Category: Expendables

SZ Exclusive: Sly in Brazil

Craig / / 2009, 2011, Expendables

I received the e-mail below and these photos earlier this week from SZoner, Toni C.

  • Hello Craig!My name is Toni Coutinho (SZoner tonibalboa) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Congratulations for excellent work in StalloneZone!

    I’d like to share with all fans of Sly some pictures I took with the cast of The Expendables during filming. Ok, I know this happened in 2009, but I’m sure everyone will enjoy… I met Sylvester Stallone! Unbelievable!!

    I am a member of a group of fans called Sly Squad and I am a friend of Osmar Daou, a brazilian SZoner.  I have more new photos of Sly.

    Thanks for your attention!

    Toni Coutinho

Thanks to Toni for sharing these cool photos.  We look forward to seeing more in the future! – Craig

Brian Stelfreeze: Barney Ross

Craig / / 2011, Craig's Sly Art, Expendables

Brian Stelfreeze.  Barney Ross from The Expendables.  What else needs to be said?  Simply enjoy the genius of Brian Stelfreeze.

Ok.  For those new to the show, Brian Stelfreeze is one of the most amazing artists working today.   He can do it all… pencil, ink, color, design.  I have never seen a bad piece by Brian.  Yet, he is one of the most humble, approachable and appreciative artists you’ll ever meet.  This is my second piece by Mr. Stelfreeze. [You can see my first here. Both are “cornerstones” of my collection.]  I hope it is not my last.

Expendables Truck Sells for $132 K

Craig / / 2011, Expendables

One of the trucks that Sly drove in The Expendables went to auction last week and sold for $132,000.  The truck, a 1956 Ford F-100 was fully customized by West Coast Customs to look like a 1955 model and sported a new 347 Edelbrock engine, B&M transmission,  Lexani 20″ rims with low profile tires, a  full Gibson exhaust system, and hidden storage compartment’s for Barney Ross’ weapons.  That’s right, folks, the truck came with hidden weapons compartments.

The story of the sale was picked up by…

Brian Tyler: “Rambo” & “The Expendables”

Craig / / 2011, Celebs, Expendables, Rambo

Moviehole recently interviewed Brian Tyler [pictured above with Sly], the composer behind the scores for “Rambo” and “The Expendables.”   Tyler is currently composing music for “Fast Five” and “Battle for LA” but took time out for the interview.  Here’s what he had to say about working with Sly:

  • Jonathon Urban: After a 20 year absence, Sylvester Stallone brought back one of his two iconic characters, John Rambo, in 2008’s “Rambo.” For over 25 years, Jerry Goldsmith’s name was synonymous with the epic scores for “First Blood”, “Rambo: First Blood Part II” and “Rambo III.” What was it like stepping into such a beloved franchise that also had such a well-known score?

    BT: Daunting! I wanted to honor the Jerry Goldsmith scores and incorporate those great themes into my overall tapestry which had new themes as well. Rambo is now older and wiser and that evolution needed to be reflected in the score.

    JU: There’s clearly a “hero theme” and not per se a “love theme,” but one that is clearly for the character of ‘Sarah.’ How did you come up with these?

    BT: Well the themes for “Rambo” took awhile to come up with. Hmm. I think I sat down at the piano and just went for it!

    JU: There are several classic Goldsmith cues that meld very nicely with your original work. Was there ever any challenge on working in the Goldsmith cues into your original pieces?

    BT: Well I wrote my themes to be compatible with Jerry’s themes. They worked together by design. My biggest challenge was composing next to a giant’s shadow.

    JU: And like you have done with several other directors, you scored your second film with Stallone, “The Expendables.” Before I ask you about “The Expendables”, it has to be a good feeling working again with a director you have worked with before. Do you feel that you and the director’s chemistry gets better with each film and that you’re able to compose a score that encompasses the director’s vision even more so?

    BT: There are a number of directors that I have worked with a number of times. Bill Paxton, Sylvester Stallone, Jonathan Liebesman, William Friedkin, Justin Lin, George Gallo, Greg Yaitanes, and others. It is always great to grow closer with a creative collaborator.

    JU: Okay, “The Expendables”, which was the macho movie of all macho movies. Were you Sly’s first choice to score the movie?

    BT: I was indeed. At least I was told that. (Laughing.)

To read the whole interview, click here.

Hennie Blaauw’s Barney Ross

Craig / / 2001, Craig's Sly Art, Expendables

Long time SZoner, Hennie Blaauw sent in the piece above with this e-mail:

Hi there,
Looong time hey… Just thought I’d send you something I did in my free time at the studio…should animate it one of these days..hehe.
Keep well, thanks for a rocking site!

Cheers

Hennie Blaauw
+++++
Thanks to Hennie for sharing his talents.  And, yes, we’d love to see it animated! – Craig

Thomas Boatwright: Barney Ross

Craig / / 2011, Craig's Sly Art, Expendables

I commissioned my first sketch from Thomas Boatwright in December of 2010.  It was this First Blood piece. Thomas finished it in less than a week and I totally loved it.  So I ordered two more pieces.  This sketch of Sly as Barney Ross from The Expendables is the second piece.  I have another that I will post in the near future of Sly as Jack Carter.  I totally dig them all and hope to get more art from Thomas for my collection later this year.

If you’d like to see more of Thomas Boatwright’s art check out his blog and his DA site. Send him some love.  If you get commissions, you should consider a piece from Thomas. He keeps you totally in the loop on his progress, finishes his commissions on or ahead of schedule, has very reasonable prices and is a fantastic artist! – Craig

Sly & “Diamond Eyes”

Craig / / 2011, Expendables

On January 6, 2011, Brent Smith of Shinedown spoke to The Pulse of Radio about their newly released video for their song “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom Lay Boom) which was used on The Expendables trailer.  When asked why the song has “Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom” as a subtitle, Smith explained:

“When we wrote the song, Sylvester Stallone said, ‘You have to repeat in some kind of a chant form or an anthemic form, I need it if you can to have it go ‘boom-lay boom-lay boom.” ‘Cause it’s based off of a poem called ‘The Congo’ that he based a lot of the premise of ‘The Expendables’ off of,” he said. “In that poem, between each paragraph, it goes ‘boom-lay boom-lay boom’ and then it goes to the next section of the poem.”

Here are links to The Congo, one to the Shinedown video and the original article.

Welcome to Rockyland

Craig / / 2010, Demolition Man, Expendables, Rambo, Rocky 5, Rocky Balboa

On December 29, 2010, IFC News posted Matt Singer’s article, “Welcome to Rockyland: Sylvester Stallone’s Viagra Cinema.” In the piece Singer explores Sly’s resurgence to the top at an age when “action stars” have long since retired.  Here are some excerpts:

  • On July 6, 2011 Sylvester Stallone will turn 65 years old. At an age when most Americans are considering their Social Security benefits, Stallone’s career is the healthiest it’s been in decades.
  • His latest film, “The Expendables,” was the first he’s headlined to gross over $100 million in the U.S. since “Rocky IV” back in 1985. Ten years ago, Stallone’s career was dead and he was a joke. Now he’s the world’s leading manufacturer of viagra cinema, movies designed to showcase the aging male frame as it performs unnatural but remarkable physical feats.
  • What Stallone’s done is basically without precedent. All of his former rivals for action film supremacy have faded away or moved on; all of his predecessors turned to moodier and more reflective work by the time they were his age.

  • …the world of Stallone’s viagra cinema: a place of physical and moral decay, the Philadelphia of “Rocky Balboa,” the Burma of “Rambo,” or the corrupt fictional island of Vilena in “The Expendables.” The heroes Stallone plays in these films refuse to concede to the decay around them or bend to the physical limitations of their age. The world may decay; Sylvester Stallone does not.
  • Given Stallone’s age, and the fact that he surrounded himself in “The Expendables” with fresh action stars like Statham and Terry Crews, it seemed reasonable to assume that he was making the film as a symbolic passing of the torch; that it would be about what it’s like to realize you’re not faster than light anymore. Nope. Ross is correct about his skills… “The Expendables” isn’t about making way for a new generation. It’s about putting that new generation in their place and showing them how it’s done. Casting Stallone’s old contemporaries like Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke was good for some chuckles; it was also good for showing how good Stallone looks in comparison to them.
  • In “Rocky V,” when Rocky was forced into retirement (a first time), his constant refrain was “I didn’t hear no bell!” signifying that his life is not over and that he continues to endure. Twenty years later, Stallone is still fighting, still refusing to hear the bell. The longer he refuses, the deeper he gets into Rockyland, the more strangely compelling his viagra cinema gets.

Singer has written an excellent piece and I highly recommend it to all SZoners. – Craig

The Expendables Leads the Way

Craig / / 2010, Expendables

On December 21, 2010, The Wrap posted their yearend studio report card for Lionsgate.  Overall the studio received a “B” rating thanks in a large part to Sly Stallone’s Expendables.  Here’s two reasons why…

  1. Its “Saw” franchise finally ran out of teeth, but the indie studio had a hit with the Stallone action movie “The Expendables,” while the low-budget horror film “The Last Exorcism” was wildly profitable.
  2. Propelled by low- to mid-budget hits such as “The Expendables” and “The Last Exorcism,”…

To read the full piece, click here.

The Last Action Heroes, First Again

Craig / / 2010, Expendables

The photo above appears in the year-end double issue of Entertainment Weekly [Dec. 24/31, 2010] which takes a look at the Best & Worst of 2010.  The photo appears with a piece titled The Last Action Heroes, First Again.  Ah, but 2010 was a great year for Stallone fans. – Craig