Entertainment
Sylvester Stallone on art imitating life: ‘I know what it’s like to be lonely and heartbroken’-Larushka Ivan-Zadeh-Entertainment – Metro
The Rocky and Rambo star talks about heroes – and heartbreak.
‘Almost every movie I’ve done is dripping with redemption, it’s one of my favourite topics’ (Picture: Anthony Harvey/REX/Shutterstock)
Sylvester Stallone has invited the world’s press to his oddly minimalist kitchen, possibly unintentionally. This is an online press conference and the 76-year-
old may be yet to master the Zoom virtual background. Possibly it’s not even his own kitchen, given that the only edible thing on display is a freakishly neat shelf that’s full of olive oil.
Thankfully, Sly’s not here to rustle us up a Rocky-style raw-egg milkshake.
He’s here to promote his new sort-of-superhero movie, The Samaritan.
‘It’s not set in some super-fantastic universe,’ the jovial 1980s icon explains, flashing teeth that are blindingly white even by Hollywood standards. ‘It’s set right here in the streets. We tried to make the events and danger plausible. And that’s what I liked about it.’
In it he plays Joe Smith/The Samaritan, a retired superhero turned garbage man, who Stallone describes as a ‘modern-day Hercules’ because ‘he can’t fly, he can’t see through walls or whatever. Fire doesn’t come out of his mouth. He’s a unique kind of superhero in that you could be sitting right next to him on the bus and not ever know this is a fellow who can literally lift that bus up.’
Ironically, Stallone himself seems entirely capable of such a feat. Today, a black hoodie sheathes his bulging biceps, including the right one freshly tattooed with his beloved bullmastiff Butkus (covering up a previous tattoo of the face of Jennifer Flavin, his soon-to-be-ex-wife), but the veteran action star’s ‘guns’ are still very much loaded. Indeed, he even looks every inch the ageing superhero with his silver, Man-of-Steel quiff.
‘Some actors are unique in that they blend in,’ he shrugs. ‘They’re character actors. But the characters that I’ve been fortunate enough to be very successful at just don’t fit into normalcy. And I hate to say it but, in a way, we become a brand or a product. There’s an expectation from the audience that the reason they go to
a film is to see that.’
Sylvester Stallone plays garbage man and superhero Joe Smith (Picture: Amazon)
That Stallone brand success may limit his casting range but he’s been canny enough to play with it. ‘I thought, OK – people see you as Rambo, as Rocky, as Demolition Man, so why not take that baggage – good baggage, not too heavy – then add something new to the equation?’ he says.
That’s where The Samaritan comes in. Playing a grumpy old dustbin man (albeit a superhero one) allowed Stallone to flex some of that unique hangdog pathos that almost won him a late career Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 2016 Rocky sequel Creed. Prepping for this latest role drew him back to his early years supporting himself as a jobbing actor.
‘I have been everything from a doorman to a bartender to cutting fish heads to working in lions’ cages to being a movie usher where you’re the third one to wear the same tuxedo, so you have two other guys’ body odour in it, yet people are blaming it on you,’ he says. ‘You gotta eat a little humble pie to get through it all. But you learn. You really learn.’
He takes a slug from what looks like a mini bottle of water – or possibly just appears that way in his boxers’ hands. ‘For example, I enjoy acting more now than when I was 30 or 35, when you think you know everything,’ he says. ‘You know nothing.’
Stallone describes his latest hero as a modern-day Hercules (Picture: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)
Yet despite being in almost 80 movies, what powers this blockbuster survivor remains a constant. ‘Unfortunately, we only learn through our own stupid mistakes,’ he says.
‘Almost every movie I’ve done is dripping with redemption. It’s one of my favourite topics. And loneliness – everyone’s biggest fear on the planet is being alone, maybe dying alone. I don’t want to get morbid but you try and hit subjects that are relatable.
‘I know what it’s like to be lonely. I know what it’s like to be heartbroken.’
For Stallone, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, movies like The Samaritan are more than just movies – they are modern mythology.
‘The need for heroism, the father-like figure – every society needs these figures. People say it’s corny and that I am completely saccharine but, hey, call me a honey bear,’ he chuckles, ‘because that’s how I roll!’ As if we’d dare.
The Samaritan is out now on Prime Video.
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