Page 90 - Sharp Winter 2023

FEATURE
BACK IN THE RING
AS THE NEW SERIES TULSA KING MAKES CLEAR, YOU CAN NEVER COUNT SYLVESTER STALLONE OUT
By Ethan Vestby
E VER SINCE HIS ACADEMY-AWARD NOMINATED RETURN AS TRADEMARK character Rocky Balboa in the box-office smash Creed, mega-star Sylvester Stallone has made it apparent to audiences and critics alike that he’s not going anywhere. Synonymous with an era of rip-roaring macho action flicks that have
become sadly subsumed by 21st century computer-generated superhero nonsense, Stallone has still managed, amazingly, to maintain his status as larger-than-life, flesh and blood A-lister, juggling franchise resurrections, comedic voice-over work, and even charming Instagram presence (more on that later).
Now, in a Wild-West entertainment landscape where buzzwords like streaming, theatrical, and content all butt heads, Stallone is looking to stake a new claim. Starring for the first time ever in a television show — and given his meatiest new character in decades — he’s ready to showcase his dramatic chops once again. (Don’t forget: Roger Ebert once deemed the Rocky star our next Marlon Brando.)
From Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Network original Tulsa King sees Sly playing the charismatic but brutish mob boss Dwight “The General” Manfredi. Fresh off a 25-year stint in prison, and eager to reclaim his stake in the criminal underworld, he soon finds himself a fish out of water reassigned from New York to Tulsa by his mafia overlords. It’s the kind of anti-hero role you can imagine him specializing in, had his career in the ’70s gone in a slightly different direction.
The Italian Stallion himself is ready for his own Tony Soprano — but with a dash of the old Sly charm that’s made him one of our longest-lasting movie stars.
SHARP recently spoke to Stallone about Tulsa King, his acting process, and what he looks for in a project.
One of the first lines of dialogue that your char- acter has mentions writing poetry. That instantly made me think of you, and the kind of artistic soul you have behind the tough exterior. You’re pretty good. Yeah, I thought that in that monologue, we had to have something — be- cause as it was originally written, they just talked about prison and where he went. I said, “No, let’s talk about how well-read he is, because he reads Machiavelli and this and that and he writes bad poetry, and he knows it’s bad,” that sort of thing. And I also thought it would give you a little hint that he has a wry sense of humour.
Throughout the film, as we went on, I started to get Terry [Winter, co-showrunner] with his con- fidence. I said, “Terry, I really know how to write for myself on certain things. I understand what you’re trying to accomplish, but I’ll put it in my words, and it’ll flow a little easier — and it’s a lot easier for me to memorize than if you wrote it.”
Did you know guys in real life, from Philadelphia or even executives in the movie business, that had this kind of cutthroat attitude?
Oh yeah. I had a stepfather who had kind of a du- bious childhood and he knew all these guys — Frank Palumbo, and there was Scrappy Joe and Angelo Bruno. So I kinda grew up around people like this. And then when I did Rocky, they all came out of the woodwork: “How you doin’, how you doin.’’ I met them all and I said, “I don’t wanna be like these guys.” Because there’s a certain look, like they’d be smiling, and it’d be this feral look, kind of a wolf with ears.
I always said if I ever got a chance to play a gangster, I was gonna take a little Franz Kafka-es- que Metamorphosis out of a cockroach. Like I’m an actor, I woke up this morning, and I’m a gangster, but I still have this personality. In other words, try to bring yourself to the party. I said, yeah you have a guy who’s odd, a little out there, charming. But as you’ll see, he can get really tough when he has to.
Obviously, you’re, a writer, director, and actor, so you know moving pictures inside out. But was the process of making television different from film?
Yeah. I would have to say television is much harder, much faster, very unforgiving. They don’t welcome ad-libbing or changing the script at all because it’s precise. And I’m just the opposite. I’m very mercurial
IMAGES COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT
90 WINTER 2023
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