Sly’s in Great Company

Craig / / 2009, Celebs

AMCtv.com ran a piece on aging action stars saying, “hanging around at the top of your game until your 50s, 60s or even 70s isn’t uncommon”.  The article praises Charles Bronson, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Here’s what they had to say about Sly:

Sly’s been kicking ass since the ’70s and even made an ill-fated attempt at dramatic acting. In 1997, he packed on the pounds to play a small-town cop dealing with corruption in Cop-Land. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis, but the movie didn’t live up to Sly’s blockbuster standards and Sly went into a nearly decade long slump where his biggest hit was the middling Spy Kids (2001). Luckily, he dove into his golden years wiser and just as strong (literally) and got back to his action roots. With Rocky Balboa (2006) and Rambo (2008), Stallone clearly realized that even as an older gentleman, he’s at his best jacked and beating down young bucks.
Born: 1946
Current Status: Still going strong. Very, very strong.
Senior Fact: We all know Stallone ended the Cold War in Rocky IV (1985), but when Stallone was born, the Cold War had yet to begin.

You can read the full piece here.

Francesco’s Zombie Jack Carter

Craig / / 2009, Craig's Sly Art

Francesco Francavilla is a talented artist.  I visit his art blog and pulp blog regularly.

Here’s Francesco’s take on Freddy from “Cop Land.” The sketch was free since I purchased Francesco’s Chiaroscuro sketchbook.   Chiaroscuro is 70 pages full of Francesco’s black and white work.  It features everything from quick sketches to more detailed work of characters like Hellboy, Batman, Kong, Marv, and so many others.  It arrives securely packaged [which is a major plus knowing my mail carrier] and the last page contains the quick sketch.

Francesco has another sketchbook available.  Schermoscuro is a classic horror movie guide in artbook form.  Francesco offers the same deal on it.  How could I pass up such a bargain?  I couldn’t.  I love that Francesco tied my drawing to the sketchbook’s theme by making Jack Carter a zombie.

Andrew Charipar’s Cobra

Craig / / 2009, Cobra, Craig's Sly Art

Here’s Andrew Charipar’s take on Stallone as “Cobra” and a humorous story that goes with it.  I got this sketch from Andrew at the 2009 FX con.  Although I regularly visit Andrew’s blog, I’d never met him.  A few weeks before FX, Andrew posted that he’d take requests for sketches to have ready for anyone attending the show.  I put in for the Stallone character of his choice.  A few days later, Andrew posted the Stallone piece you see here and said I could pick it up at FX.

The weekend of the show arrived and I found Andrew’s table.  He had art available for sale, his sketchbook, and comics spread out.  A small group of folks were around his table ordering or picking up sketches.   I waited my turn, stepped up and said, “Hi.  I think you have a Cobra for me.”  A puzzled look crossed Andrew’s face and he replied, “I don’t think so.”  Now I was the one looking confused.  Andrew asked, “Are you sure you requested a Cobra from me?”

Now I know that he’s drawn the piece — I’ve seen it on his website, but I can tell by the look on his face that he has no idea why I would think that he’s drawn me a Cobra sketch.  I go on, “My name is Craig Zablo.  I requested the sketch through your website and you decided to do Stallone as Cobra.”  It’s like a light went on and Andrew replied, “Oh, a Stallone Cobra!  My buddy and I were just talking about GI Joe and we thought you were referring to ‘that’ Cobra.”  Andrew then proceeded to pull out the piece you see above.

Andrew’s a cool guy with very reasonable prices for his sketchbook and originals.  Check out his blog and give him some props.

Dolph Talks A Lot of “Expendables”

Craig / / 2009, Celebs, Expendables

On May 28th, Dolph Lundgren sat down with IGN.com for an exclusive interview.  Dolph talked about directing, “Direct Contact”, the “Universal Soldier” sequel and more.  Here’s some of what he had to say about “The Expendables”:

“It’s the biggest movie I’ve worked on. And I realized the other day that I think it’s the biggest movie that Sly’s worked on, too. I don’t think there’s anybody who’s made more big action movies than he has. He has a lot of experience and he’s great to work with as a director because he knows.”

“There’s one scene toward the end of the film where everybody’s there – Mickey Rourke and Stallone and Jet Li and Jason Statham and Randy Couture and Eric Roberts. You see all those chairs lined up, like in those old pictures at MGM where they’d line up all the stars, and I’m just pleased and honored to be one of the group.”

You can read the whole piece here.

Dolph also spoke with MovieWeb.com and when the talk turned to “The Expendables”, he had this to say:

“…it’s a pleasure working with Stallone again. He’s a very experienced guy. You know, I direct myself, so I appreciate his advice because I can pass it on. Few people have more experience than him, a lead in a big action movie. I mean, how many big movies has he done in his career? Maybe 30? Big studio pictures? That was fun, so now that I get to suck up his advice and it’s really fun for me. It’s a pleasure.”

“It’s a really good character for me too. I’m the outcast-of-the-family sort of thing. I go back and forth between the good family and the bad guys, so there’s a lot of great stuff and certainly a lot of action… I get to play both good and bad. It’s a little crazy. He’s a guy with a heart, and Stallone is no friend of his in the movie. He was my old buddy and we end up parting ways, it gets ugly and there’s sort of a surprise. You’ll see.”

To read the full MovieWeb.com interview, click here.

Dolph also spoke about “The Expendables” to JoBlo.com. Here’s a taste:

“Stallone wanted to do a kind of DIRTY DOZEN type of picture with a bunch of action guys. So he came up with the idea about this group of mercenaries, they all have problems of various sorts. And Stallone is the leader who put it together… I loved the script…”

“You know what I like about it is there was a real feeling of real people and it’s not superheroes and there is nobody flying though buildings. Nobody is out to save the world. You know, it’s quite down to earth.”

“Stallone writes those things very, very well… I think THE EXPENDABLES is one of his better scripts. It’s funny and it’s touching and it’s going to be cool.”

You can read the full JoBlo interview right here.