Sly Stallone presented the President’s Award to Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam at the American Society of Cinematographers 16th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards, in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002.
Category: Celebs
SLY & JEN: LARRY KING LIVE!
Jennifer Flavin, right, wife of actor Sylvester Stallone, left, makes a point as she discusses heart disease during taping of CNN’s ”Larry King Live,” Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002, in Los Angeles. The program is scheduled to be telecast on CNN, Sunday, Feb 10, 2002. Flavin and Stallone’s daughter had open-heart surgery. (AP Photo/CNN, Rose M. Prouser) – Craig Zablo (02/07/02)
MGM LOOKING AT ROCKY MUSICAL
Wednesday January 30 3:49 PM ET
By Bob Tourtellotte
If film studio MGM has its way, “Rocky: the Musical” may just be Broadway’s next big hit, rivaling Brooks‘ current smash ”The Producers” as the hottest ticket in town.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said on Wednesday it has launched a new initiative under long-time business and legal executive Darcie Denkert to develop new products, starting with Broadway shows, from its huge library of old films.
Already in development, the studio said, are stage plays based on comedies like “The Pink Panther” films from the 1960s and 1970s, which will be produced by Blake Edwards. Actor John Lithgow is set to star in a version of 1957’s “Sweet Smell of Success,” and stage versions of romances “Marty” and ”Moonstruck” are being worked on, an MGM spokeswoman said.
On the horizon could be any one of the roughly 4,100 titles MGM holds in its library of films billed as the world’s largest catalog of modern movies. Off the list, are the MGM musicals of the 1930’s and 1940’s, whose rights were sold years ago.
Still, rags-to-riches boxer Rocky, portrayed in the movies by action hero Sylvester Stallone and owned by MGM, could be tromping the boards on The Great White Way sometime soon.
No doubt, key lyrics to any song in “Rocky: the Musical” would be, “Yo!” and the wailing “Adrian.”
“(Denkert’s) ties to the Hollywood and Broadway creative and business communities provide us with the ideal blend of resources to help energize our renowned library properties,” MGM Vice Chairman Chris McGurk said in a statement.
Denkert takes the job of President, MGM Entertainment Business Group, which will focus on creating new products from old library titles across all of MGM’s businesses, including film, television, home video and music.
But her first effort will be spearheading the efforts of the new MGM on Stage business unit, which MGM has created to develop stage plays from its old films.
MGM is not the first studio to look to Broadway for new business. The Walt Disney Co. has turned hit animated movies such as “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast’‘ into stage plays both on Broadway and in touring companies.
Brooks wrote and directed “The Producers,” the 1968 film about a washed-up theater producer and his accountant who set out to bilk money from investors by making a Broadway flop.
The director of such classic film comedies as “Blazing Saddles” put the story on stage, and it became one of Broadway’s biggest recent hits, starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.
Denkert began her career as a theatrical lawyer involved in Broadway and off-Broadway productions, and subsequently has worked for MGM and its United Artists film unit for a total of 25 years, joining UA’s legal department in 1977.
In addition to naming Denkert as head of the new entertainment business group, MGM is decentralizing its entire business affairs operations, shifting reporting to its various divisions in film, television, home video and music.
MGM is 81 percent owned by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, and is currently looking for merger partners in order to expand its distribution platforms.
SLY IN ESCAPE TO (AND FROM) VICTORY
Jazzman sent in this pic and the following: Craig, I found a cool article in the current (UK edition Volume 3 Number 1) issue of HOTDOG ‘the movie magazine’ on Stallone’s VICTORY entitled ‘JACKROOTS FOR GOALPOSTS, THE MAKING OF ESCAPE TO VICTORY’. Here are some excerpts…
John Houston has made better films than Escape To Victory: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, Moby Dick, The African Queen, Fat City.. bit it’s doubtful the writer/actor/director/cinematographer/bullfighter/ Mexican cavalry officer ever made a film that was as much fun as this soccer opus.
That the film still enjoys a cult status can’t be entirely attributed to schoolboy nostalgia, however. Amore probable reason for the public’s sustained affection is the films relationship with the granddaddy of all POW movies, The Great Escape.
Caine and co-star Stallone made the most of their weekends off. “We used to get away together when ever we could,” said Caine. “We would race ot the airport on Friday night waving our credit cards and shouting: ‘When’s the next plane out- to anywhere? ‘ Usually it was Paris or London. We’d go eating, drinking and falling down a lot.”
– Craig Zablo (02/03/02)
Thanks to Jazzman for sharing!
Sly and Jennifer to Appear on “Larry King Live”
Sly Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin-Stallone have taped an episode that will appear on “Larry King Live” (CNN) on February 10, 2002. One of the topics discussed was the open-heart surgery of their young daughter.
Sly Guests on Ali Celebration
Muhammad Ali, seated, is joined by, from left, India.Aire, Paul Simon, Sidney Poitier, Natalie Cole, Larry King, Sylvester Stallone, Laila Ali and Jon Voight at the taping of “Muhammad Ali’s 60th Birthday Celebration,” Saturday, Jan. 12, 2002, in Los Angeles. The show airs Wednesday. (AP Photo/CBS, Monty Brinton)
Muhammand Ali, seated, is joined by, from left, Howard Bingham, Will Smith, India.Aire, Cuba Gooding Jr., Paul Simon, Sidney Poitier, Natalie Cole, Larry King, Sylvester Stallone, Laila Ali and Jon Voight at the taping of “Muhammad Ali’s 60th Birthday Celebration,” Saturday, Jan. 12, 2002, in Los Angeles. The show airs Wednesday night on CBS. (AP Photo/CBS, Monty Brinton)
Sly: The Difference is Night and Day
SLY appears twice in the April 17, 2001 issue of the National Enquirer. He first appears in the two pictures above in a piece that looks at how differently celebrities dress during the day and at night. SLY makes another appearance later in the magazine [in a small picture] in an article about TOM CRUISE and NICOLE KIDMAN.
– Craig Zablo
Sly Says, “Show Me the Money” or “I Thought it was Dropped”
From Dark Horizons –
Dolan’s Cadillac: The New York Daily News seems to have found a reason for STALLONE’s departure from the project, and it ain’t the “non violence clause” excuse that emerged the other day – seems SLY “upped his money demands at the last minute” though the official word from his publicists is that the actor “thought the project had been dropped”. STACY TITLE [“The Last Supper”] is still attached to direct the film based on her script adaptation of the STEPHEN KING short story. Thanks to ‘AB King’.
Sly Departs “Dolan’s Cadillac”
From Dark Horizons –
Dolan’s Cadillac: The New York Daily News reports that SYLVESTER STALLONE is out of this short story turned movie thriller which was set to start shooting very soon and is based on the first tale from STEPHEN KING’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes anthology. The paper indicates that he may have left due to a new ‘non-violence’ policy SLY is adopting for his roles these days thus playing a violent gangster is kind of out of the question. KEVIN BACON is still set to play the teacher who gets revenge on the gangster who killed his wife by slowly burying him alive, though how much of a delay there will be due to SLY’s leaving remains unsure.
STALLONEZONE AT DARK HORIZONS
On November 15th Dark Horizons ran the following item:
Rambo 4: Over at StalloneZone, a radio report indicates “Cop Land” director James Mangold is on the top of Mirimax’s list to direct “Rambo 4” – a likely choice and here’s why: “After ‘Cop Land’ Miramx signed James Mangold to a four film contract. So far he’s done two. It was said that Harvey Weinstein was pleased with the teaming of Cop Land, and that he would love for Stallone and Mangold to work together again.” – Thanks to ABKing
(November 18, 2001)