On the sidelines of the presentation at Toronto’s TIFF of the documentary “Sly”, which spans 50 years of his career, the actor spoke of its great longevity. “A luxury” for him, in a society and a world of cinema which are now moving very quickly.
Despite an inevitably up-and-down career, the career of Sylvester Stallone, 77 years old, commands respect. He who, however, got off to a bad start from birth, when his face was damaged by forceps. A facial nerve was injured, his mouth twisted forever. His tongue, half paralyzed. Stallone will keep a pronunciation defect all his life, which will also become his trademark.
Multiplying odd jobs (hairdresser, maintenance man in a zoo, usher in a cinema) and small roles (including an erotic film, The Italian Stallion, and a Woody Allen, Bananas), he refused a golden bridge to sell his Rocky script to Hollywood and will accept minimum wage to sell AND star in his script. The rest is history.
He offered the public at least two iconic characters who have entered the cinematic memory of spectators around the world: Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. Whatever one may think of his filmography, he remains in the public eye an icon of the Hollywood Box Office; absolute incarnation also of the Action Hero of the 80s alongside his rival at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“The ’80s were a very interesting time because the real Action Guy wasn’t really formed yet” said Stallone. “Until this time, the action was mostly limited to a car chase like Bullitt Or French Connection“.
If Sly gently jokes about arthritis problems when mentioning Rambo 6, he obviously didn’t hesitate to bring out the big guns to play with his mercenary friends in Expendables 4, which comes out next October.
“I am blown away by the longevity of my career” said the actor in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canadaat the end of the presentation at the Toronto festival of the documentary Sly, which spans 50 years of career. “You never know if you will last, how long you can wait. Society changes and evolves, and so does the way of selling films. It’s faster than before. Longevity becomes a luxury in this context.”
He adds : “I consider myself the last of the dinosaurs in a way. And I’m very proud of that. I have to think about that. It’s incredible… I mean, it’s been almost 50 years of career. So I don’t take anything for granted, and I really want to spend the time with my loved ones. The majority of what I have left.”