Category: 2011

Robbi Rodriguez & Machine Gun Joe

Craig / / 2011, Craig's Sly Art, Death Race 2000

Robbi Rodroguez did a Rocky sketch for me at last year’s Heroes Convention. When I saw that Robbi was going to be at Heroes again this year and was taking commissions early, I asked for an iconic black and white piece of Sly as Jack Carter. Robbi knew exactly what I was looking for and came through like a champ with this piece. I was totally blown away.

So I requested another Stallone piece, this time totally of Robbi’s choosing.  He decided to go with Sly as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo from Death Race 2000.  It was a unique choice that I quickly got behind.  Robbi not only drew Machine Gun Joe standing in his race car with a smoking machine gun, but threw in Joe’s co-pilot as well.  I can’t say enough great things about Robbi’s commissions except that I want another!

You can see more of Robbi’s art here and here… and definitely again here at the SZ in the future.

 

Renny Harlin Didn’t Want Sly for Cliffhanger

Craig / / 2011, Cliffhanger

On August 21, 2011, Worst Previews posted an interesting article titled “Renny Harlin Never Wanted Sylvester Stallone for ‘Cliffhanger'”.  Here are some tidbits…

  • Renny Harlin: “[The studio] said to me, we want Sylvester Stallone to star in this movie. And I said, ‘no way.’ I don’t know who I was picturing for it, Kevin Costner or somebody, but they wanted him because they did ‘Rambo’ with him. This was at a point where he had just made ‘Oscar’ and ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,’ both disastrous comedies and his career was in the toilet. And I said, ‘no way, I don’t want him.’
  • Renny Harlin: “So I have a private lunch with him, and he tells me how badly he wants to play this part. And he says, ‘I know I screwed up making those comedies, and I know people find me laughable now. But I really want to prove something, I want to do something real, I want to make this film.’ And I said, ‘I can’t name one director who has come out of a movie with you looking good. You always take over, and no one remembers who the director was. And that’s not what I’m looking for, I want this to be my movie, I want to hire someone who does a great job and works with me.’ And he says, ‘That’s exactly what I want. I promise if I do this movie, I will do exactly what you want me to do.”
  • Renny Harlin: “We talked some more and I really took a liking to him. He was really smart, very charming. At the end of the lunch, I said, ‘Ok. If we have an understanding, I’m gonna tell you the first thing I’m gonna do. I’m gonna change the opening scene in the movie. Because in the opening scene, he’s a rescue worker, he’s very heroic. But if you’re playing the part, I want you to fail, and I want you to kill the girl.’ And he was like, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘I am gonna change the scene so that you fail, and you kill this girl in the opening scene.’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘Alright, you’re the director, if that’s what you want, let’s do it.’ I changed the whole opening scene so that he would fail.”

Congrats to Worst Previews for a well done piece!

 

 

“Rambo: Last Stand”

Craig / / 2011, Rambo
 The big story this week is a potential new Rambo movie that could be in the works.  Although I felt that the last Rambo effectively wrapped up the series, I do like the idea of Rambo: Last Stand done “with the tone of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.”

 

It’s a tough call whether to do another since the last Rambo was so well respected by critics and fans of the genre.  Sly has been on a roll though with “Rocky Balboa”, “Rambo”, and “The Expendables”.  “Bullet to the Head” looks to be another winner and then we have the highly anticipated “Expendables 2”.  When Sly sticks with what he does best, he seldom stumbles, so it will be interesting to see what Sly decides with “Rambo: Last Stand”.  Either way, my guess is it will be the right choice.

And many other sites…

 

 

Torrance, Tango & Cash

Craig / / 2011, Craig's Sly Art, Tango & Cash

My buddy, Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back. This time Mike brought a couple of friends with him.  That’s Gabriel Cash on the left and Ray Tango on the right.  Mike created the cards for me as reward for winning one of his free monthly sketch card contests.   Love the movie, dig the art. 

You can see more of Mike’s art at The Daily Sketch with The Krayola Kidd and his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable. And don’t forget that once a month Mike has a contest for someone to win a free sketchcard!