The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Sly Stallone along with Clint Eastwood, Samuel L. Jackson, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, Sidney Poitier, Dennis Quaid, Ray Ramano and many others are set to play in the Sixth Annual American Film Institute Golf Classic. The benefit kicks off on Monday. – Craig
Category: Celebs
POW: Sly and Frank
This week’s POW comes from Jeanine Braem! – Craig Zablo
Stallone and Diesel
In the September 1, 2003 issue of US Weekly there is an article entitled “Hollywood Take Two” by Elisa Lipsky-Karasz.
“It’s not just Freddy vs Jason, American Wedding and Terminator 3. Now even stars are getting their own sequels.”
Sly is paired with Vin Diesel… also included are Sandra Bullockand Katie Holmes,Dustin Hoffman and Adrien Brody, Demi Moore and Jennifer Garner and others.
– Craig Zablo
Sly Cautions Arnie About Perils of Politics
Sun Aug 31, 7:11 AM ET
VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – Arnold Schwarzenegger may be dead set on running for California state governor, but fellow action hero Sylvester Stallone has a few words of wisdom for him.
“I think it’s very dangerous waters,” the hero of the “Rambo” movies, “Rocky” and “The Specialist,” told Reuters in Venice during the 60th film festival here.
“In that particular field you can’t yell ‘action’ and ‘cut’ and ‘take two’ and ‘take three.’ It’s real.”
Schwarzenegger shocked California earlier this month when he announced on “The Tonight Show” that he would run for governor.
Stallone, who was in town to promote his latest movie “Spy Kids 3,” said he would rather battle it out on the silver screen.
“I personally think actors should remain actors, but I know he’s always had blind ambition for that, so maybe it’ll work out great for him.”
Stallone added that he was getting a kick out of making kids’ movies, but for those fans more keen on his action flicks, Stallone borrowed a phrase from Arnie: “I’ll be back.”
Bradshaw vs Stallone
In the August 25, 2003 issue of Sport’s Illustrated there a two articles presenting the case that “their” city is the better sports town.
The cities are Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The articles are by Sports Illustrated staff writers Austin Murphy and Michael Bambergerand are accompanied with this art, illustrated by Joe Giardello.
Thanks to Chris Zablo for the tip! – Craig Zablo
POW – Sly and Oprah
This week’s POW comes from Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes! – Craig Zablo
Suit Settled
“Lil’ Marie” Suit Settled
Michael Klein, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, posted in his July 30, 2006 column that Jodi Letiza has agreed to a settlement in her breach-of-contract suit against Sly, MGM, Columbia/Sony and Revolution Studios.Letizia, who played a tough young girl called “Lil’ Marie” made her first appearance in the original Rocky and cameos in some of the sequels. Letizia claimed that she had been told she had a part in “Rocky Balboa” only to find out that another actress, Geraldine Hughes, ended up with the role.In Klein‘s article he reports that now that the suit has been settled “Letizia has moved on.”
For the full report, click HERE. – Craig
“Nighthawks” 1st Buddy-Cop Movie
Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star takes a look at the genre of Buddy-Cop movies and has this to say about “Nighthawks”:
The movie often credited as being the first buddy-cop film was the solemn “Nighthawks” (1981), which teamed Billy Dee Williams and Sylvester Stallone as two New York City cops who are transferred to an elite anti-terrorism unit.
For the full report, click HERE. – Craig
A Rocky Road
A Rocky Road
Sylvester Stallone is in training for another comeback
BY MARK CARO for the Chicago Tribune
Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas — Sylvester Stallone is climbing back into the ring, figuratively in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” and literally in a sixth “Rocky” movie.
Yes, he has already written “Rocky VI,” which he’s calling “Puncher’s Chance,” the title referring to the idea that once in the ring, any fighter has a chance to land a knockout punch. Stallone — with “Spy Kids 3-D” the only one of his last four movies to actually make it to theaters — is looking for that shot as well.
“Rocky made his moment when he’s 29 years old,” a fit-looking Stallone, who turned 57 on July 6, said while in Austin for the “Spy Kids” premiere. “Now time has moved on, but how do you participate when your options are pretty limited? It’s not as though he’s a painter or a world traveler. He is a fixture in the neighborhood. The neighborhood is decaying. Do you decay with it? And when you try to fight back, (you’re told), ‘It’s ludicrous. Come on! Move on! Don’t be so vain.’
“It’s not about vanity,” he continued, his familiar gravelly voice turning soft. “It’s about, ‘I know I don’t feel as though I’ve hit the bottom. I haven’t dredged the bottom of my well yet, I don’t think.’ There’s a point when you sit back on your life, and you’re on your final days going, ‘You know? I did it all.’ And I don’t know if I’ve done it all. The character.”
These last two words were said as a reminder that he was talking about Rocky, not himself.
But he knows he can’t escape the parallels. Like his most famous character, Stallone has gone from top-of-the-world star to afterthought — a $20 million-per-movie action hero whose most recent efforts have bombed (“Get Carter,” “Driven,” the latter of which he wrote) or, worse yet, haven’t even received a U.S. theatrical release (“D-Tox,” also known as “Eye See You,” “Avenging Angelo,” “Shade”).
“Spy Kids 3-D,” which opened Friday, at least will get him in front of large audiences again. He plays the comical villain, the Toymaker, who has designed a video game that ultimately imprisons the minds of its players. The character’s goofiness manifests itself in multiple personalities that argue with one another: a bald, professor type, a blustery European military commander (Stallone refers to him as “Gooselini”) and a stringy-haired hippie. For good measure, Stallone also plays a TV reporter.
Like most of the movie, his scenes were shot in front of green screens so that computerized scenery and special effects could be added later. Aside from a climactic confrontation with Ricardo Montalban, who plays the Spy Kids‘ wheelchair-bound grandpa, Stallone is mostly acting with himself.
How did he feel about acting without other actors? “I’ve been doing that for the last 10 years,” he quipped, laughing.
Stallone‘s sense of humor may not be one of his better-known traits, but it’s the key reason “Spy Kids 3-D” director Robert Rodriguez said he cast him.
Stallone compared working with a green screen to “being held face down in a bowl of guacamole for three weeks” (though his part took just five days to shoot).
“Yeah, it’s strange. It’s like working without a net.”
Yet “Spy Kids 3-D” feels like a safe move compared with what Stallone has planned. First up is a ripped-from-the-headlines crime drama called “Thugz Life” (formerly “Rampart Scandal”) that Stallone has written and is preparing to direct in his first stint behind the camera since 1985’s “Rocky IV.” He’ll also star as real-life Los Angeles police detective Russell Poole, whose career crashed as he tried to get to the bottom of the Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls murders.
Then there’s “Puncher’s Chance,” which continues Stallone‘s exploration of counted-out guys who keep forging ahead.
He admits he goofed in giving Rocky brain damage in “Rocky V,” which ended with Rocky brawling with his ungrateful protege on the street rather than in the ring.
“It was a big mistake on my part because nobody wants to see the dark, depressing underbelly of a character they’ve had joy with,” Stallone said.
So Rocky will return to the ring for movie No. 6.
– Craig Zablo
Rocky and Wolverine
The July 28, 2003 issue of US Weekly magazine’s ‘Faces and Places’ section
contained the picture above of Sly and Hugh Jackman meeting up on a day
at the beach with their families. [Thanks to Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes]
– Craig Zablo