BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 7, 2000 — Sylvester Stallone was 30 years old when “Rocky” made him a phenomenon.
Since then, he’s endured sequels, high pay, box office stinkers, marriages, divorces, births, and the rise (and fall) of Planet Hollywood.
He may have been down, but never count the Italian Stallion out. Now an older, wiser 54-year-old family man (he’s been married since 1997 to Jennifer Flavin; they have two young daughters), Stallone is back on the big screen, three years after his last major role in “Cop Land.”
The target this time is “Get Carter,” an action thriller that puts Stallone back where he (arguably) belongs: with a gun in his hand.
A remake of the 1971 film starring Michael Caine, the film follows Jack Carter (Stallone), a mob enforcer living in New York, who travels back to his hometown of Los Angeles for his brother’s funeral. When Carter discovers that the death may have been a murder, he sets out to find the responsible parties.
Hollywood.com recently sat down with the action star, who discusses the challenges of remaking a film, playing the hero and his own career regrets.
How is this version different than the original?
Sylvester Stallone: [The original Carter] was very pure in the sense that he was tough; he was a leg-breaker, and he was totally consumed by himself. He didn’t have the ability or want to care about anyone. So eventually this nihilistic approach eventually costs him his life at the end. … My character comes in, and there’s a part of him that wants to get back to some semblance of life. But he realizes that his life has been living in the dark, chasing bad guys. … I’m a big sucker for redemption. So he finds the door open but perhaps he can do something that can keep him at least in touch with some sense of humanity.
Weren’t you nervous about doing a remake?
Stallone: The original script that came to me was very similar to the original. You can’t; if you’re gonna remake ‘Psycho,’ you shouldn’t do it shot for shot, it’s kind of risky [laughs]. … Time moves so fast that what was good for that generation and a half ago, it doesn’t work here. Every generation has to discover their own actors, their own part, their own music, their own sensibilities.
[Me and the director] did a 99% rewrite. Take the essence of the book and try to make it fresh. Otherwise, why don’t people go back and see the original? … I wanted you to feel as though some sense of good came out of all the bad. In the original, it starts off bad and ends badly for everybody.
Do you like playing the hero?
Stallone: I like the antihero that’s really not happy being the antihero, but that’s his life. … I believe that 90 percent of us are misunderstood by other people … people tend to get a wrong impression all the time. So I tend to like to play a character that you’ve judged wrongly, and his deeds will prove to be a little more noble or heroic, like in “Cop Land.”
…that kind of person can surprise you and do a very heroic thing, because they deal with nonphysical courage, which is the most extraordinary courage — when a man knows that he physically cannot win, but he will make every attempt to do so. It’s a martyr syndrome. Those kind of characters appeal to me.
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Would you ever return to comedy?
Stallone: Comedy is difficult if you’re trying to wear someone else’s style of comedy. If you have an acerbic wit and they try to make you … toothless kind of comedy, it’s very bland. … So when I was put on “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,” I thought “This will be like ‘Throw Momma From the Train’ or ‘Where’s Poppa.’ … Then they say, “Oh no, we’re gonna hire Estelle Getty, the most beloved grandmother, and you’re gonna be this toothless cop who’s bumbling and very nice and doesn’t want to eat his waffles in the morning.” And I said, “You’re joking.” And they said, “No, no.” And I said, “We’re gonna bomb on this one, baby.”
Did you ever do a movie because you thought it was what the audience wanted — and regret it?
Stallone: I thought the audience wanted to see the final chapter in “Rocky V.” But … the audience didn’t want to see the downside or the demise of [Rocky]. And I should’ve known that because I feel the same way. Every time they do a biography — have you ever seen A&E’s “Biography”? Don’t watch the last 20 minutes … “And then he turned 49. The money was gone, his wife left him…” It’s unbelievable. “And then she discovered a lump on her breast.” It starts out great, great, great. That’s the same premise on “Rocky.” So that’s always bothered me a little bit because I misjudged it. But I didn’t know how long I could stay on top.
What about directing? What was your experience helming “Staying Alive”?
Stallone: I [got bored] on the second day of filming. I enjoyed the process of getting John [Travolta] ready and writing the script. … On the second day of filming I turned to the assistant director and said, “What am I doing with 100 dancers on the stage, and a smoke machine and confetti? This is not my world.” So I was tuned out from the second day. I didn’t get it, I couldn’t relate to it. … So if I could do it again, I would make it much harder-edged.
I have a beautiful family now, and the first time I was literally gone 10 months a year. I wouldn’t want to do that again.
“Get Carter” opens Oct. 6.
