Sly Tops List of Ultimate Action Heroes of All Time

Recently OK Magazine posted a list of The Top Ten Ultimate Action Heroes of All Time.  Any guesses who came in first?  Yep, Sly Stallone.  Here’s the list…

1. Sylvester Stallone – 31%

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger – 24%

3. Bruce Willis – 15%

4. Bruce Lee – 9%

5. Jean Claude Van Damme – 7%

6. Steven Seagal – 4%

7. Angelina Jolie – 2%

8. Chuck Norris – 0.8%

9. Will Smith – 0.6%

10. Jason Statham – 0.2%

To see the full post, go here.

Of course the story was picked up by…

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

Sly in Hello Mag

Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes is back with another scoop! In the May 15, 2001 issue [#662] of HELLO! mag there is a feature entitled Micheal Schumacher and his Wife Corinna. The pic above appears with the caption: “A rare celebrity moment for MICHAEL as he poses with SYLVESTER STALLONE while making the film Driven.”

Thanks to Jazz for the tip! – Craig Zablo

Stallone Interview

Sly appears in the April 10, 2001 issue of the National Enquirer. The picture above accompanies a short “exclusive interview” by Beverly Williston. The “interview” consists of six sentences by SLY… he says:

1. DALE EARNHARDTwas the “best in his field” and he hopes that “Driven” pays tribute to race car drivers.
2. That when you drive the cars “you’re lying down feet first.”
3. That once in “you are literally locked into these machines so there’s a sense of being nailed in a box with no exit except with the help of others.”
4. If the worst happens and “…you get into a crash its quite difficult to release yourself.”
5. Being in the car is “…very confining and claustrophobic.”
6. Finally about co-star ESTELLA WARREN, SLY said, ” ESTELLA is going to have a charmed life.”

– Craig Zablo

Stallone News for the Week

The picture above (minus the SZ tag, of course) appeared earlier in the week at DARK HORIZONS in an item about Warner Brothers’ 2001 movie line-up.

Entertainment Tonight’s website ran an item on Thursday saying that Sly and Jennifer co-hosted the opening of Downtown Disneyland in an event which benefited the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Sly also announced that his next movie will be a comedy. The picture above accompanied the item.

Earlier this week I received an e-mail from Simon Barber who is the new web master of Frank Stallone’s Official Website.

If you haven’t checked out Frank’s site in a while, you really should. Frank and Simon have updated and re-designed all areas (and have added more content as well)! You can find them at FrankStallone.com (they’ve moved from the old location) or by clicking |HERE|. Be sure and tell them the SZ sent ya!

[January 14, 2001] – Craig Zablo

ROCKY ROAD

The September 19, 2000 issue of STAR contains the following item in its STARPEOPLE section: SLY STALLONE is one driven guy, all right! He plays a race car driver in his new flick “Driven” and he insists on doing all his own stunts, including driving at speeds over 190 miles per hour. Studio heads have their fingers crossed that the daredevil doesn’t break his neck while the film is being shot. Luckily, Sly has the good sense NOT to do his own crash scenes. He’s leaving those to a body double.”- Craig Zablo (September 23, 2000)

Sly News at Dark Horizons

Garth over at Dark Horizons has posted several STALLONE items this past week.

On Wednesday, he scored some cool photos from the set of “Champs.” “Mr. Fast Cars & Fast Women” sent in three shots (one of which is reprinted above). Garth also printed the news from Chud.com that SLY may team with VIN DIESEL for “X vs Sever.”

On Thursday “LordBeer” submitted his report of “Champs” filming at the Target Grand Prix.

Friday saw one of the strangest items in a while… apparently JACKIE CHAN mentioned in an interview in the UK that he and SLY had been talking about teaming for “Rambo IV.”

For full details on these items check out Dark Horizons.


I certainly hope that the SLY /JACKIE CHAN / “Rambo IV” item never comes to reality!

– Craig Zablo (August 19, 2000)

Two Sly Tidbits

Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent in the two pictures posted on this page with the following captions:

The piece in the Globe reads : “SYLVESTER STALLONE, who always wanted to play Jesus , was turned down for the role as a televangalist by a studio honcho, who told him , “SLY, you’re a muscle star. ”

The caption in the National Examiner reads : “BURT REYNOLDS is lucky to have a wheely good friend like SLY STALLONE on the set of their upcoming movie Champs.”

Thanks once again to Jazz for sharing with us!


– Craig Zablo (August 13, 2000