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STALLONE: Thank you.<\/p>\nRUSH: Welcome to the program, Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa. The movie comes out on the 20th, correct?<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right, the 20th, Rush.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thanks for joining us today. They sent me a copy of it, Sly, and I want to be honest with you, I didn\u2019t know what was left to tell in the story. I\u2019ve loved all these other Rocky movies but there\u2019s been a long hiatus now, and I put it in, and I was stunned.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Thank you.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You cover every demographic in this, I mean, looking at it from a production and marketing point. It looks like the first Rocky movie cinematographically, you haven\u2019t gussied it up with a bunch of computer generated fireworks.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right. Technology, no.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You\u2019ve got life messages in this, there\u2019s no profanity that I was able to hear.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: No.<\/p>\n
RUSH: It\u2019s a movie for everybody.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right, it\u2019s PG. Well, you know, what had happened, a good friend of mine is Susan Faludi who wrote the book Stiffed, which is a couple years ago, it\u2019s about the diminishing and kind of like diluting of the American male in the workforce, and after, you know, almost World War II, and every generation it seems to get harder and harder for a man to express himself and we seem to be slowly being moved on this conveyor belt out before we\u2019re ready to be moved out. And it was kind of — I wanted Rocky to show that he still, as he says, has some stuff in the basement, he has a flame in his heart, and I think a lot of the American male feels that way, but society goes, “Nah, sorry, you\u2019ve had your up at bat and it\u2019s time to move on.”<\/p>\n
And I go, “Well, maybe you should move on when you\u2019re ready to move on.” If you\u2019re willing to take the humiliation of sticking your head above the crowd, maybe it\u2019s, you know, the pleasure will be worth the pain.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, it\u2019s an interesting thing you brought up here, basically the feminization of the American culture.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Not just for men, you know, in their late years toward retirement or middle-age or what have you, but throughout. But, look, I think you highlighted this. One of my favorite scenes, because it\u2019s so poignant with the way the culture is today, your son — I don\u2019t want to give too much of this away, but the conversation you have with your son when he begs you not to take this last fight.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right.<\/p>\n
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RUSH: Because he needs to get out of your shadow. And for him to do that, you need to go away, and what you say to him — and it\u2019s not a long scene — just had me cheering. I have to be honest, I don\u2019t cheer much at movies, but it had me standing up.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Thank you, Rush. Well, you know, I guess a lot of fathers and sons have sort of had this conversation in some incarnation, and I certainly have, and I think it\u2019s an ongoing battle. It\u2019s almost from biblical times, you know, sharper than a serpent\u2019s tooth, and finally the father has to say, “Stop, stop, you have to be accountable, son.”<\/p>\n
RUSH: Is this the last Rocky movie?<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Oh yeah, that\u2019s why I used the name Balboa, Rush, I didn\u2019t want a number attached because that would imply there was another one. But I felt so bad the way the fifth one turned out. I don\u2019t know what happened. I was just off my game, off the mark, maybe it was my lifestyle, but I was not thinking for the audience. I was thinking maybe for myself. And, you know, you have some downturns, careers have peaks and valleys and I had a lot of time to think over the last ten, 12 years, and I thought, “You know, if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019d like to remedy was the way that character went out.” All the other characters I could deal with, but that one really bothered me.<\/p>\n
But the opportunity at that time, I was 53, and they said, “It\u2019s over, you know, the last one didn\u2019t work. Plus you\u2019re too old.” But this is a movie about being too old but willing to take the humiliation to try to remedy or, you know, right a wrong. They said, “No, you\u2019re just talking about yourself.”<\/p>\n
I said, “No, I think there\u2019s a lot of people out there that wish they could go back to that crossroad in their life and change something, and if not that, maybe they just wanted to do something to purge grief or rid themselves of some feelings and you need an outlet,” and they said no deal. Luckily after six years, MGM was sold, and Harry Sloan, who came in as the new CEO, said, “You know what, I\u2019ll take a gamble with you,” and I\u2019m really indebted to him and Joe Roth of Revolution.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Now, you wrote and directed this. Is that part and parsel of the problem you had in getting it done?<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Yes, that, but more than anything else, it was age. You know, society, especially Hollywood, I think it\u2019s about 50% ahead of society in getting rid of its workers, you know what I mean? Because we\u2019re so in the limelight, you know, women, men, it just chews you up and spits you out, and now we have so many market outlets, you\u2019re really on a fast lane. Before, you know, you had a star like Tyrone Power or, you know, Kirk Douglas, they would have a 50-year career. Now if you have 15, consider yourself lucky.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah, everybody\u2019s looking for the 18 to 24 demographic or even younger. But, you know, this movie is going to hit that demo. Again, I\u2019m tempted, I\u2019m not a movie critic so I don\u2019t want to give too much away here, but it\u2019s a love story that women are going to absolutely adore.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Thank you.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Fathers and sons are going to learn a lot from watching this. It\u2019s a movie about staying true to your desires and going for it when everybody tells you that you can\u2019t do it and shouldn\u2019t do it. I mean, there\u2019s a lot here. I think you\u2019re probably going to cover the demographic that they look for that they think you can\u2019t get anymore.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Well, actually no, believe it or not, we\u2019re testing higher in the younger demographic, and, you know, I\u2019m hoping that the baby boomers, my generation, come out and support the film because, if they do, and the film performs, that will be a message to Hollywood that, you know, there are 70 million of us out there. Let\u2019s start making stories about us that are age appropriate and more profound than just us being relegated to, you know, the angry father or the angry mother in movies, and bring our stories up to the forefront.<\/p>\n
RUSH: We\u2019ll it\u2019ll get the baby boomers out because the baby boomers think only about themselves and you\u2019ve made a movie about them.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: In a way.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: (Laughing.)<\/p>\n
RUSH: (Laughing.) We\u2019re talking with Sylvester Stallone. Rocky Balboa is out on December 20th, and I was fortunate enough to see a screening of it on Wednesday night. You shot two endings for this.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Yes.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I know how it ended. I know what I saw. What made you decide on this ending?<\/p>\n
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STALLONE: Because of the budget, we had really one shot at this, and, I didn\u2019t want to second-guess myself, but just in case, I shot just the opposite ending to think, “Well, it could possibly be that we should have this ending,” which, you know, I\u2019m kind of like not at liberty to say, but that will be in the DVD, the opposite one. But life, kind of like you never know, you never know. And I\u2019ve done this so many times in films, you think you have it; you think you\u2019ve nailed it; then you\u2019re in the editing room and you go, “Oh, my God.” Rush, that\u2019s why so many films go over budget, 90% of the time you know what they\u2019re re-shooting? The ending.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, let me ask you something. In my business, I don\u2019t listen to consultants because I don\u2019t have to. In fact, when I got rid of consultants and bosses is when I began to prosper, just following my instincts and my gut.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: And you mentioned having to test this movie. How much of your work in your career did you have to be a slave to what consultants and testing and focus groups are saying rather than just following your gut on it?<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Well, it\u2019s funny, up until like 1980, \u201982, \u201983, you had this kind of like pioneer spirit or cowboy mentality or you flew by the seat of your pants and you say, “Ah, you know what, wisdom says I shouldn\u2019t do this but I have a gut feeling.” That\u2019s gone now. Now it really is, believe it or not, 90% of the films are green lit, not by the studio heads, but by the marketing department. You\u2019re a slave to them. If they don\u2019t think they can sell it or if they don\u2019t have a hook then the movie doesn\u2019t get green lit no matter how much they say, “I kind of like this film.” What\u2019s the angle? We\u2019re not sure what the angle is. So that thing is thrown to the wolves. So this is the first film I\u2019ve done just using instinct since, you know, 1990.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Wow. Time\u2019s dwindling here. Let me ask you a couple more things. You use as your opponent here Antonio Tarver.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: He plays Mason “The Line” Dixon, right? Love the name. But did you ask Roy Jones, Jr., first?<\/p>\n
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STALLONE: Uh-oh, you heard that. Believe it or not, I called Roy Jones, Jr. I wasn\u2019t sure. I always loved Tarver because he was verbal and he had a certain kind of charisma, there\u2019s something about his face I like. Roy Jones is a little more sinister looking, but I said I have to approach both of them in case one of them falls out; one breaks a hand, who knows. I called Roy Jones 31 times. Not one phone call was returned. On the 32nd time I said, “I gotta move on, thanks anyway.” I called HBO, who Roy Jones worked for at that time, they said, “Sly, don\u2019t feel so bad, we pay him; he still doesn\u2019t pick up our phone calls.”<\/p>\n
RUSH: Do you have issues with this guy? Do you know him?<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Roy Jones? Yeah, I do. It\u2019s so odd. He\u2019s just one of those kinds of guys. I guess he has a phone phobia.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, maybe.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: But it turned it out great. I\u2019m so glad. I think Tarver, because of his fighting ability and his superior height gives a better visual than Roy would.<\/p>\n
RUSH: He looks plenty sinister, too.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: He does, he does, but he\u2019s not so monstrous like some of the guys today, Rush, are literally behemoth. He\u2019s more like old school fighters, and he\u2019s not playing a villain. This is about the battle that people have within themselves.<\/p>\n
RUSH: That\u2019s an excellent point. That\u2019s true. This is about you. I should point out, for of those curious, the boxing, and I checked the run time on my player, and the boxing seems make up the last 20 minutes of the movie, 20, 25, the rest of the movie is all about the things we\u2019ve been discussing. Sly, it really is good, and I didn\u2019t know what to expect and I thought maybe it was going to be difficult to — to —
\nSTALLONE: You can say it. It\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n
RUSH: But I really did enjoy it. I enjoyed it as much as any of these movies.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: Thank you.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I wish you the best with it.<\/p>\n
STALLONE: You know what, you\u2019re very kind. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n
RUSH: All the best. That\u2019s Sylvester Stallone. I don\u2019t normally review movies. Passion of the Christ — what else did I see this week that I talked about? Oh, yeah, I saw Apocalypto. I don\u2019t do many of these screenings, but the ones I have seen and watched I liked, and this one was right at the top. The life lessons in this are well worth seeing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: Welcome to the program, Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa. The movie comes out on the 20th, correct? STALLONE: Right, the 20th, Rush. RUSH: Thanks for joining us today. They sent me a copy of it, Sly, and I want to be honest with you, I didn\u2019t know what was left to tell in the story. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n