Category: Driven

“DRIVEN” DVD ADVANCE REVIEW

Craig / / 2001, Driven

The DRIVEN DVD will be released on Sept. 18th.
Pre-orders can be made |HERE| now at a special low price!

Here’s excerpts from an advance review of the Driven DVD by Matt Brighton. For the full review click [HERE].

– Renny Harlin… can certainly deliver action movies that appeal to a vast audience…I find that many of Harlin‘s movies are among my favorites.

– And we all know that he and writer/actor Sylvester Stallone collaborated on the Memorial Day hit of 1993, Cliffhanger.

– Being a new movie to DVD, we can expect that it will look great. Especially coming from the folks at Warner Brothers. It does.

– The visual presentation of this movie is a true testament to what DVD can do for a movie…

– The races, of which there are a lot, look great.

– The cars, sporting their colorful sponsors and glossy paint jobs seem to almost race off the screen.

– I’ve said it before and I’ll certainly say it again…Renny Harlin’s movies sound awesome.

– The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack takes full advantage of all the channels and delivers on each occasion.

– Imagine being inside the car…it sounds corny, but that’s how it felt when I watched this movie. Literally every base is covered here. The dialogue sounds clear and the surround effects (of which there are a LOT) make every effort to bring you into this movie and they succeed. Truly, when watching Driven, this is what you can show your friends and say “Listen to this”…

– Renny Harlin is also one of the directors who uses the advantages of DVD to his own. In other words, his discs are usually loaded with features. Driven is no exception, featuring a commentary and over 45 minutes of deleted scenes with commentary by Sylvester Stallone.

– The commentary track for the movie is like most of Harlin‘s others.. his commentaries are full of information

– Two featurettes (labeled Documentaries on the box) are included, including “The Making of Driven” which is another stock interview with the actors and showing some of the key scenes and sequences from the movie.

– Also included is “Conquering speed through live action and visual effects”.

– A theatrical trailer is also included as well as some deleted scenes with screenwriter/actor/producer, Sylvester Stallone.

Thanks to DVD Authority and the “heads-up” from Paulie
-Craig Zablo (September 9, 2001)

SLY IN TOTAL FILM

Craig / / 2001, Avenging Angelo, Celebs, Cop Land, D-Tox, Dolan's Cadillac, Driven, Eye See You, First Blood, FIST, Get Carter, Nighthawks


Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent in the pics and quotes from TOTAL FILM (August 2001/issue 55)

  • “Ask him which movies he rates from the past, and he’ll list  First Blood, Nighthawks, F.I.S.T. and Cop Land. Ask about the choices he’s likely to make in the future, and he’ll stress that he’s looking for more ensemble pieces, more character work. “
  • “There’s a kind of thrill at seeing something that came off the page being enacted before your very eyes as opposed to just being an actor for hire.”
  • “Next up he’s acting opposite Madeline Stowe as a mafia bodyguard wanting payback for his boss’ murder in Avenging Angelo, before carrying on down the revenge trail as a widower out for justice in Dolan’s Cadillac.”
  • “In fact neither the remake of Get Carter nor cop thriller Eye See You (aka Detox) look likely to get theatrical release over here (UK ).”
  • “His career did perk up momentarily , however, when racing movie Driven thrust him onto the winners podium as it took the number one spot at the US box office in April.”

Thanks to Jazz for sharing! – Craig Zablo  (September 3, 2001)

Sly Makes an Impact

Craig / / 2001, Driven

Paul Corr sent in the pic above and the following:

Just a note to let you know that STALLONE is in the Impact mag again. Impact UK issue 117 They have a website www.maipublications.co.uk

Two pages on the SLY Guy – Titled “Driven to Distraction”“SYLVESTER STALLONE is back in front of the Camera and behind the wheel of this racing cert”

“After a long delay, SYLVESTER STALLONE‘s Driven finally makes it to British cinemas in October. Impact takes a look at the latest movie to rev its engines.

“If dinosaurs don’t tickle your fancy this Summer, this film might well prove a fast paced alternative.”

It’s great news to finally know a SLY picture is showing soon in Ireland, I can’t wait.

P.S. Just a note to let you know that I got one of the Rambo First Blood II figures [on EbaY] and it is as good, if not better than you reported. I also fought to the last minutes and won a ROCKY matchbox car collectible, aren’t they a touch of class. If it wasn’t for the StalloneZone, I would never have known about the items. Thanks for the Zone.

Paul Corr [Belfast, Ireland]

And thanks to Paul for sharing!

PS – I agree with you on both the Rambo action figure and the Rocky matchbox car (really partial to it!)

– Craig Zablo

Two Tidbits

Craig / / 2001, Driven, Rambo III

The July 2001 issue of Cinefex contains an article on the special effects used in Driven. Thanks to Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes for the heads up and photo!

People Weekly has put out a special edition covering the 80’s. Sly appears in a photo from Rambo III along with a column talking about the impact that Rambo made.

– Craig Zablo (August 19, 2001)

Sly in Total Film

Craig / / 2001, Avenging Angelo, Celebs, D-Tox, Driven, First Blood, FIST, Get Carter, Unmade Films

Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent in the pic and quotes from:

TOTAL FILM [August 2001/issue 55]

— “Ask him which movies he rates from the past, and he’ll list First Blood, Nighthawks, F.I.S.T.and Cop Land. Ask about the choices he’s likely to make in the future, and he’ll stress that he’s looking for more ensemble pieces, more character work. ”

— “There’s a kind of thrill at seeing something that came off the page being enacted before your very eyes as opposed to just being an actor for hire.”

— “Next up he’s acting opposite MADELINE STOWE as a mafia bodyguard wanting payback for his boss’ murder in Avenging Angelo, before carrying on down the revenge trail as a widower out for justice in Dolan’s Cadillac. “

— “In fact neither the remake of Get Carter nor cop thriller Eye See You (aka Detox) look likely to get theatrical release over here (UK ).”

— “His career did perk up momentarily , however, when racing movie Driven thrust him onto the winners podium as it took the number one spot at the US box office in April.”

Thanks to Jazz for sharing!

– Craig Zablo

“Driven” DVD Pre-Order

Craig / / 2001, Driven

The DRIVEN DVD will be released on Sept. 18th at the low MSRP price of $24.98. Pre-orders can be made |HERE| now at the low price of $18.74!

Extra features include:
• Commentary by director Renny Harlin
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• 2 Behind-the-scenes documentaries: The Making of Driven and Conquering Speed Through Live Action and Visual Effects
• Jo Dee Messina Burn music video
• Widescreen anamorphic format

-Craig Zablo (July 25, 2001)

Danish Interview with Sly

Craig / / 2001, Celebs, Driven

By: Jeremy Hart and Kim Kastrup Translated by Steen Ulrich

London [Ekstra Bladet]

“As Rocky I’ve had MUHAMMAD ALI and JOE FRAZIER as sparring partners, and that went well. But to race against a legend like MICHAEL SCHUMACHER, that can’t be fun,” says SYLVESTER STALLONE.

In his new movie “Driven”, he plays the tough race driver Joe Tanto in the special American kind of racing called Cart series. A race that looks like formula one, except that it’s often faster and driven in the so-called champ cars on specially built tracks all over the world.

SLY toyed with death as the hard hitting boxer Rocky Balboa and as the Viet Nam veteran John Rambo. And as Joe Tanto he flirts with death in the fast champ cars, that can drive as fast as 400 km/h, and where even the smallest mistake, can mean the difference between life and death.

“I practiced at the Derek Daly Academy racetrack in Las Vegas – I started out in smaller cars. It was really crazy. The fastest I’ve driven in a champ car, was 325 km/h,” SLY proudly said during the interview in London. “I was very nervous. And the heat is almost unbearable in a champ car from shear concentration and fear. But then your inner speed demon gets the better of you, and you push the car, as much as you can. I’ve probably raced off the track 50 times during practice and while shooting. But luckily I never got hurt,” says SLY, who during filming made his insurance people bite their nails furiously.

Death Race

“You can’t escape the fear, but you can learn how to use it, before it eats you up. Unlike other sports, you can meet other cart racers at breakfast, and then only hope you see them again at lunch,” said STALLONE, who is the writer, producer and the star of “Driven” which opens in Danish theaters on July 13th
.
The movie is about the young race driver Jimmy Bly [KIP PARDUE]. His ambitious brother De Mille [ROBERT SEAB LEONARD] has pushed him so hard the results are starting to fail. Jimmy’s boss, Carl Henry [BURT REYNOLDS] hires ex-cart star Joe Tanto [STALLONE] to get Jimmy‘s tactics back in order. Tanto was once on top, but a terrible accident put a stop to his career, and now Tanto has to once and for all make up with all the demons from his past, to help Jimmy. Of course there’s also a love story between Joe Tanto and journalist Lucretia [STACY EDWARDS].

“Driven” was filmed over a period of eight months during nine real races in five different countries. The plot and the characters blend in perfectly with the real intensity on the tracks, and hundreds of thousands of real cart fans serve as very realistic extras. In the movie there are also real race drivers like Dario Franchitty and Juan Pablo Montoya.

No to Formula One

SYLVESTER STALLONE, who has been a huge fan of racing for many years, originally set out to do a movie based on Formula One. And he spent two years studying various races and negotiating with Formula One king Bernie Ecclestone. “Bernie was actually interested, but he demanded these unrealistic amounts of money for the rights, even though I told him, that in Hollywood, you usually only pay 1 million dollars for the rights to for example a best seller book.”

He doesn’t regret though, that it ended up being champ car races, because on the screen it works much better. In a 180 minute champ car race the lead can change 124 times between 10 different drivers, whereas in Formula One it’s usually much less. STALLONE says he hasn’t made a super realistic race movie. There are some very realistic scenes, but of course I’ve also taken some liberties to intensify the action. Just as it’s interesting to see King Kong running around New York, we also took two champ cars to Chicago, where they end up racing in the streets, explains STALLONE.

He thinks that there are three elements that add to the fascination of extreme racing: “First of all the driver is almost on his back while driving, only a few centimeters off the ground, while he’s doing almost 400 kilometers per hour. Then there’s the intense sound and the fact that you have 900 horsepower behind your back. And last, when you accelerate, and your vision is reduced to blurry shadows, your adrenalin kicks in and makes the drivers one with their cars.”

– Craig Zablo

SLY FEATURED IN VALLEY MAG

Craig / / 2001, Driven, Interview

Sly Stallone is on the cover and in the feature article of the June issue of Valley.  “In the Driver’s Seat with Sylvester Stallone” is the title of the interview by Bonnie Steele. Sly talks about Driven, racing, his career, advice to young actors, the 25th anniversary of Rocky, and Avenging Angelo and more.

This is not to be missed! Special thanks to SZoner Joe “Hummer” Tanto for the gratis copy! – Craig Zablo
(July 16, 2001)

TNT / TBS Pays $16 Million for “Driven” and…

Craig / / 2001, Driven

TNT/TBS Pay $16 mil for “Driven,” 3 More Pix By John Dempsey

NEW YORK (Variety) – Warner Bros. Pictures has sold the network window of “Driven,” “Angel Eyes,” “Exit Wounds” and “The Dish” to Turner Broadcasting‘s TNT and TBS. Turner will pay a total license fee for the four movies of about $16 million and will start premiering them in December 2003.

The license fee amounts to about 15% of the domestic gross of each movie, which means STEVEN SEAGAL starrer “Exit Wounds” will cost far more than the three others, having grossed $51.8 million in U.S. theaters. “Driven,” starring SYLVESTER STALLONE, is heading toward a domestic gross of $34 million and JENNIFER LOPEZ‘ “Angel Eyes” should wind up at about $25 million.