popular thinking

By Sean L. McCarthy
Sylvester Stallone has defied critics by stepping back into the boxing ring one more time as Rocky Balboa, which opens today as a fittingly corny tribute to his cinematic icon. Stallone hopes to defy conventional wisdom once more with a fourth Rambo movie. Then he’ll set his sights on Edgar Allan Poe.

No, really. For at least the past 25 years, Stallone has said he has wanted to make a Poe biopic, and when he met me earlier this month, he said Poe remains atop Stallone’s to-do list. Why Poe?

Stallone, 60, traced back his interest to a pre-Rocky visit to the New York Public Library, when a security guard showed the young Sly around the archives. “He brought out some writing from Poe, and the way it was constructed,” Stallone said. “Poe used to split his page in half and glue one end to the other, kind of like a roll of paper so you could get more words on it…it would go on for 20 feet. And I just got hooked on it. I went home and started reading about him, and that he was America’s most misunderstood artist, and I thought misunderstood youth, misunderstood. I like that. He had two personalities. He had his public one and his private one. Sounds like a few people I know.”

Sounds like Stallone is claiming he’s misunderstood, too.

“A little bit, a little bit,” he said. “But the more I read, the more I realized that (Poe) truly had an incredible genius. But I felt it represented not just me, it represented just about everybody. You know, people think they know you, because you have a public workplace face, and then you have the private face. And it’s two different things. He’s got an interesting take. I wanted, maybe I could write about that.”

In Rocky Balboa, Rocky describes how people eventually become part of their surroundings. So much of this movie sounds autobiographical, leading viewers to wonder when Stallone is speaking for himself and when he is speaking as Rocky.

“I think it’s safe to say they’re interchangeable throughout the entire series,” he said. “The only one (that wasn’t) was in Rocky V, where I really didn’t tap into what I was feeling at the time, and the character was not emoting anything that was pertinent to the audience, meaningful to the audience, and the film suffered for that. And for years and years I have felt this regret. That is why it was so important for me to have the character go out the way it should’ve gone out. See, Rocky, there should’ve been no V, this should’ve been V.”

How important is it as an artist and as a person to write your own farewell script? “That’s a good point,” he chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose, that’s rare. It has been of the utmost importance to me. It has been so important that I consider this to be the most important film I have ever done. Because it’s the one I put in what I’ve learned in life. When I did the first one, Rocky, I really didn’t know that much about life, and Rocky himself was naïve. This fella here is worldly. As you get older, you deal with loss, grief, profound subjects in your life, so this one was by far the most enjoyable for me.”

Writing his own experiences into the film just felt right. “There’s no getting around it,” he said. “I was influenced when I was 12 years old – I went to Jack Dempsey’s restaurant. And I saw him standing, telling stories, sitting by the cash register, behind him was a mural of him fighting Jess Willard, which we duplicated in Rocky Balboa, with him fighting Apollo Creed and telling stories. That’s where an athlete lives. He lives in the past quite often. And Rocky wouldn’t have minded doing that for the rest of his life if Adrian was still alive, it’s just it takes on a sad tone now. But yeah, I think, see, Rocky is a unique experience to be a part of, because the character really strives to be autobiographical. That’s what makes it work. But there’s always been, since the beginning, you know, is Rocky the first one my story? Yeah, in a way it was. I’m trying to get recognized as an artist, they say, oh, that’s not such an interesting thing. Yeah, well, put him in the body of a fighter. And then you realize what made it work is everybody is an underdog. Everybody. Even billionaires think they’re an underdog. Everyone has this…There are very few overdogs in the world.”

Stallone even wrote the debate over his Rocky statue into the script. It has appeared at various times atop the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, moved over to the Spectrum, and recently found a new spot near the bottom of the museum steps. “I just thought that was a funny line,” Stallone said. “But Rocky’s response to it, when (Paulie) goes, ‘Oh, What are you mad because they took your statue away?’ He goes, ‘Noooo!’ Paulie doesn’t get it. Rocky is not that superficial. He doesn’t care about the statue. He’s dealing with these life and death issues and his brother-in-law’s thinking about really superficial ones.”

Stallone maintained he’s OK with the statue where it is now: “I never thought, never thought the statue should be at the top of the museum steps, ever. I collect art. And I think a museum and the art council should have a say-so in what goes there. Especially in that spot, which would I think distract from the architecture of the building. You know what I mean? They would’ve put something there if they wanted it. When they placed Rocky at the bottom of the steps, off to the side, which doesn’t impede on the, you wouldn’t even know it was there. It’s perfect. I was more than happy.”

As for the Rocky franchise, which opened 30 years ago with a Best Picture Oscar, Stallone said he got a bit lucky, coming along at the right place at the right time. “It all came together at a particular time in the 1970s, when there was an abundance of anti-heroes. And a lack of sentimentality,” he said. “When you think about the films that Rocky was up against (Taxi Driver, Network, All the President’s Men, Bound for Glory), of the group, that’s the one that really was more fantasy-driven, and incredibly idealistic. The other ones are fantastic, you know. Believe me, I couldn’t believe we won.”

Some would say they cannot believe a 60-year-old could or would box again, even in an exhibition match. But Stallone pointed to Larry Holmes, who fought into his 50s. George Foreman famously made a comeback in middle age. And then there are pro wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, still grappling to the point where they’re old enough to be their opponents’ fathers. Does Stallone feel any sympathy for the Hulkster, who he faced in Rocky III? “In his heart his body is trashed and savagely beaten up, and his shoulder’s demolished,” Stallone said of Hogan. “But there’s a part of him that’s just, he doesn’t need the money. He just wants to be part of the parade. And I get it. I love people like that because for him, to climb up those three steps, is hard. You know. He’s going to take a beating. People say wrestling is fake. But you can’t fake gravity. And I’ve been in there with him, and I know, when you hit the canvas, it hurts!”

Stallone is proud to know he not only created a movie character known around the world, but also an icon who has served as inspiration for a generation of boxers. “I like to say that I thought that was part of the grand scheme of things, but I feel incredibly blessed to have tapped into something, by accident, that they can relate to,” he said. “And it’s the same thing that everyone who watches the film relates to, is that Rocky is not gifted. He’s not exceptional. But he is brave. And he has heart. He’s fearful, but he still performs and I think that’s the way I am and that’s the way most people are. I’m scared, but I’m going to do it anyway.”