Sly, his brother Frank and former boxing world champion Sugar Ray Leonard attended an open casting call for ‘The Contender,’ at the La Brea Gym in Los Angeles Tuesday, May 25, 2004.
– Craig
Category: Celebs
Sly at “Contender” Casting
On May 17, 2004, Sly Stallone attended a casting call at the Trinity Boxing Club in New York to select fighters for ‘The Contender’. Sixteen boxers will compete in challenges and boxing matches over 16 episodes with the final winner claiming a million dollar prize. Frank Stallone and ‘Contender’ co-host, Sugar Ray Leonard were also in attendance.
Stallone in NY City to Promote “The Contender”
It has been announced that Sylvester Stallone will be a major part of the reality series ‘The Contender,’ which will follow 16 boxers from their training camp through a series of physical challenges and boxing matches with the ultimate winner earning a million dollar prize.
Joining Stallone as co-host will be former world champion Sugar Ray Leonard and Producer Mark Burnett.
Stallone, Leonard and Burnett held a press conference at the Trinity Boxing gym in New York City on March 17,2004. Stallone displayed his skills on the speed at heavy bags to the delight of fans and reporters. Leonard also joined Sly in the ring for some friendly play-sparring. Frank Stallone, Sly’s brother, was also on hand.
– Craig
Jazzman Checks In… With New Sly Art
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 was inspired by the news that Quentin Tarantino may proceed with his screenplay “Inglorious Bastards” for his next movie. Naturally Jazz would love to see a role for Sly and came up with this character piece.
As always, Jazz, thanks for sharing!
– Craig Zablo
Jazzman Checks in with New Sly Art
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.”
Sly in Entertainment Weekly
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
Sly Attends Lakers Playoff Game
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.
Sly Set to Appear on “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno
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
“Shade” Opens Philly Film Festival
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
Paul Thomas Anderson Credits “Rocky”!
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