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Sylvester Stallone

Who Is Sylvester Stallone?

Sylvester Stallone rose to fame as the writer and lead of the Academy Award-winning boxing film Rocky (1976). He went on to become one of the biggest action stars in the world, reprising his characters from Rocky and First Blood (1982) for several sequels. Following a mid-career decline, he rediscovered box-office success with The Expendables (2010) and earned critical acclaim for reviving the Rocky franchise with Creed (2015), garnering his first Golden Globe win and another Oscar nomination.

Actor, writer, director and producer Stallone was born on July 6, 1946, in New York City. His trademark droopy visage was the result of a forceps accident at the time of his birth. A nerve was severed in the accident, which also left him with slurred speech.

Stallone had a difficult childhood. Both he and his younger brother, Frank, were adversely affected by their parents’ hostile relationship, which later ended in divorce. Stallone spent some of his earliest years in foster care. When Stallone was around five years old, his father moved the family to the Washington, D.C. area where he started his own beauty parlor chain. Stallone lived in Maryland for years, staying with his father after his parents' divorce in 1957. He struggled emotionally and academically and was expelled from several schools.

A few years later, Stallone went to live with his mother and her second husband in Philadelphia. There he attended a special high school for troubled youth. After graduation, Stallone eventually went on to college. First, he attended the American College in Switzerland, where he studied drama. Stallone then went to the University of Miami, again choosing to focus on the dramatic arts. He left school before completing his degree to move to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Aspiring Actor

In addition to acting, Stallone had an interest in writing. He created a screenplay about a rough-and-tumble thug who struggles for a chance to make it as a professional boxer. According to several reports, Stallone refused to sell the script unless he was allowed to star in it. Despite having a pregnant wife and little money in the bank, he held out until he found two producers, Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, willing to let him play the lead.

Action Hero: 'Rocky' and 'Rambo'

Released in 1976 and directed by John G. Avildsen, Rocky became a critical and commercial hit. The film went on to earn 10 Academy Award nominations, including nods for best actor, director and picture. Rocky faced stiff competition in the best picture category from such films as Taxi Driver , All the President’s Men and Network , but it proved to be the small film with a powerful punch and nabbed the coveted Oscar. The story of Rocky Balboa, the quintessential underdog, also struck a chord with moviegoers and earned the film more than $117 million at the box office.

To follow up on his breakthrough role, Stallone next starred as a labor organizer in F.I.S.T. (1978). He received some favorable reviews for his work, but the film failed to attract much of an audience. Returning to the film that made him famous, Stallone wrote, directed and starred in Rocky II (1979). He kept the franchise going a few years later with Rocky III (1982).

That same year, Stallone introduced a new character to moviegoers — John Rambo, a disenfranchised and troubled Vietnam vet — in First Blood (1982). Rambo ends up going to war with the police in a small town after being mistreated by authorities. Once again, Stallone struck box-office gold. He went behind the scenes for his next effort, Staying Alive (1983), which he wrote and directed. Although the film featured John Travolta reprising his breakout role from Saturday Night Fever (1977), it did not fare as well as the original.

Trying to branch out as an actor, Stallone starred opposite Dolly Parton in the comedy Rhinestone (1984). The film was a commercial and critical failure. Fans lined up more so to see Stallone taking up trademark roles in Rocky IV (1985), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and Rocky V (1990). He also starred in the comedy Oscar (1991) as well as the futuristic action flick Demolition Man (1993), which co-starred Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock .

Career Decline

By the mid-1990s, Stallone’s star power as an action hero had started to fade. He made a series of forgettable films, including Judge Dredd (1995) and Daylight (1996). Taking a break from big-budget action films, Stallone took a supporting role in the independent drama Cop Land (1997), which starred Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta . He earned strong reviews for his portrayal of a sheriff in a small New Jersey town largely inhabited by New York City cops.

Returning to his leading man status, Stallone starred in the crime thriller Get Carter (2000), which received mixed reviews. He then wrote, co-produced and starred in the car-racing drama Driven (2001). It netted more than $32 million at the box office—a long way from his glory days of Rocky . Another effort, Shade (2004), came and went without much notice.

Stallone once again returned to familiar territory to write another chapter of his most popular creation. The plot of Rocky Balboa (2006) mirrored Stallone’s own career to some extent. The former heavyweight champion, long retired, decides to go for one more big fight. “Things really started to slow down for me about 10 years ago, and I had a lot of time for introspection. ... It is kind of bittersweet. That is why I wanted to write this film. If I had been cranking out films, very successful ones, I wouldn’t have done this one,” Stallone explained to People magazine in 2007. Fans turned out in droves to see Rocky’s final fight, which earned more than $70 million at the domestic box office and an additional $85 million in foreign sales.

Stallone then reprised his other action persona, John Rambo. In addition to playing the lead, he wrote and directed Rambo (2008). The film lived up to the gory legacy of its predecessors. As one Entertainment Weekly critic described it, the film “is up to its boot tops in numbing violence.” Still, Rambo was able to attract enough moviegoers to bring in $42.7 million at the box office.

In 2010, Stallone starred alongside Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables . The ensemble cast also featured Jason Statham of The Transporter film series, mixed martial arts fighter Randy Couture and martial arts expert Jet Li . In addition to his performance in the film, Stallone served as director and screenwriter.

Globe Win and Oscar Nod for 'Creed'

Stallone reunited with the cast of The Expendables to co-star in a sequel. The Expendables 2 premiered in August 2012 and reached the No. 1 spot at the box office, bringing in nearly $28.6 million over its opening weekend. Stallone delivered The Expendables 3 in the summer of 2014, with Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson among the additions to the cast. The film proved to have more modest box office returns domestically than its predecessors, though foreign ticket sales were once again robust.

Stallone also enjoyed a busy year in 2013, when he starred in Escape Plan , with Schwarzenegger, and the boxing comedy Grudge Match , with De Niro. He went on to add one more chapter to the Rocky Balboa saga in 2015 with Creed , in which he trains the son ( Michael B. Jordan ) of his old boxing rival Apollo. Stallone won a supporting actor Golden Globe for the part, receiving a standing ovation as he took the podium for his acceptance speech, and also garnered an Academy Award nomination.

In 2017, Stallone delivered voice work for the animated Animal Crackers and appeared in the sequel to the Marvel Comics blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy . Early the following year, he announced the pending arrival of Creed 2 via an Instagram photo that featured Rocky's protégé and another old rival, Dolph Lundgren's Ivan Drago. Creed 2 fared well commercially following its September 2018 release, topping $200 million at the global box office.

Stallone then tried to revive another successful franchise by stepping into the shoes of his troubled Vietnam veteran for Rambo: Last Blood (2019). However, unlike his efforts with Creed and its sequel, Last Blood generally failed to make a positive impression on critics.

Personal Life

After years of being the target of critical barbs, Stallone began to receive some appreciation for his life’s work. He received an honorary Cesar Award, the French equivalent of the Academy Award, in 1992, and an acting award at the Stockholm Film Festival in 1997. In 2008, Stallone became the first person to receive the Golden Icon Award at the Zurich Film Festival, and he later earned lifetime achievement honors at the 2012 Hollywood Film Awards.

Thrice married, Stallone is currently wed to former model Jennifer Flavin. The couple has three daughters, Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet. He previously had two sons, Sage and Seth, with Sasha Czack.

On July 13, 2012, Stallone's eldest son, Sage Moonblood Stallone, was found dead in his Los Angeles home. The 36-year-old actor, director and producer co-starred with his father in Rocky V and Daylight . Stallone made his first public appearance after his son's death in August 2012, on Good Morning America . Of Sage's death, he said, "Time, hopefully, will heal, and you try to get through it, but it's just something. It's a reality of life. I think it's important to get back and start reliving your life. Otherwise, you can go into a spiral."

In November 2017, reports surfaced that Stallone was accused of raping a woman in the 1990s. In June 2018, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office confirmed that the case was under review.

The news drew a strong response from Stallone's attorney, Martin Singer, who insisted that the alleged victim was involved in a consensual relationship with his client. "It's outrageous that the DA's office and PD would announce this information because it makes the public think that there's something there," he said.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Sylvester Stallone
• Birth Year: 1946
• Birth date: July 6, 1946
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: New York City
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Action star Sylvester Stallone is best known for portraying boxer Rocky Balboa and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• American College in Switzerland
• University of Miami

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Sylvester Stallone Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/sylvester-stallone
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 20, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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Sasha Czack: Where is Sylvester Stallone’s Ex-Wife Now?

While there’s no denying Sylvester Stallone is a household name that needs no introduction, we surprisingly get an entirely different side of the iconic actor in Paramount+’s ‘The Family Stallone.’ After all, this is a reality series revolving around him, his love, and their three daughters as they go on about their daily lives, meaning he is shining under the light of a family man these days. Though the truth is he has been serving in this role since the age of 28, when Sylvester married his now ex-wife Sasha Czack.

Who is Sasha Czack?

It was reportedly back when Sasha (born Alexandra Czach on July 17, 1950) was a young girl that she first developed an interest in acting, only for it to continue expanding as the years passed. She thus enrolled at the University of Notre Dame du Lac in Indiana to pursue a Bachelor’s in Media Studies almost as soon as she could, leading her interest to gradually evolve into an aspiration. This is because the Chester, Pennsylvania, native could finally imagine what life as an actress could be like, which drove her to hone her skills every step of the way until she graduated in 1971.

That’s when Sasha actively began to look for assignments in television and film alike, just to soon land the role of Jane in the ‘Love of Life’ soap opera, which caught the eye of director Frank Perry. She was subsequently offered the lead in his 1972 drama film ‘Play It as It Lays,’ yet she seemingly chose to forgo the opportunity to back her then-fiance Sylvester Stallone’s latest project. Hence, it comes as no shock the couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on December 28, 1974.

Sasha and Sylvester gladly welcomed two sons into their lives, Sage Stallone (1976) and Seargeoh Stallone (1979). The truth is Sasha stuck by Sylvester through thick and thin in every sense of the term — she was there when he was near homelessness, she served as a waitress to support the family while he filmed ‘Rocky,’ and she was there when his career blew up. But alas, everything changed by the time 1985 rolled around.

Sylvester’s hectic schedule, as well as their second son’s autism diagnosis, put a strain on their relationship — plus, the fact that Sasha quit working to care for Seargeoh full-time didn’t help matters either. Therefore, the couple amicably parted ways and finalized their divorce on February 14, 1985, with Sylvester giving away $12 million to her as a part of their settlement.

Sasha Czack is Focusing on Charity Work Today

From what we can tell, Sasha (or Stitch) had found a passion in photography while still with Sylvester and had even returned in front of the cameras for ‘Rocky III’ (1982) as well as ‘Vic’ (2006). However, she didn’t stick to either profession for long owing to her natural need to care for Seargeoh more, along with other personal reasons such as her own interests, hobbies, requirements, etc. Though we do know she has since become heavily involved in various Autism related charities across the nation, the workings of which ostensibly take up the majority of her free time these days.

It’s imperative to note that Sasha had also tried to move on in her personal life by tying the knot with entertainment re-recording mixer/music supervisor Rick Ash in 1997, but their union didn’t last long either. Unfortunately, on July 13, 2012, Sasha and Sylvester sadly lost their first-born Sage to heart disease at the age of 36 — albeit it did give fans some closure in the sense it led her and her first ex-husband to express they have and will always remain close co-parents.

Read More: Frank Stallone: Where is Sylvester Stallone’s Brother Now?

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Multi-hyphenate entertainer Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is best known for playing boxer Rocky Balboa in the Rocky and Creed film series and for being a major box office star in the 1980s and early 1990s. In addition, Stallone has proven to be equally adept behind the camera as a film director, producer, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Movies starring Stallone have grossed over $2 billion at the worldwide box office.

Fast Facts: Sylvester Stallone

• Occupation: Actor, film director, screenwriter
• Known For : Portraying the titular characters in the Rocky and Rambo franchises
• Born: July 6, 1946 in New York City, New York
• Education: Miami Dade College, University of Miami
• Notable Roles: Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rocky IV (1985), Rambo III (1988), Cop Land (1997), Rocky Balboa (2006), Rambo (2008), The Expendables (2010), Creed (2015), Creed II ( 2018)
• Spouse(s): Sasha Czack, Brigitte Nielsen, Jennifer Flavin
• Children: Sage Stallone and Seargeoh Stallone (with Sasha Czack); Sophia Stallone, Sistine Stallone, and Scarlet Stallone (with Jennifer Flavin)

Early Years

Sylvester Stallone was born in Manhattan, New York. Difficulties during his birth caused birth defects, which gave Stallone the partial facial paralysis that resulted in his trademark acting style. His family moved around the East Coast of the United States during his youth, and he later attended college in Florida.

In the early 1970s, Stallone began pursuing an acting career. He appeared in minor roles in several movies, including Bananas (1971), The Lords of Flatbush (1974), and The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975). He played "Machine Gun" in producer Roger Corman's dystopian action movie Death Race 2000 (1975), which was a minor box office hit.

Breakout Roles: Rocky and Rambo

In 1975, Stallone wrote a screenplay about an underdog boxer after watching journeyman Chuck Wepner fight the world champion Muhammad Ali and last until the final seconds of the last round. He called the screenplay Rocky . Stallone sold the screenplay to United Artists under the condition that he play the title character.

Rocky , which became a massive crowd-pleasing success, depicts a down-on-his luck Philadelphia boxer named Rocky Balboa who is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to box the world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed. Rocky became the highest-grossing film at the U.S. box office in 1976 and was nominated for ten Academy Awards. Stallone himself was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. The film won three Oscars, including Best Picture, and features iconic imagery like Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Rocky turned Stallone into a superstar. Though Stallone starred in F.I.S.T. and Paradise Alley in 1978 (the latter was Stallone's directorial debut), his next big hit was Rocky II (1979). Rocky III followed in 1982, and proved to be yet another hit. Stallone wrote and directed both sequels.

In 1982, Stallone also starred in First Blood , an adaptation of the 1972 novel about a Vietnam veteran super-soldier named John Rambo who reacts violently to discrimination he faces in a small town. The film was a box office hit, and Rambo became Stallone's second signature character. He reprised his role as John Rambo in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).

In 1985, Stallone wrote, directed, and starred in Rocky IV , which depicts the now-retired Rocky facing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in an international super-fight. Released at the height of 1980s Cold War tensions, it became the biggest box office hit in the franchise. However, 1990s Rocky V, which depicts Rocky training a new boxer and focusing on fatherhood (and features Stallone's real-life son as Rocky Jr.), was the least popular film in the series at the box office and has been frequently criticized since its release.

Box Office Challenges

Stallone had additional box office hits during the late 80s and early 90s with Cobra (1986), Tango & Cash (1989), Cliffhanger (1993), and Demolition Man (1993). However, he also had several notable box office failures, including Rhinestone (1984), Over the Top (1987), Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! (1992). He directed and co-wrote, but did not star in, Staying Alive (1983), a sequel to Saturday Night Fever (1977), which was a box office success but a critical failure. Many of these failures were "honored" by the infamous Golden Raspberry Awards, and the organization declared Stallone "The Worst Actor of the Century" in 2000.

After 1994's The Specialist , Stallone experienced a significant downturn at the box office for the next decade. The high-budget comic book adaptation Judge Dredd (1995) was a box office disappointment. Stallone took a more dramatic turn in 1997's Cop Land in which he plays a small-town sheriff and earned some of the most positive reviews of his career. While Stallone had more success in children's movies, voicing a character in 1998's Antz and playing a villain in 2003's Spy Kids 3D , his leading roles fared poorly at the box office. Two movies in which he starred, Eye See You (2002) and Shade (2004), were only released in a few U.S. theaters. Stallone did not write or direct any of his films during this period.

Career Resurgence

Reversing his career downturn, Stallone returned to his signature character in 2006's Rocky Balboa , which features the title character returning to the ring for one final fight. The film was Stallone's biggest box office hit in the U.S. since Cliffhanger . He followed it with a return to another signature character in 2008's Rambo , which resulted in another worldwide hit. Stallone then recruited several other 1980s action stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Dolph Lundgren, to create another signature franchise, The Expendables (2010), which was followed by sequels in 2012 and 2014 . These films also returned Stallone to the production side of the camera . In 2013, Stallone and Schwarzenegger reunited for the thriller Escape Plan , which was an international hit that was followed by two sequels starring Stallone.

In 2015, Stallone played Rocky Balboa in Creed , a spinoff about the son of Rocky's one-time rival becoming a boxer. Creed was co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler. Stallone received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, his first Oscar nomination in almost 40 years. Stallone became one of the few actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. Stallone also won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Creed II followed in 2018, and additional sequels in the Rambo and The Expendables franchises are planned.

Since Stallone's return to prominence in the mid-2000s, many filmmakers who grew up watching his films have praised his work. Stallone fans include Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Creed , and James Gunn, who cast Stallone in a small role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 . He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is an inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Sources and Further Reading

• Sanello, Frank.  Stallone: A Rocky Life . Mainstream Publications, 1998.
• Holmlund, Chris.  The Ultimate Stallone Reader.  Wallflower Press, 2014.
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Sylvester Stallone Biography

Birthday: July 6 , 1946 ( Cancer )

Born In: Hell's Kitchen, New York, United States

The world might find it hard to believe that a man who once struggled to find roles in movies, went on to become one of the most legendary actors in Hollywood. From bagging small roles to writing screenplays, Sylvester Stallone, considered the virile man of Hollywood, carved a place for himself in the world of showbiz. His most iconic roles to date are that off ‘Rocky Balboa’ and Vietnam War veteran, ‘John Rambo’. Some of his most recent commercial hits include his collaboration with the other big guns of the industry such as Jean-Claude Van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movies, ‘The Expendables’ and ‘The Expendables 2’. A multi-talented personality, Stallone is currently an actor, writer, director and producer and is best-known for his trademark garbled speech patterns and his lopsided smile. Aside from the ‘Rocky’ films, he starred in a number of other films which received critical acclaim but failed to receive the commercial success that ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rambo’ received. To break away from the stereotyped ‘tough’ roles, he rekindled the attention of his fans by starring in a number of films in other genres such as ‘Paradise Alley’ and ‘Zookeeper’, which, however, failed to hit the target.

Recommended For You

Nick Name: Sly Stallone

Also Known As: Sylvester Enzio Stallone, Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone

Age: 78 Years , 78 Year Old Males

Spouse/Ex-: Jennifer Flavin (m. 1997), Brigitte Nielsen (m. 1985–1987), Sasha Czack (m. 1974–1985)

father: Frank Stallone Sr.

mother: Jackie Stallone

siblings: Frank Stallone , Toni Ann Filiti ( Half sister)

children: Sage Stallone , Scarlet Rose Stallone , Seargeoh Stallone , Sistine Rose Stallone , Sistine Stallone, Sophia Rose Stallone

Born Country: United States

Actors Directors

Height: 5'10" (178 cm ), 5'10" Males

Notable Alumni: Miami Dade College

Ancestry: Italian American , French American

U.S. State: New Yorkers

education: University Of Miami, Miami Dade College

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Sylvester Stallone

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• Pennsylvania Center for the Book - Sylvester Stallone
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Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946, New York , New York, U.S.) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director who was perhaps best known for creating and starring in the Rocky and Rambo film series, which made him an icon in the action genre .

Stallone was born at a charity hospital in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City . Forceps used during his birth damaged a facial nerve , leaving him with a droopy left eyelid and a speech impediment . After spending much of his infancy in boarding care, Stallone rejoined his family and moved with them to Maryland when he was five. Stallone initially stayed with his father following his parents’ divorce in 1957, but at age 15 he joined his remarried mother in Philadelphia . Because of his history of expulsion from schools, he attended a private school for troubled teenagers.

Stallone became interested in acting while attending the American College of Switzerland, and he returned to the United States to study at the University of Miami . Just a few credits short of graduation, he moved to New York City, where he struggled to find work. In 1970 he made his screen debut starring in an adult film, The Party at Kitty and Stud’s (later renamed The Italian Stallion ). He subsequently began appearing in more-mainstream fare, with uncredited roles in such movies as Woody Allen ’s Bananas and Klute (both 1971). During that time Stallone moved to Hollywood, and his first role of note was in The Lords of Flatbush (1974), a dramedy about Brooklyn teenagers in the 1950s. Although more film and television work followed, Stallone struggled to break through.

A match between Muhammad Ali and a relatively obscure boxer named Chuck Wepner inspired Stallone to pen the script for Rocky . Although producers originally wanted someone well-known to play the title character, Stallone refused to sell the story unless he could star as the underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. A critical and commercial success, the film was the highest-grossing movie of 1976. In addition, Stallone earned Academy Award nominations for his acting and screenplay, and the film won best picture honours. Seven sequels ( 1979, 1982 , 1985 , 1990, 2006, 2015, and 2018) followed, with Stallone directing four of them. The 2015 installment, Creed , was the only sequel not written by Stallone; he cowrote the next installment Creed II (2018). The Creed films featured Rocky Balboa as a boxing trainer and earned strong reviews. Stallone received his third Oscar nomination for Creed as best supporting actor.

Between the Rocky sequels, Stallone appeared in several forgettable action thrillers. In 1982, however, he starred as ex-Green Beret John Rambo in First Blood , which launched another highly successful series. He cowrote the first film as well as the subsequent installments— Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008; Stallone also directed), and Rambo: Last Blood (2019)—all of which featured physical prowess, dazzling special effects , and constant action.

Stallone continued that formula in such thrillers as Demolition Man (1993), Cliffhanger (1993), which he also cowrote, The Specialist (1994), Assassins (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), and Get Carter (2000). Although most of those films had only limited success at the box office in the United States, Stallone’s ability to attract audiences overseas proved enormous. In 2010 he cowrote, directed, and starred in The Expendables , a thriller about a team of mercenaries (played by Jason Statham , Jet Li , and Dolph Lundgren, among others). Popular with moviegoers, it was followed by three sequels ( 2012 , 2014 , and 2023).

Stallone occasionally ventured from the action genre, with mixed results. He starred in the comedies Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992), both of which had modest success. He received better reviews for the 1997 drama Cop Land , for which he temporarily shed his sculpted physique and gained weight for his role as a powerless sheriff. In a comedic take on boxing, Stallone starred opposite Robert De Niro in Grudge Match (2013), about aging rivals who stage a rematch. In the TV series Tulsa King (2022– ), Stallone played a mafia boss who, after being released from prison, attempts to rebuild his empire. He also wrote and directed Staying Alive (1983), a poorly received sequel to Saturday Night Fever (1977); both films starred John Travolta .

In addition to his film work, Stallone was a noted art collector and painter. In 1991 he became an investor in the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain; other actors involved in the venture included Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger .

‘Sly’ Review: Sylvester Stallone Documentary Is a Portrait in Restlessness

Toronto Film Festival: Thom Zimny’s Netflix documentary finds the iconic actor pacing his halls and rummaging through his memories

“Do I have regrets?” asks Sylvester Stallone at the beginning of “Sly,” the Thom Zimny documentary about him that served as the closing-night film at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday. “Hell yeah, I have regrets.”

Putting that quote up front is a smart way to introduce a film about the man whose career sometimes seems to have resulted in equal parts iconography and mockery. The actor, screenwriter and director created the classic characters Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, but struggled to find respect and made more than his share of terrible films.

Another smart move: New conversations with Stallone run throughout the film, but these are not the usual talking-head interviews in which the subject sits in a chair and runs through his life. Instead, Stallone almost always talks to the camera while standing up and moving around.

Zimny’s camera stays on the go, bobbing and weaving like a prize-fighter as Stallone walks down the hall or simply shifts his weigh in mid-sentence. It’s a dance of sorts, one that creates an image of a restless man in motion – and for a star whose physicality is a big part of his success, it makes perfect sense. (In one of the few interviews done with him sitting down, he’s in a moving car.)

Much of the Netflix film takes place in a lavish home that Stallone is leaving, and the boxes he’s packing serve as a central metaphor for “Sly.” He rummages through his memories and packs away countless sculptures of his most iconic creations, Rocky and Rambo.  

(There are also three Academy Award statuettes on a shelf in the house, which is curious — the original “Rocky” won three Oscars, but they went to producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, director John G. Avildsen and editors Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad. Stallone himself was nominated for two Oscars for “Rocky” in 1976 and one for “Creed” in 2015, but he never won.)

Some of the film plays like mythmaking while some of it, particularly when it’s dealing with Stallone’s father, plays like confessional. There’s a certain grandeur to the way the actor carries himself, but also enough of a sense of humor that the grandeur doesn’t become overbearing.  

For Zimny, this is relatively new territory. The director and editor has worked on shows like “The Wire” and “Independent Lens” as an editor, but as a director he’s best known for his work on music-related films, including “Willie Nelson & Family,” “Elvis Presley: The Searcher,” “The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash” and almost 30 documentaries, music videos and concert films with Bruce Springsteen.  

Stallone, though, is not about the music — as the few who’ve seen his lamentable teamup with Dolly Parton in the 1984 flop “Rhinestone” can attest. His story is that of a kid from Hell’s Kitchen in New York City who somehow got into acting, then discovered that if he wanted good roles, he’d better write them himself — or at least rewrite his lines, as he did in “The Lords of Flatbush.” That was the first movie for which he received any real attention. (Quentin Tarantino shows up in “Sly” to sing its praises.)

Stallone headed to Los Angeles in search of a movie career, but his car broke down at the corner of Hollywood and Vine as soon as he got there — so he called the only person he knew in L.A., his “Flatbush” co-star Henry Winkler. The famously kind Fonz actor helped Stallone get settled.

And then he struggled to find work, until he wrote a screenplay about a down-on-his-luck palooka who, after a few rewrites, became a boxer named Rocky Balboa. “He was a bum, he was Terry Malloy in ‘On the Waterfront,’” Stallone says of the character, which he famously insisted on playing himself.

“Rocky” made Stallone a star, but it also typecast him as a loveable but inarticulate thug. It was a hard act to follow until he wrote, directed and starred in its 1979 sequel, then took the role of an embittered Vietnam vet in the 1982 drama “First Blood,” which launched the John Rambo character.

At the time, Stallone’s mother, astrologer and promoter Jackie Stallone was often in the news. But in “Sly,” Jackie is far less of a presence than her husband, Frank Stallone Sr., a barber who according to the film was competitive with and brutal toward his son.

“I know I got a certain kind of ferocity from my father,” says Stallone. He goes on to describe the original Rambo character as a homicidal maniac and then says, “My father was Rambo in reality.”

Stories of his father run throughout the film and provide many of its saddest moments. After “Rocky” was a hit, his dad approached Stallone’s friend, director John Herzfeld, with a script he’d written for a boxing movie. “He was still competing with his son,” says Herzfeld.

And at the height of Stallone’s success, he once again took up polo, a sport he’d excelled in as a child, and invited his dad to participate in a match. During the action, his father hit him in the back with his mallet, knocking him to the ground and out of the game. Afterwards, Stallone sold everything — horses, trucks, ranch — and never played again.

Frank Stallone Sr. is an uncomfortable if revelatory presence throughout “Sly,” but he’s not the only obstacle his son faced after making it big.

“I always tell people, don’t watch the second half of any biography of a star,” Stallone says, and his bio has some of that rise-and-fall arc as he tries to figure out if viewers are interested in him playing anything other than an action hero. “Don’t sit there and try to do Shakespeare,” he concludes, “if you look like me.”

But Stallone managed to honor his legacy and gain respect with 2006’s “Rocky Balboa” (his proudest achievement) and then with “Creed” in 2015. These days, it seems, the physical toll of all those action movies has slowed him down, and his priorities are visibly shifting. When the conversation turns to his third wife, Jennifer Flavin, and his five children, he actually sits down at the kitchen table to talk about making time for family.

And then, of course, he stands up in the middle of a sentence. Because if “Sly” shows us anything, it’s that Stallone can’t be a talking head unless he’s also a walking head.

Mixing familiar stories with fresh insights, Zimny’s film is a portrait in restlessness, a picture of a man who has been both wildly successful and thoroughly dismissed — sometimes simultaneously. It won’t change your mind about the guy either way, but it’ll show some of the heart and the brain behind the muscles.

And it’ll let Stallone restate the case he’s been making for decades, sometimes in the strangest of ways. “I’m in the hope business, and I just hate sad endings,” he says. “Sorry, shoot me.”

“Sly” will be released by Netflix.

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Frank Stallone's new documentary: Growing up with Sly, boxing Geraldo

Frank Stallone, younger brother to Sylvester Stallone, has a new documentary out titled, Stallone: Frank, That Is .

The actor and singer/songwriter recently spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about his wide-ranging career in showbiz, and his relationship with his brother.

"I never felt the shadow," he said about how his brother's fame gradually eclipsing his. "Everyone else thought I was in the shadow ... and that has been kind of a theme for the last 40 years."

However, he added that it's not always easy being Sly's younger brother.

"Is it frustrating? Absolutely. Does the name help? No way," he said. "Maybe getting a seat in a restaurant with a good looking girl. But other than that, no, because you're being second guessed."

Video Transcript

- Frank Stallone.

SYLVESTER STALLONE: In his world and his talent, he's every bit as good as I am at what I try to do.

ETHAN ALTER: It's mentioned the documentary, but we don't hear your side of it. I wanted to touch on the Geraldo Rivera boxing match. He talked about it a little bit. But we don't get your side of it. How did that all come together? What are your memories of doing it? It's one of those great, sort of weird occurrences.

FRANK STALLONE: Yeah. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was going up to Howard Stern promoting something. And as I was walking up, Andrew Dice Clay was in the studio. And there were on the speakerphone with Geraldo. 'Cause Geraldo started getting into boxing and stuff.

And he said, I'll fight any celebrity. And he goes, "And you too, Andrew," who goes, (IMPERSONATING ANDREW DICE CLAY) I don't want to fight." You know? So I'm standing there, and I hadn't been in the ring in 12 years. Well, "You want to fight for Geraldo?" I go, not really. Not really, no, I don't.

So all of a sudden, Howard gets a whiff of it and he won't leave me alone. He goes, "Oh, you know, it'll be for charity now." Now, it's Geraldo's charity. I'm getting nothing out of this. So I said, OK, whatever.

And my brother's freaking out. He goes, if you get beaten by a newscaster, it just kills our whole dynasty and "Rocky." You'll just kill the whole series. So we do the fight.

- And here comes Frank Stallone with a right hand. And again, Rivera trying just to hang on.

FRANK STALLONE: I busted my right hand. I took it seriously enough, my hand was wrapped for months. I wasn't even aware of it. I remember in the first round-- I'll never forget. I was sitting in the corner. And my chest was not even moving. I was gassed. I had this look on my face like a deer in headlights. I go, God, all mighty.

And, you know, I slipped. They said it was a knockdown. It was not. And I won the fight. And Geraldo had to look on his face like, "Oh, now Frank's gonna go off on me," which I didn't do. I said, you know, he's a great guy. I said, all credit to him. When I walked out, there was like 8,000 people in the street. It was amazing, man.

ETHAN ALTER: Well, you do allude in the documentary to the waxing and waning of your relationship with Sylvester and how that went over the years.

FRANK STALLONE: Yeah.

ETHAN ALTER: What was the hardest period of your lives where you were most at odds?

FRANK STALLONE: When "Rocky" came out, I think no one was even more surprised than he was. So I don't think that was an easy time-- I mean, to be a guy that's totally obscure-- to be this young, handsome guy and just all of a sudden overnight be the biggest thing in movie history at that point. So we had some little things.

I mean, I was living in a dump in Trenton, New Jersey for $80 a month. And here's "Rocky." But when I was boxing, it was bad, because now everyone wanted to beat me up. I mean, I'll just go ahead and admit, I said, thought we were friends. "Nah, man. I will knock Rocky's brother out." Like, come on.

I never felt the shadow. Everyone else thought I was in the shadow. I mean, and that has been kind of a theme for the last 40 years. What's it feel like to be-- I said, I don't feel like him. You feel like I am. I said, is it frustrating? Absolutely. Does the name help? No way. Maybe getting a receipt in a restaurant with a good looking girl.

ETHAN ALTER: Based on your experience, what advice do you have to give celebrity siblings in Hollywood, when people come up to you and if they have a famous brother or sister and they're arguing and stuff?

FRANK STALLONE: I'd say find another line of work. Because, dude, I got hammered. I even talk to my beautiful nieces. And they're both, like, 10's. They're beautiful. And I said, you really haven't gotten hit with the hammer yet.

I mean, no one got hammered worse than me. I mean, nobody. And I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, I had my own thing going on. And it's tough. But I've had people say to me, "Hey, why don't you change your name"? I said, 40 years after the fact? You know? I mean, some people are just unbelievable, man.

ETHAN ALTER: And he's certainly had his ups and downs as--

FRANK STALLONE: Oh, sure.

ETHAN ALTER: When he's been down, what have you said to him when he's coming off something like "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot"?

FRANK STALLONE: I said, hey, how's it feel? Now you know what it feels like. I said, I'd like to feel sorry for you but that new Lamborghini out front kind of kills it.

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Sylvester stallone getting a netflix documentary.

The action icon's documentary follows one about his longtime friend and box office rival Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By James Hibberd

James Hibberd

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Sylvester Stallone is getting a career-spanning documentary on Netflix .

The action icon will be profiled in the upcoming project titled Sly .

The announcement comes on the heels of Netflix rolling out a three-part documentary series about Stallone’s friend and former box office rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, titled Arnold .

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The big-screen star has been enjoying a career resurgence lately on television with the Paramount+ dramedy Tulsa King , which has been renewed for a second season, and his Paramount+ family reality show, The Family Stallone , which just finished airing its eight episodes and has also been renewed for a second season.

Last fall, Stallone sat for a deep-dive interview with The Hollywood Reporter , in which he talked about the projects and his career hits and regrets. “I feel very immature,” he said. “I’ve always been averse to the quote ‘Act your age.’ Or ‘Age gracefully.’ How do you age gracefully? There’s nothing graceful about you. The older I get, the more I try to embrace my inner kid.”

One thing’s pretty certain: Their fellow action hero turned TV star Harrison Ford won’t be sitting for a documentary anytime soon.

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