What should we remember from the documentary Stallone by Stallone, available now on the Netflix platform?
Sylvester Stallone. Sometimes nicknamed: Sly. A name known to all, a cinema legend so immense that we forget that his beginnings as an actor were complicated. Due to an atypical physique accentuated by facial paralysis which freezes the left corner of his mouth, Sylvester Stallone would have had a thousand reasons to give up his dream of becoming an actor.
Raised by an abusive father, the American actor and director confides in the documentary Stallone by Stallone which was dedicated to him by Netflix that the love of the public made up for the love that his parents did not give him. Which gives more resonance to the violence that the numerous failures encountered during his career represented for him.
“Sly’s success owes nothing to chance” recalls Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the speakers in the film. Faced with the impossibility of landing roles of greater importance than those of big guys in the background, Stallone resolved to force his own destiny by writing the script himself which would give him his first main role: Rocky.
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Go the distance
The idea of this somewhat slow but terribly endearing boxer character came to him after filming the film Hands in the Pockets. The freedom he was given to improvise and write his own dialogue set Sly on the path that later led to the Rocky screenplay, written under the influence of Mean Streets and On the Waterfront.
If he did not claim it at the time of the film’s release, Sylvester Stallone now no longer hesitates to qualify Rocky as a love film, and not a boxing film. An observation that is nevertheless obvious, particularly because the feature film ends with a defeat, but also with a feeling of victory “for having gone the distance”.
This unfailing optimism has become both a trademark of Stallone’s cinema, but also a philosophy of life. Faced with both successes and failures, the latter’s career was nothing more than a fight led by an eternal outsider facing the various obstacles of existence.
Thus, after twenty years of career as a leading actor, Sly was once again a simple beginner when he finally saw the opportunity to play opposite his idol Robert De Niro in Copland. Far from being impressed, the one that no one expected in a film of this prestige, took the Raging Bull actor out of his limits thanks to his improvising skills.
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“I hate sad endings”
Now aged 77, Sylvester Stallone now seems detached from his profession as an actor. Father of three daughters who have become adults (but also of two sons: Sage who died in 2012, and Seargeoh, diagnosed with autism), the interpreter of Rocky maintains the only regret of having seen his children grow up in his absence.
Her house filled with works of art and memorabilia from her filmography seems desperately empty now that her children are living on their own. Threatened with divorce by his wife Jennifer a few years ago, Stallone did not hesitate to put his career aside to keep his family close to him.
“I hate sad endings” confides at the end of the documentary the one who could be described as the most optimistic actor in the history of American cinema. Certainly, this new Netflix production hasn’t taught us much about Stallone’s career, but this sincere and authentic portrait ofaction hero cult is nevertheless worth the detour.
Recommended for fans of the character of course, but also for fans of great stories with happy endings…
The documentary Sly: Stallone by Stallone can be found now on Netflix.
Discover the list of films currently available on the platform!