Posted on 12/14/2006 6:53:57 PM PST by Huntress
LOS ANGELES: At 60, Sylvester Stallone thinks it's time to show people that the careers of "guys like me," can last long after most people retire, and he sets out to prove it in his new movie, Rocky Balboa.
"This is uncharted waters. People are living longer. They are healthier. They have more ambition, more energy, yet society is telling them to move aside," Stallone told Reuters. "It's different now, and I thought, 'Boy, if I could just come up with a dramatic premise to use as a platform.'"
Balboa, which debuts in US theatres on December 20, is the sixth movie in a series that began with 1976's Rocky. Stallone famously raised about $US1 million ($NZ1.45m) to make that low-budget film based on a screenplay he wrote and would not sell to Hollywood's studios unless he was the star.
The original movie tells of a hapless boxer, Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa, who overcomes huge odds to better his life. It became a surprise smash hit, earning over $US117 million at US box offices ($US362 million in today's dollars), winning the Oscar for best film, and making Stallone a worldwide star.
Four other movies followed the Philadelphia boxer through various stages - career success, family troubles and bankruptcy.
Stallone said the loveable lug has been championed by fans because he is humble, can be self-deprecating and is sometimes fearful of what life offers.
"He has an almost childlike naivete in the body of a very courageous fighter," Stallone said.
Stallone said he wanted a nobler ending to the Rocky series than in 1990's Rocky V, in which Balboa fights a young boxer he trained to help save himself from financial collapse.
OLD ROCKY IS NEW, AGAIN
In Rocky Balboa, audiences meet the champ back in his working-class Philadelphia neighbourhood. His wife Adrian, the love of his life, has died. Rocky is grief-stricken and estranged from his son.
Rocky tells old boxing stories to customers lingering at his Italian restaurant, Adrian's, until a television network runs a computer simulated fight between Balboa, now in his late 50s, and current heavyweight champ, Mason "The Line" Dixon.
Boxing promoters sense an exhibition match in the making, and Rocky signs up, because, as he tells his best friend Paulie: "I still got some stuff inside."
Stallone, who wrote and directed Balboa, said he spent 6 1/2 years trying to get the movie made and most Hollywood studio executives scoffed at the idea.
Eventually new management came in at the MGM studio which owns the Rocky films, and they helped Stallone raise $US20 million - a small amount by studio standards - to make the movie.
"It's like back to Rocky, same thing. You just got to do it yourself, and hope someone out there believes in you," Stallone said.
Rocky Balboa is a lot like the previous movies - right down to Rocky in his grey sweatsuit running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the song Gonna Fly Now.
People may roll their eyes. Even Stallone admitted to being a cynic, early on, about the idea of a 50-something boxer.
While it is too soon for reviews, many audience members who have seen the movie in Hollywood screenings were delighted that the new movie is somewhat like the original in style and substance.
And for those audiences, the general refrain has been this: Rocky is back, still packing a punch -- even for an old guy.
Yeah, he's got that unfortunate "plumber's putty" look. On the plus side, I know people who know Stallone and I've never heard anybody say a bad word about him.
I'll never forget the first "Rocky." I was in 6th grade and soooo in love with that movie!! One day I came home, closed my bedroom door, and the poster of Sylvester Stallone in the sleeveless undershirt was hanging on the back of my door.
I don't know who hung it up (I'm the youngest of eight) but I really loved it!
Nobody's gonna accuse him of being Shakespeare, but there's a certain genius in Rocky. Sort of like Bob Dylan's singing.
Good call!
This looks like it could be a hit. The trailer is excellent, the plotline is plausible, and -- holy cow! -- Burt Young is back!
It looks way better from the previews than I had any hope it would be. It would be a shame to see people pass it up because of the sins of the last one.
Hey, don't worry. That's just a bad pic. Sly was a guest on Monday Night Football in Philly a couple of weeks ago and he looked great. It was a lot of fun.
Rush said on his show today that he has had a special screening of the movie last night, and he said it was great. Better than he thought it was going to be. He was surprised.
"unfortunate "plumber's putty" look."
That is a bad picture. He said in a interview I saw on TV that he'd had some kind of accident at some point that damaged the nerves on the right side ( I think) of his face and consequently the muscles don't work right.
Stallone has been paralyzed on the right side of his face since birth, hence the famous curled lip.
"Yo, Adrian--I can't think of no more good ideas for my films."
I think for 60 something or however old he is he looks terrific.
Rocky the original is a truly great film. II is good, and the rest are corny but entertaining.
Looks like the Zucker boys had it right in "Airplane II"
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