Sylvester Stallone

David Now, the Library of Congress in two thousand and six said that Rocky was a national treasure and put it in our National Cultural Heritage list of films. Was not a surprise to you that of all the films this is one of the most important films ever made. Yeah, that was a stunny revelation, because you know, when you start out, I have my attentions were to do like a little footage of what I did last summer kind of film. I never thought it would ever get to

this magnitude. So yeah, So in that movie you um conceived of Rocky and that you played Rocky. Was it hard to get that movie sold to people? Very hard? Because and I understand it, I was basically a classical nobody, and at that time there were a few men in Hollywood that actually considered himself rather Micheesmo, and they could

have filled the role in a sense. But I just knew this was the crossroad moment and if I didn't hang on, if I didn't go all in and the film was a success, I would have never forgiven myself a rest of my life. So so the idea for Rocky, where did you come up with that idea? Well, you know, there's a big misconception about that. Everyone thinks is oh, I was watching Chuck Webner fight Mohammed Ali knocked him down.

That was the fabricated type story. Rocky Marciano, who was basically my size, had a computer fight with Muhammad Ali when he was suspended in the the vent and the light bulb went off. I said, this is kind of interesting, and that would But then again, no one in Hollywood knew who Rocky Marcia. It was so in nineteen seventy five, the truck what it was more contemporary, So I used that at the reference of the I guess the bay Oone Bleader or the neighborhood loser going to distance with

the champions. So does it surprise you, disappoint you, or make you feel good that people actually think Rocky is your life story and that you actually a boxer in life. Be fuddles really does, because people think you really were

a boxer and this was your life story. I know, I know they actually thought, oh, they found some fellow who actually was a pug at one time, but and that was that was actually Probably to this day a lot of people think that I'm a little short on the gray matter and number of Rocky esque character reality. So to go back, you grew up Where were you born? I was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York, and then you grew up to some extent in Silver Spring, Marya.

The grandparents lived in Washington, d C. Then they sort of migrated to Bethezida, then Silver Springs. Okay, and your parents, what did your parents do? Well? My father was kind of a real tough guy, but he focused on hair. The FAA Stones and the family were very into cosmetology, and my mother was too, and then she was the first one to open up a woman's gym in New York called, i mean Washington called Barbella's, which I thought, great name for her daughter, Barbella. So were you a

great athlete when you were young and strong? And I was completely manufactured. I wasn't a physical specimen at all. I just had an epiphany when I went to see Steve Reeves and Hercules and Hercules unchained. My head exploded. I finally found that's the role model. So when you told your parents what you want to do is be an actor, that they say, get a real job or something like that, Well that's the line in Rocky because you know you weren't boring much of a brase, they

better start using your body. Uh. They didn't put much uh faith in that that particular occupational choice. So I just said, look, it's one of those things where they said, we'll have something to fall back on. I go, what, literally what? I I'm not good at anything other than day dreaming and imagining. I'm not pragmatic at all. I'm

totally abstract. And they took me to I don't know if I ever totally wanted at sixteen, and after being expelled from eleven schools at sixteen, they took me to the Drexel Institute of Technology, and they ran am a battery of tests and any conclusion, and I still have it. They said, Sylvester seems to be deficient and this in deficient, and that we recommend him to be an electricians assistant or a tabsorder, whatever that is. And I keep that as a reminder. So you wrote the script called Rocky,

but before that you were an actor? Is that right? But not exactly? A very successfuack? I mean, so how did you support yourself in those early days? Well, I cleaned lions cages. I cut fish heads. That was really good, with sturgeon in the Delhi. I was kind of a night watchman in this building. I just did a multitude of things, delivery boy, you name it. But primarily I did those things. And after four years of college that I took these jobs so I would have my days

free so I could quote make the rounds. But you were making the rounds as an actor, but people weren't saying, we really want you so much. But you were writing at night or what were you doing? What happened? I said, my god, I'm not gonna make it this this is now. I'm starting to get like around twenty six, so I got a job as an usher, and people said, why it's thirty nine dollars a week. Who could turn that down? But more important, I could watch films all day long,

and I started to dissect him. At night. It had a little one room thing and Sutton Niece, a little kind of a transient hotel, and I would take a little inexpensive tape recorder, record the soundtrack and the dialogue and go home and try to replace the dialogue. No, it's like a game. And after a while I started picking up a little tempo and a little rhythm. And the first five screenplays everywhere pretty horrendous. You know, it's

like what I did last summer, type screenplays. Until finally I came to the New York Library and I went down in the basement and they showed me parchments, writings of Emberson, Dickinson, Dickenson, but egg around Poe. And that's when the light went off and went po. Talk about a misunderstood artist way ahead of his time, the literary van go, And that's what triggered. That's what changed everything. And how long it take to actually right rocky thing

the days, that's all. This is not a finished product, but as you know, you're right it, but you had the format. You had had a right long so a producer or Mr Winkler. Right. So you give them the scripts and they say, yes, we'll buy it, provided that you are the writer not the actor. Totally absolutely, and you said no. I say, guys, it's not for sale. It's just not for sale. And at that time I was broke. When I say broke, I mean broke. So finally they said, okay, but I heard that they gave

you like a fifteen day trial period. They did, they did. They had all kinds of morality closes. Basically, if you like spin on the ground, we can replace you. And the first thing we did was me shaking down the fellow along the docks. You know, you know, come on, give me a cookie and cold the long shot money. You know, if you want to dance, you gotta pay the band kind of a thing. And something happened. They saw, Wow, this actually might work. So when the Academy Award nominations

come out, you get ten Academy Award nominations. You're nominated for Best Scriptwriter and Best Actor. And it only happened twice before Orson Welles and Charlie Chapman, who and also the you know, the movie is nominated for Best Picture. So were you all of a sudden amazed and astounded? And what did all of a sudden your high school friends call you up and say, I really knew you were great? Can you give me a job? Everyone, all the backs levelers were there, and yeah, it was mystifying.

And also it was it emboldened me in a negative way too, because I said, I told you you know what said of that kind of thing, see, and I think I swung the peddle and way too far to the obnoxious. Do you expect to win the account? Not at all, because actually every film back then was kind

of a statement film. I mean all the President's Men, Network and Going and Bound for Glory, and then there's Rocky, which is no statement really, it's just about a man wanting to have a little bit of respect and love. So you get the Academy Award Picture, and then there's your Your life changes all of a sudden, you're famous and you're extremely wealthy. You made a lot of money because you were the owner of all of the film. No, I I don't know a percentage, there was some I

think it'll devious. Behind the scenes macinations there where. When you're naive, you you're going to get burnt. So I have no ownership. And George Lucas owned Star Wars everything. He's smart man, and you own nothing. Brian, I'm an employee. Okay, but you did, Okay, I did. So most actors are thrilled if they have one um part like Rocky in their whole career. You had another one Rambo. Now Rambo was not something you created, is that right? No, Rambo

was a novel by David Morrell and eleven. I was the eleventh choice everyone, and it was like, I don't know who was next after me because they gone through every one and the past, past, past, past, including three different directors. So this had become sort of a a pariah of sorts. The first time when you go in there, Rambo was in the original screenp It was horrible. He was a psychopath. He killed children, he killed Fisherman, this

and that. So I said, if I'm going to get involved with this, I see the character going on beyond this and this is what do you want to do? I said, I want to rewrite the screenplay and I want him to go right to the edge of violence, right to the point where he's being pushed, but he pulls back because, similar to James Dean and East Dividen, he wanted to be accepted back into the family of man. So if Rambo got in a fight with Rocky, who would win? Rambo not even a fight unless it's in

the ring. First of all, Rambo is a killer for real. He's almost a psychopath when he when it's which flips Rocky, it's a guy you know, he has mercy. The other one has no mercy. So when you do these movies, let's say Rocky, you actually are performing in the fighting scenes and and isn't that hard because you're not a professional boxer, So how did you actually learn how to do that and not get hurt? David? The hard part

is the choreography. It's trial and error because it's one thing they just film a regular fight, but to create dramatic beats in looks and whatever, it takes hours, months of trial and error. So it ends up being written down like notes left right, switch moved the head fate And I thought, if I don't do this myself, it's never going to be done right. But in the end, when you're boxing in the movie, Rocky and the Rocky movies. Somebody is hitting you all the time, And did anybody

really hurt you a lot? Oh? Yeah, I mean I have a a lot of photos. Will you actually see distortion? How many times have you been injured in doing movies? Do you had like seventies some stunt injuries? Oh? I'd probably say more than they wanted in the world I've had. Why do your own stunts? Why don't you get a I don't know, it's it's just something. It's like the Call of the Wild Jack London novel. I just get

up there and I can do this. See, there's a difference between stunts and when you hook yourself up to for example, you're jumped me from train to train to train and this and that, and that's just a certain kind of actor doing those sorts of James bonding and stunts. Then there's a time that you become very very physical and you engage with other people and you do it yourself completely, no doubles. That's going to lead to a lot of injuries. And so I chose more of the

confrontational kind of stunts. Um, you know, jumping off a waterfall, fire stunts. I mean of course, I would have some very good doubles, like at the time, like Mark Allisan during Diamonds farms Worth, But the majority of them you're doing yourself and they come with a lot of injuries. So you have a successful Rocky series and you have

a successful Rambo series. But after all these successes, at some point people say to you, well, maybe you're too old to play these parts, and all of a sudden, your agent says, maybe we can't help you as much, and you're seen as a washed up actor by some How did that feel after you're at the top of the mountain, all of a sudden, all the people tell you how great you were, Now they're telling you they can't help you. Was that a real disappointment? It was?

Then again, it's that fourth cross road. Okay, do I listen to them or how do you feel? How do you do you feel? Still competitive? Is there? As Rocky would say, stuff in the basement, Yeah, but I just have to do an age appropriate. That's when I came up with the expendables. Well, you can't do it alone, but I'll take together. I'll take a group of actors that are not doing so well, and you put it all together. And I got the idea when I took

my wife to a rock and roll revival. You have like twenty groups, and each one was worse the next, but together it was an interesting ticket, like, oh, look at this, and I thought, why don't I do the same. I take all these guys who perhaps on their own were struggling, including myself, put him together and that I want to see how this turns out. This is kind of interesting. Okay, So you have the success of the Rocky movies, and then you have a sequel, the Creed movies.

Right and by the way, on Creed, there's another Creed movie coming out, I believe. So, yes, well you would know. And but I'm told that you're not gonna reprise your role as Rocky. It's Rocky ever gonna reappear on the screen. Uh boy, you're really mm hmm. There is a possibility. I've written half a screenplay because this is a story where obviously his days in the ring or long gone, where he now tries to save his neighborhood or he thinks he can, because that area right now in Philadelphia

is just literally fentinal. It's terrible, and he involves himself and he realized you can't save the neighborhood. You're you know, Rocky in the simple mind, so you start to get He starts to focus on a couple of these characters, and it becomes like the New Adrian but with all the problems of today. And then there's a fellow that comes in from Mexico, and the Rocky takes him in under his wing, and before you know it, it's the Rocky and Adrian and he's sort of the mentoring this,

this horrible existence until it becomes tolerable. So what's more pleasurable? Writing? Acting, producing, directing? Which of those do you like the most? Directing is fantastic, but you lose your life. It's seven days a week. You wake up in the middle of the night jotting notes. Writing is a complete horror, complete horror. Have you ever seen a truly well, I mean, fresh faced writer like

Edgar Allen Powell? Yeah, exactly My point. Just Haggard gone dead at thirty nine, right is rough and I have tremendous It's almost like being a composer. Every word, as you know, is a note. It's not just typing. Anyone can type, anyone can talk into the recorder, but they actually get the fluidity and the essence of dialogue. It's beautiful, but it's hard. So if you were starting today in Hollywood and you're giving advice to a young actor, writer, producer,

what would you say. Would you say forget motion picture theaters and just go into streaming or what that would pretty much say that, Yeah, I think if you could do a couple of indies to learn your chops of sorts. But the day of the kind of entrepreneurial of grabbing life by the seat of the parents, going when your gut instinct is over. For example, that when Rocky Rockey would never be made today, this this never would have happened.

It's over. The majority of The Godfather wouldn't be made today. So today you think the motion picture business is changing, such a streaming is taking over, and you think the motion picture industry as you knew it it will thrive. Well, I I don't think it's going to ever have the golden era that has had by far, because the the audience, the demographic is different. They're now watching films on an iPhone.

So it's not as though the theater has become this habitual shrine to what to come in attractions and streaming. This is where you actually, I'm gonna do one very very soon called The Tulsa King or The King of Tulsa. And it just allows you to breathe the character, to breathe out to take ten weeks, which is beautiful. Is that film? You have maybe nine minutes a hundred and ten minutes and it's all a crap shoot in no words. With films, you have a dreams mind film three million dollars,

you have one opening weekend. So when you do that particular picture, Um, are you writing any of it? Are you just acting in it? This one is being written by Taylor Sheridan and of course, uh, Terry Terrence Winter and I am kind of like the you know them, the higher Gun. But you do, you do put your input. You try to, as you say, it's a lot easier to remember your own dialogue than someone else's, so you try to construct the sentence so it's easier to reach. So, um,

do you have three daughters. With those three daughters, would you recommend they go into the motion picture business? Uh, if they're hyphen it's if they're gonna go in just solely as Oh I am an actress. Rough rough the day of the thirty year career, I think along gone, I've been really fortunate, and I have something happened that I think the mag which I'm very proud of. I'm the only person I've ever had a number one film

with six different decades, which is remarkable. So as you look back on your career, what would you say you're most proud of. I was most proud of Rocky Balboa the sixth one, because that was done with such skepticism. And I was at my career low because it's all peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys in any career, any sport, anything, and I was in some serious valley of the unknown, and I came up this idea at years old to play Rocky a box there and this and that, and

they said, this is absurd. So if Rocky had not worked and it had been a flop, the first one, the first one, I've been a flop, And uh, what would you have done with your career? Where do you think you would have wound up? I've already something in the question in the world. Yeah, because you're very interested in horses, Yeah, I'm very I'm very I'm very good on horses. Isn't that kind of dangerous? It's very dangerous, but it's something I grew up with. Any regrets in

your career, Yeah, there's tons of regrets. There's always regrets, and it's frustrating because obviously you can't do anything about it. But there's certain roles you turned down. The politics weren't right, and we get perhaps not being as adamant about surrounding yourself with like minded people. And because you know, you're dealing with very, very fragile egos and everyone is usually running on a lot of fear. That's the fuel. And you've got to like really trust your own instincts because

other people are looking out for there. They're part of it. The directors looking out for his image, the writers looking guarding the words, the actors look at hey do I have more lines than that gouy next to me. It's everyone has a for motive for what they do. So do you have a bucket lists? Anything you haven't done that you really want to do? I was thinking about the nutcracker sweet, but my ankles are not is what they were, So that's not happening. So today when you

go to a restaurant or you go out anywhere. Did people come up to you all the time for pictures autographs and people come up and say, I want to arm wrestle you or something like that. They do all the time, all the time, and usually with an arm wrestler I go, having done in film about it. You don't know who's the killer in the room. Some fellow will come with you with pipe stem arms and he's

a savant and arm wrestling, so you never know. You and I were having dinner not too long ago, and a little boy came up, that's right, and he uh, he wanted to arm wrestle you, and uh, your arm wrestling man, You'll let him win, of course, because what if he did win? This way, at least I can fake it. Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple or wherever you listen in s