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Sylvester Stallone at the premiere of "Rocky Balboa" held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on December 13, 2006 |
Thirty years after the release of the first Rocky film, writer/ director/ producer/ star Sylvester Stallone is bringing Rocky back for one final chapter, in the new MGM Pictures release Rocky Balboa. Now that glory has come and gone, Rocky spends his evenings telling old stories to the patrons of his restaurant, Adrian’s, named after his late wife (played in the previous films by Talia Shire), whom he quietly mourns. His son (Milo Ventimiglia) doesn’t want to spend time with him because he’s too busy trying to live his own life.
Although he’s been retired for some time, Rocky is still unable to let go of his love of boxing, and decides to step back into the ring against a few small-time boxers. But, everything changes, when Rocky is offered the opportunity to step into the ring with the reigning Heavyweight Champion, Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon (played by three-time light heavyweight world champion Antonio Tarver), whose manager is hoping to revitalize his client’s shaky career. It is a fight between a champion with fans that accuse him of being all skill and no heart, and a man nearly twice the age of his opponent with a billion-to-one shot and more than enough heart to go around.
{quote_top}In 1976, Rocky became an international box office phenomenon and all-time movie classic. Nominated for an astounding 10 Academy Awards, and winning the coveted Best Picture Oscar, the film and its sequels have continued to attract new generations of fans over the years. “Rocky really took a long time to catch on, and it was out there for almost a year, so it burnt its way into the American consciousness,” Stallone tells MediaBlvd. Magazine. “I became incredibly identified with Rocky, probably forever. When I would go against that, everything was held up to Rocky, so if the projects I found myself involved with didn’t have a certain kind of heart, I think the audience felt it was a disappointment, or a let down.”
“Right after Rocky, I did F.I.S.T., which was a pretty good film, but it didn’t have enough of what people were expecting. Then, I went with Paradise Alley, which was a character that was kind of disdainful. I liked the character a lot, but he was the antithesis of Rocky, so that got people confused. I never really fit into the character actor category. I would have liked to, but it just didn’t happen. So, I think a benchmark was set at a certain level and, when people didn’t get the same sort of feel, they felt betrayed. Cop Land worked for them. It wasn’t a financial hit, but people who saw it, liked it because it had the same kind of heart. When I can do films that have a little bit of an emotional journey, that relates best with the audience, rather than just action for action’s sake. First Blood is the best action film I’ve ever done, for that reason.”
{quote_middle}As Rocky’s son, 29-year-old Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia says that he has always been a fan of the film, even the 5th one, which many Rocky fans disliked. “I’ve always enjoyed them,” he reveals to MediaBlvd. “I thought they were entertaining, and I really got into the underdog story and how, if your mind is in the right direction and your heart is full of the right kind of stuff, then you’ll succeed. You can triumph over adversity, or anything.”
The 60-year-old New York native admits that there is quite a bit of cross over between Stallone, the person, and Rocky, the character. Much like in the film, Stallone says that people are always wanting to take photos with him and hear stories about making the Rocky films.
“I would be trying to fool you, if I said one is not an alter-ego, but an out-of-body experience. It has nothing to do with me. The issues that work are very personal issues, and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to take what has been bothering me -- questions I have about life, in general -- and have the body of Rocky to put it into. He’s a tough guy, but he’s childlike, so when he asks questions, it comes from a very comical angle because of the way he speaks, in his vernacular, pentameter and rhythm. The films that have worked in the Rocky universe have always been about something I’m going through.”
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Milo Ventimiglia at the premiere of "Rocky Balboa" held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on December 13, 2006. |
Ventimiglia admits that he was both frightened and excited at the prospect of working with an icon like Stallone. “When you first meet someone of his stature, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe I’m in the room with Sylvester Stallone.’ But, then he looks you in the eye when he talks to you, he speaks clearly, he makes you laugh, and he’s very kind and warm-hearted. Being on the set with him and actually going through the process of playing his son, he created a world of comfort so that I could play the part and be expressive.”
Spending time working with Stallone, Ventimiglia believes he had the good fortune of getting to watch the complete artist, as actor and director. “People don’t understand that he’s playing a role and, when he turns that role on, he has a very slow look in his eye and a sweet smile on his face, in the way that he approaches the world. To read a script that he wrote and see him composing those shots, I took it as an opportunity to quietly observe someone that has created this world. He knows the world so very well, but at the same time, he’s comfortable enough to where, if I had ideas or thoughts, I could go up and talk to him. He created an environment that was welcoming to ideas and suggestions that were going to better the film and make it more rich, more real and more accessible to everybody.”
{quote_bottom}Sixteen years after the release of Rocky V, Stallone says that Rocky Balboa finally releases the beast that he’s had gnawing inside of him for the last 10-12 years. “I take all the blame for how badly Rocky V faired. I think it was a reflection of my lack of focus at the time, and that was translated onto film. It really defeated all of the other Rocky films. It bothered me. So, the beast was finally eliminated with this film. I felt as though I touched on the subjects, and delivered a film that people can really relate to.”
With the character of Rocky finally behind him, Stallone has plans to direct the script that he wrote for Poe, a chronicle of Edgar Allen Poe’s life, from his famous works and bouts with madness and depression, to his mysterious death in 1849. After that, he wants to return to the Rambo franchise. “Rambo is a character that is completely out of sync with the way things are,” he declares. “His spirit is so primitive and so broken that he lives this monastic life, out in the jungle. He’s still quite distraught by what he’s been through, but he also can’t escape it. It’s an interesting character study. I haven’t seen anything like it lately.”
Up next for Ventimiglia, aside from his growing desire to both direct and produce, is a return to his hugely successful NBC television series. “It I were to say I was surprised at how well Heroes is doing, I’d probably look like an idiot. From day one of reading the script, it just blew me away -- the twists, the turns, the character development and the build. The writers, production team and all the directors that have come through, helped it grow into this wonderful world.”
Although he can’t give any details away about what will be happening when the show returns in late January, Ventimiglia did say that audiences should be pleased. “If you were blown away by what you saw in the first half of the season, you’re really going to be blown away by the second half. It’s going to be hold-your-breath television.”
