Sylvester Stallone on Arnold Schwarzenegger, his family reality show and his growing ‘jacuzzi list’
In a career spanning more than five decades, Sylvester Stallone has taken on his first scripted TV role with new show Tulsa King.
And the star’s told Sky News he definitely found it different to making movies, admitting it was hard work at times.
“I’ve been around for centuries, actually, Julius Caesar was my first director,” Stallone joked.
Stallone (R) and Domenick Lombardozzi in Tulsa King. Pic: Brian Douglas/Paramount+
“No, I mean a long, long time – so can you handle probably over the season 400 pages of dialogue? No cue cards to do it? And that’s quite a challenge but I also find it to be invigorating too, when you can pull it off.
“That’s the hardest thing is there’s no life, you know what I mean? I now have sympathy for actors that work on streaming – I bought a motor home, I don’t think I’ve seen it yet!”
The 76-year-old had already been working for years when he rose to prominence playing Rocky Balboa in the 1976 boxing film of the same name, kicking off a franchise that is still around now with Creed 3 due out in March next year.
He says the secret of his longevity in the business is his attitude – which also led to his public rivalry-turned-friendship with fellow action star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“I don’t know if it’s a kind of arrogance towards life in general and ‘this can’t be it, there’s always got to be something else around the corner’, and I just don’t like the word no,” Stallone said.
“I would say that I’m just, I’m built for challenge, and whenever someone goes like, ‘Hey, I’m the hardest working actor’, I go, ‘no, you’re not’ – that kind of thing.
“Like with Arnold, I literally manifested our antagonism – I liked it, and he liked it because it pushed him too, so we made ourselves like two great teams [who] hated each other, but you played better when you have that kind of [butts his hands together], it just taps into something.
“But I think the main motivation is getting out of the house – with three daughters and three female dogs I’m a dead duck.”
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The actor’s family are also motivating his next TV project – a reality show.
Stallone says it’s something he wanted to do for posterity.
“I’m doing a reality show because my life is bizarre,” he revealed.
“I have a wife and the dogs and the kids, and I think you know what? Let me do that, too. It’s kind of a [trip down] memory lane.
“You know you want to show them home movies? So the kids remember? I’d like to do something like that – it’s not about the money, I just want to do that for memory.”
After conquering Hollywood, and now turning his attention to TV, you may think Stallone might next be ready to consider retirement.
But instead, he says there’s still plenty more on his bucket list.
“Well, it’s actually a bathtub list, it’s getting bigger, it’s not even a bucket – that’s well, well gone.
“Yeah, we’re into this, like, jacuzzi list.”
In Tulsa King, his character is a mafia man sent to Tulsa, not somewhere usually associated with mob crime.
It’s a typical fish-out-of-water story, but while his character may be out of his comfort zone, it seems as long as Stallone is working, he’s very much in his.
Tulsa King launches on Paramount+ on Monday.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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