No one comes out and says it, but with his 80th birthday looming in the not-too distant future, Sylvester Stallone knows there are probably some people who wonder why he hasn’t retired.
The veteran movie star has enjoyed just as many onscreen comebacks as his iconic Rocky Balboa character. But it’s his latest role as an exiled mob boss in Tulsa King that has offered the Oscar nominee a new challenge that he can’t seem to get enough of.
“It’s very invigorating,” Stallone says of his latest screen incarnation Dwight Manfredi. “It’s even more challenging than doing a feature because when you add up all the time it takes to do a season, it’s like you’ve done five Rocky movies in one season of Tulsa King,” he says.
This season, as he dives further into a relationship with a ranch owner (played by Dana Delany), he finds himself under the thumb of Kevin Pollak’s Special Agent Musso and at odds with the nefarious Dunmire family, led by Robert Patrick.
Dwight is also reacquainted with an old prison pal (played by Samuel L. Jackson, who will be getting his own Tulsa King spinoff next year).
Speaking via Zoom from New York City, Stallone spoke more about the new season of Tulsa King and looked back on his fateful decision when it came to playing Rocky in the film that changed his life.
So far in Tulsa King, Dwight has faced off against some pretty bad guys. This season, though, it seems like the walls are closing in on him. What is in store for him and his crew?
Well, you’re right. It’s like a vice just coming in on Dwight. Just when he thinks he has it together, the FBI steps in and tells him that he’s going to do stuff for them that they don’t even want to do. It’s too nasty. Then there’s gangsters coming in from New York. We’ve never seen this guy, but he’s the boss of bosses.
You’re a charming guy and so is Dwight. I know you’re not murdering people, but how much of yourself is in Dwight Manfredi?
I would say, no joke, probably every ounce of my being is in there. I wanted to try and experiment, at this age, to actually play my real personality. If you and I went out to have dinner, this is exactly who you would get. So, I thought if I could do that with Dwight, people are going to see the most honest interpretation of Sylvester Stallone. It’s also an original interpretation of a gangster.
You have starred in some of the biggest movies on the planet. Was doing a TV show something you had been looking to do?
It was because I saw the death rattle of films. It’s going through a horrible transition and I don’t know if it’s ever going to recover. So much of cinema today is messaging, messaging and it’s too much. I’m into escapism and knowing Tulsa King doesn’t exist. It’s a f—ing mirage. It’s entertainment designed to take you away from your life for an hour or so. That’s about that. I just love it. But it’s much harder than features; and I’ve done some rough features, shooting in a 140 degrees in the desert. Nothing is as rough as this kind of show. Just as you’re sitting down, someone’s yelling, ‘It’s time to go.’ You’re in the army!
Growing up, I always thought you were an overnight success with the first Rocky movie. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned how the studio didn’t want you to star in that film and even offered you money not to star in it.
They offered me a fortune. Actually, they wanted me to write a book about my life starting in 1969 when I landed in New York, not knowing one person, $80 in my pocket. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep. I was lonely, scared. Then a couple of years later, fame happens. But in those three or four years, it was hellacious. I’m going to put that on paper (in his upcoming memoir The Steps). But what you’re talking about, they offered me $30,000 for Rocky. You understand, I had $106, period … That was it. Then for some reason, like two people at an auction, the studios kept bidding against one another. It went up to $80,000. Now $80,000 was like $400,000 today. Then it was $200,000, which is like a million dollars. Then it went to $360,000, but I couldn’t let it go. I knew it was like giving my child away. I knew I would never get an opportunity to play a character like that. I tried to accentuate all my strengths and get rid of all my flaws (in writing Rocky). I was built to play this character. If I gave it away, I knew I would live in self-loathing for having given up. This was my only chance. I was never going to get a good part. I could tell I was always going to be the gangster, the thug, the bully and by the time I was 40 I was going to be done. (The Steps) is the story of that odyssey.
Season 3 of Tulsa King is now streaming on Paramount+ with new episodes airing Sunday night.
mdaniell@postmedia.com
