted their choices for the The Best 50 Sports Shows of All Time.  The Contender came in at # 44 and here’s why…

  • The Contender was the brainchild of Mark Burnett of Survivor fame, and was originally hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard and Sylvester Stallone The show featured a bunch of amateur boxers trying to make it big. It was just a fun watch to see what it takes to make someone into a professional boxer.  The desperation some of these guys had was palpable, and it made it that much more entertaining to watch.  It eventually fizzled out, but I enjoyed the first season.
You can see the full list here.

Thinking of Being an Expendable for Halloween?

Craig / / 2010, Expendables

Cinema Blend advises against dressing up for Halloween as some movie characters.  Here’s what they say if you’re thinking of going as one of The Expendables…

Because: The black flak jacket/black beret look is pretty cool, and it’s always fun to carry around fake weapons on Halloween, but anybody without an Adonis body will look ridiculous in that getup, and no offense, but I just don’t feel like you’re at Statham muscle level right now.

If you absolutely must: Be Rourke, wear a stupid hat, cry into a mirror about your days in Bosnia all night.

Here’s their advice for other movie characters.

Sly, Jim Peterik & Eye of the Tiger

Craig / / 2010, Rocky III

On October 26, 2010, Smashing Interviews Magazine posted an interview with Jim Peterik the founder of Survivor and composer of the classic “Eye of the Tiger.” Did you know that Jim was also in the band Ides of March famous for the #1 hit “Vehicle” that he wrote?  The song also appeared in the Stallone film “Lockup.” Jim also wrote hit songs for 38 Special and Sammy Hagar.

Here’s what Jim had to say about Sly and “Eye of the Tiger”…

Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): How did you get involved in writing “Eye of the Tiger” for Rocky III?

Jim Peterik: That was just a miracle event as far as I’m concerned. Apparently Stallone had caught wind of Survivor and liked our sound. One day I got a message on my answering machine. This sounds like a story one would make up but I pressed the button and heard, “Hey, yo Jim, give me a call. It’s Sylvester Stallone.” I’m thinking, “Yeah, whatever.”

I called the number and sure enough it was Stallone. He tells me about this new movie and that he doesn’t want to use “Gonna Fly Now” anymore. He wanted something new, “something with a pulse and for the kids.” Stallone said, “I’m going to send you the movie.”

Frankie came over and we watched the film. Frankie said, “This is going to be enormous.” I had my electric guitar in my hand, the punches were being thrown in the movie, and I was feeling the pulse. I just started doing that bap bap bap bap on the guitar, not knowing that riff would become pretty much etched in American consciousness to this day.

I sent the demo of the song to Stallone and he goes, “Oh yeah, that’s it. You got it. Just write me a third verse. You got a little lazy there.” So we did and the rest is history. It’s an amazing story that really put us on the map. What amazes me is it’s still so popular. We’re still on the Billboard charts under downloads. We’re like #22 or something.

Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): Colleges that have tiger mascots play the song during football games.

Jim Peterik: I’ve been asked to do halftime at LSU in November. I’ll be singing that song with the band. That’ll be a real thrill.

You can read the entire interview here.

Sly: Original Casting Choice for…

Craig / / 2010, Unmade Films

On October 26, 2010, Moviehole posted the first part of Clint Morris’ article titled 50 Original Casting Choices.  Sly made the list twice so far:

  • 50. The Terminator (1984) – Sylvester Stallone as ‘The Terminator’

We’ve all heard the stories of O.J Simpson (James Cameron’s favourite to take on the role before coming to the humorous conclusion that America wouldn’t believe such a ‘nice guy’ could be a killer) and Lance Henriksen (He did a great screen test, arriving to the office in character, but wasn’t quite Terminator material. Instead, Cameron cast him as a cop in the film) being up for the T-800, but did you know Sylvester Stallone was actually offered the role of the time-travelling assassin? Sly passed not long before Cameron got wind of Arnold Schwarzenegger, actually.

  • 40. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) – Sylvester Stallone as ‘Axel Foley’

You all know this one, right? Sly was originally cast as Axel Foley in a more action-centric, less-comical “Beverly Hills Cop” movie. Sly ultimately abandoned the project (all the tinkering with the script turned him off) and the project was later rewritten for “48 Hours” and “Trading Places” funnyman Eddie Murphy.

You can check out the other original casting choices here.