Sylvester Stallone has reacted to ‘I Play Rocky’, the upcoming biopic on the making of the 1976 classic ‘Rocky’. He admitted he first wondered whether his life story was being told too soon. The Hollywood icon was speaking about the same while promoting his new memoir ‘The Steps’.
Sylvester Stallone says, ‘Aren’t we jumping the gun?’
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sylvester Stallone was speaking at 92NY on Monday and said he was “kind of mixed” about the project because, as he put it, “I’m not dead yet. Aren’t we jumping the gun a little bit?”Directed by Peter Farrelly, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. It features Anthony Ippolito as a young Sylvester Stallone and shows how the actor developed ‘Rocky’ and pushed it through a turbulent production.
Impressed by Anthony Ippolito
Sylvester Stallone said his feelings changed after he saw Ippolito’s work. He recalled, “I actually thought it was me the first moment; there were a couple of angles. I go to my daughter and say, ‘That’s unbelievable.’”He stressed that he had no role in the making of the film. “I said, ‘I’ll just sit back and watch.’ I talked to the kid. I said, ‘If you want any questions, here I am,’ and that was it. But they did it all on their own,” Stallone said.He also joked about seeing his mannerisms on screen. He said, “I go, ‘Do I talk like that?’ Now I get it. Now I get it.”
A recut of ‘Rocky V’?
Sylvester Stallone spoke about his mixed feelings on watching the ‘Rocky’ films today. He said, “It’s like you look at a photo of yourself; everyone else likes it, but you go [growl].”He revealed that he is trying to get Amazon to let him recut the 1990 film ‘Rocky V’, which he described as “a thorn in my side.”“It bothers me to death because I know I took my foot off the gas,” he said. He added that he should have directed the film himself and “I should have been more aware of not trying to be cool to the audience.”If he gets the chance, Stallone joked, “It’s not going to be great. It’ll be acceptable.”
Hollywood then and now
Moderator Tracy Smith of CBS Sunday Morning asked whether Stallone could reach the top of Hollywood if he were starting out today. He said the industry has changed a great deal. “It’s a whole different ideology out there… I don’t think so. It’s a whole different mindset,” he said, as cited by The Hollywood Reporter.Stallone also said the cultural context around older films makes them hard to recreate, and he gave ‘The Godfather’ as an example. “For example, if you were going to make The Godfather today, try casting it. Impossible,” he said. He added, “The whole premise… it just came at a certain time, and that’s why it makes it so unique.”He said remakes can overlook the social and cultural circumstances in which the original films were made.
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