You’re sitting with Sylvester Stallone and word that keeps coming to mind is so simple and grunt-y that it could be dialogue from one of his tough-guy action movies: Big. The man is barrel-chested big. His tanned, lined face is broad with a wide nose and dramatic eyebrows. His luxuriant suede jacket flaps when he shifts like roomy cow drapes (he just picked it up this morning from Ralph Lauren — the man, not the store, because that’s the level of famous Stallone is). His accompanying Rottweiler is massive and sweet and keeps coming back for more pets.
We’re doing this interview in Stallone’s “barn” at his ranch-house in Hidden Hills, California. The space looks like something from Architectural Digest and calling it a barn is like calling a 1966 Shelby Cobra an “old car” – technically accurate but also c’mon. For more than an hour, we discussed the Rocky and Rambo writer-actor-director’s career, which spans back to 1976 and across more than 50 films that have collectively grossed about $3 billion at the box office. According to IMDB, he’s one of only a couple actors to have ever starred in a movie that topped the weekend box office across five consecutive decades–
“Six,” interrupts Stallone, smiling and puffing on his fat cigar. “The shark counts.”
Ah, right – 2021’s The Suicide Squad, where Stallone voiced King Shark. And now, Stallone is back with his first TV series: Paramount+’s Tulsa King, the latest heartland action-drama from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan. Stallone plays a mafiosa released from prison who’s exiled to Oklahoma to rebuild his crime empire. There is also Stallone’s upcoming first-ever reality show which will chronicle his home life, like Keeping Up with the Kardashians (an idea he will defend shortly). Though Stallone is 76 years old (How did that happen? He isn’t sure, either), the man’s energy and focus do not appear to have waned.
Still, even Stallone admits it’s going to be a struggle to keep his box office streak rolling: “Seven [decades] is gonna be tough.
There’s a scene in the Tulsa King pilot where your character, Dwight, sleeps with a woman and then she asks how old he is. He says he’s 75 and she flees the room in horror. How did you feel reading that?
I kind of felt kind of how I played it. Like, I’m almost apologizing – I’m sorry. I didn’t know. It crept on me that fast. I’m the oldest guy on the show’s set. I could be some of these people’s grandfather. So [the scene] was quite flattering and also quite depressing.
Do you feel your age?
I feel very immature. I’ve always been averse to the quote “act your age. Or “age gracefully.” How do you age gracefully? There’s nothing graceful about you. The older I get the more I try to embrace my inner kid. The only way I really feel my age is because I’ve had so many injuries. I’ve had five back operations, three neck fusions, both shoulders done, knees, ankles, fist — you name it. It’s been more than 25 times that I’ve been put out. So that I feel. But after I warm up, I feel really good. I don’t run out of gas.
You’ve said before, “They say people don’t change, but they do.” How have you changed these last 10 years?
A tremendous amount. In the beginning of my career, I was celebrating the fact that I had made it to the point of obnoxiousness. “See, I told you!” That kind of thing. When I look back on my quotes, I think, “God, a little humility would’ve been nice.” I was just with Ralph Lauren and we were talking about our success, which we call “luck.” People ask, “What’s the formula?” And he goes,…
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