Category: Sly Fan
Coverage of the Hope, First Blood Anniversary Celebration
I recently received the following e-mail from SZoner, Curtis. Curtis was at the recent celebration of the 30th anniversary of the filming of First Blood. Here’s what Curtis had to say…
- Hello Craig,
- How’s everything? As you probably already know from other S-Zoners who were there, the First Blood event in Hope took place over the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend at the beginning of October. At the 25th anniversary, I was the only one taking video…this time, the organizers were making their own documentary, there was a team of professional documentary makers from Seattle (I think) up to record the events, and Herve from France was doing plenty of filming too (with some very impressive gear). I felt a bit embarrassed with my puny little camera!
- My wife Silmara is originally from Brazil, so a Brazilian entertainment website, Omelete, commissioned some photos, video and an article about the anniversary from us. The article is in Portuguese, but you’ll be able to enjoy the video – just three minutes of highlights from the weekend.You can check it out here.
- Feel free to post the link on your site if you think it’ll be of interest to other Stallone/Rambo fans.It was a good weekend – the weather was lovely – in fact, Hope was the warmest place in Canada that weekend! – but some hardcore fans were disappointed the town wasn’t as dark and gloomy as it was in the movie. However, the following week, they’ll be pleased to know, was indeed cold and rainy – the landscape became, as Stallone describes it in his First Blood DVD commentary, “melancholy,” allowing Rambo-esque feelings of being lethal to come through.
- That’s all for now – thanks and enjoy your Sunday,
- – Curtis
Thanks for the update, Curtis. The video was well done. Eagle-eyed SZoners will spot SZoner, Raven in the video! – Craig
Fan’s Rocky Tat
Moreno’s “Rambo: Last Stand”
SZoner, Gerardo Moreno is back with his version of how a new Rambo movie poster could look. I’ve always enjoyed Gerardo’s Stallone art, but this may be his best piece ever. To see more of his art, click here.
Curtis Emde’s “Bridge to Hope”
Several years ago SZoner, Curtis Emde sent me a short video that he made about his trip to Hope, British Columbia. Curtis is a huge Rambo/Stallone fan and the video was a thank you for posting the information about a 25th Anniversary Celebration of First Blood that was being held in Hope.
Recently Curtis returned to Hope, along with Rambo/Stallone fans from around the world, to celebrate the last days of the “Rambo Bridge.” Curtis brought along his video camera and has pulled together a very well made fan film called The Bridge to Hope and you can see it here for free. Well done, Curtis!
Edinho Maga: Sly from First Blood
Earlier this week I received an e-mail from SZoner, Edinho Maga, who wanted to share his latest sculpture with us. It’s a life-size bust of Sly from First Blood. Like all of Edhino’s art, it’s too cool.
Fan-Made Trailer for Expendables 2 Gets Attention
Sly, Mr. T and Papa Stas
The photo above is a StalloneZone exclusive vintage shot of Sly, Mr. T and our own Papa Stas aka BaseballStas. Stas’ daughter came across the photo and thought that we’d get a kick out of it. She was right! – Craig
SZ Exclusive: An Evening with Sly Stallone
Recently Sly headlined an event called “An Evening with Sly Stallone” which raised $100,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association. StalloneZoner, Hisham aka SlyStalloneFan was there and provided this report and photos.
Yo, Craig!
StalloneZoner, SlyStalloneFan here. I just got home yesterday after three amazing nights in Canada to see my idol Sylvester Stallone. The first time I heard about Sly going to Canada was back in October. At that time, I wasn’t sure if it would be possible for me to attend these events. But I know my personality very well and I would feel miserable, if I missed an opportunity to see my favorite actor and hero in person. So I had to get to work to develop a plan. Thankfully as time got closer to these events, everything came together wonderfully.
I flew from Utah to Chicago, Chicago to Buffalo and then drove from Buffalo to Canada. The events were in both Hamilton and Niagara Falls, Ontario. As I approached the US/Canadian boarder, I experienced some problems.
I got to the check point and had all my documents ready. They asked where I arrived from and why are I was visiting. I explained that there was a Sylvester Stallone event that I was going to attend. The officer was surprised by the answer. He asked, “You flew in all the way from Utah to Canada to see Sylvester Stallone?” I explained how big a Stallone fan I am and that attending the events meant a lot to me. Yet he kept asking more questions. “How much was the ticket?” “What would Stallone talk about?” Then he told me to park my car on the side and to step out of the car. They kept asking more and more questions. Then another officer approached asking even more Stallone questions.
Thankfully, I had a picture of me with Sly, that I had enlarged hoping to get Sly to autograph it. The officer saw the photo in my car and came to me saying, “Boy, you really are a big fan!” So, finally they let me go.
The first event was was in Hamilton Ontario. While I was driving, I passed by a big digital billboard with Sly on it with information on the upcoming event for the Canadian Diabetes Association. There was so much great memorabilia for many of Stallone’s movies on display and for people to place bids on. I personally got interviewed that night by a crew from a local TV station.
The next two events were at the Falls View Hotel & Casino in Niagara Falls. I arrived early to the hotel. I am talking way early due to the level of excitement that I had. There were TV screens with Sly’s picture. There were also a couple of posters of Sly.
As I was walking around the hotel, I got approached about 3 different times. I didn’t know these people, but they all approached me saying, “Aren’t you that big Stallone fan? I was very surprised and was curious to how they knew that. A couple said that they saw me on TV. It was the short interview I had from the first event. According to the couple, they said it was playing over and over on TV to the point where they actually remembered exactly what I said during the interview. Another person approached me saying he saw my pic on a Stallone website and we all know which site that is.
The cool thing that night was that I got to quickly talk to Sly’s producer and long time friend, Kevin King. Even though it was short, I made it clear that I came all the way just to show my appreciation for Sly and he was happy about that.
All three events started with a tribute video for Sly. Sly talked about his early days, his career, injuries on set, etc.. Here are some of the highlights..
- According to Sly, the movie he is by far most proud of is Rocky Balboa.
- Sly mentioned being at a restaurant in Mexico on New Years Eve, and seeing people he had worked with in the past who basically thought his career was over. He said he saw his former agent, who fired Sly when his career slowed down. He saw one of the producers for the Rocky movies, who didn’t really seem to care that Sly had interest in one more Rocky. He mentioned that as he was sitting at the table, Joe Roth from Revolution studio noticed that Sly was sitting there and Roth was the only one who came to say, “Hi.” Joe Roth was curious to see what was new with Sly and it was Jennifer, Sly’s wife, who mentioned that Sly has finished a script for a new and final Rocky movie. He went on to thank Joe Roth for that.
- According to Sly, Rocky is done, but Rambo may come back and that he loves the Rambo character and joked around how he would love to make five more Rambo films.
- Sly mentioned The Expendables II and how amazing it will be and that the fight with Jean Claude Van Damme will be absolutely great.
- I yelled out while Sly was mentioning his upcoming projects and asked about THE TOMB. He looked at me and replied saying “Yes, The Tomb with Arnold will start this April“.
- Sly said First Blood was a cursed project and that he was the eleventh actor chosen.
- Sly mentioned that attending the Wepner/ Ali fight gave him an idea but it was Rocky Marciano that he was thinking of while writing Rocky. He stated that Wepner gets way too much credit and that it’s not really him who was behind Rocky.
- Sly remember his father and how tough he was. He said “he was Rambo to me”.
- Sly’s upcoming releases and projects are: THE EXPENDABLES II, BULLET TO THE HEAD, The Tomb and also a totally new project that I forgot the name for.
I would like to say that being part of these events, meant the wold to me. I couldn’t be any happier. It was a pleasure, as always, to see my idol Sly Stallone in person. There is no other person, that I would do what I had to do just to see in person and to show my appreciation. And if another opportunity comes, I WOULD DO IT AGAIN.
Thank you Craig. hope you enjoyed the report and hope Stallone fans around the world enjoy it as well.
Thank you, Sly for a magnificent series of events. You will always have my support. WE LOVE YA, ROCK…..
Yours Truly,
Hisham…
+++++
Thanks to Hisham for another great report! – Craig
Super Fan’s Rocky Cake
Roberto Smilovitch recently turned 40 and since he’s a super Rocky / Stallone fan, his wife made him a cake suited for the occasion! Happy belated birthday to Roberto!
