Sly Guests on AMC’s “Shootout”

Sylvester Stallone Guest Stars on AMC’s ‘Sunday Morning ShootOut’ on December 7 at 11 AM

for Sun. (Dec. 7) –(BUSINESS WIRE)–

AMC‘s weekly half-hour series, “Sunday Morning ShootOut,” hosted by Peter Guber and Peter Bart, brings the smarts and spin of Sunday morning political shows to the world of entertainment.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST: Actor, writer and director Sylvester Stallone. Since achieving worldwide fame with Rocky, which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976, Stallone has acted and co-written such successful films as First BloodRambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III. His acting credits include Get CarterDrivenDemolition Man and Copland, which garnered him international critical and audience acclaim. Most recently, Stallone has completed filming Avenging Angelo, co-starring Madeline Stowe.

DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1) The producers of Rocky offered you $150,000 to cast Ryan O’Neal in the title role. What made you turn it down? 2) Why did you agree to take a major pay cut for the film Copland? 3) Lost
Souls Seeking Redemption, Rocky VI
 — is this a parallel to your own life and life experiences? 4) Your upcoming Rampart Scandal delves into the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. What made you choose this piece and how did it come about?

WHEN: The episode will air on Sunday, December 7 at 11 am ET/PT on the AMC cable network. The episode can also be viewed at http://movies.yahoo.com, beginning at 12 Noon (PT).

BACKGROUND“Sunday Morning ShootOut” is a new, half-hour weekly series on AMC hosted by entertainment industry veterans, Peter Guber and Peter BartGuber is the chairman of Mandalay Pictures, former CEO of Sony Pictures, the producer of dozens of Hollywood‘s most successful movies including Midnight Express, Batman, Rainman, Basic InstinctBart is editor-in-chief of Variety, and former Hollywood reporter for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In his career as an executive at Paramount Pictures and as president of LorimarBart played a major role creating classics like The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Like other Sunday morning debate shows, the sparks fly here as prominent producers, directors, writers and stars join the hosts to debate all sides of the week’s biggest stories in the world of movies and entertainment. The experts provide informed and spirited perspectives on the winners and losers at the box-office, the rising and falling fortunes of the stars and studios themselves and the emerging trends that are forever reshaping the business of entertainment.


The pic above comes from an ad in Entertainment Weekly and the text from Business Wire– Craig Zablo

Sly Not in “Spawn 2”


On Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Ain’t It Cool News posted an item in which Michael Jai White, star of the original “Spawn” movie said the sequel is on track and although “…Martin Sheen [the bad guy in the original] isn’t in it this time, the villain might be a guy called Brimstone…” and last he heard, “Sly Stallone was the man for the job.” Click [HERE] for the full report.

On December 1, 2003  IGN FilmForce checked in with Spawn 2 producer Don Murphy who shot down the report: “There is zero truth to any of this story which Harry Knowles,[ AICN‘s webmaster] could have found out from me in one email if he cared.” Spawn 2 remains in development with a script by Han Rodionoff (Man-Thing).

And that’s that about that. – Craig Zablo

Sly in “Spawn” Sequel?

On Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Ain’t It Cool News posted an item in which Michael Jai White, the star of the original “Spawn” movie said that the sequel is on track and that although “…Martin Sheen [the bad guy in the original] isn’t in it this time, the villain might be a guy called Brimstone…” and the last he heard, “Sly Stallone was the man for the job.” Click [HERE] for the full report.


I can think of a lot of other roles I’d rather see Sly take on… and it’s just speculation for now.
Thanks to Jamie Eade for the tip. – Craig Zablo

Sly Mentioned in Drudge Report


On November 19, 2003 The Drudge Report posted that Sly was “questioned by the FBI in connection with a case in which his phone may have been tapped by disgraced celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano.”

Pellicano, under grand jury investigation for alleged illegal wiretapping, was hired by attorney Burt Fields who represented Sly‘s former business manager Kenneth Starr in case where he had been sued by Sly for $17.3 million. That case was settled in January.  Fields “has vehemently denied that he had any knowledge of Pellicano‘s alleged wiretaps.”

Sly was simply questioned for any knowledge that he might have and was in no way under investigation. – Craig Zablo