More than thirty-five years after his breakthrough turn as the Italian Stallion in 1976’s Rocky, Sylvester Stallone remains one the biggest names in the action genre, having dragged himself out of a mid-career slump in recent years with hits such as Rocky Balboa, Rambo and The Expendables. Despite the fact he’s now pushing 66 years of age, Stallone is showing little signs of slowing down, with two major releases set to arrive this year in Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head and the Simon West-directed sequel The Expendables 2, which sees Sly joining a who’s who of action stars including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In a fascinating interview with Brian D. Johnson of Macleans.ca (via AICN), Stallone has taken some time to reflect on his extraordinary career, covering a range of topics from his acting influences, turning down roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and Death Proof, his feud and subsequent friendship with rival action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, their upcoming collaboration on The Tomb, and of course his two signature roles and Rocky Balboa and John J. Rambo. Most intriguingly, he also touched upon his future plans for the Vietnam veteran: “I’m dying to do another Rambo. He’s in Arizona on the border. It will involve him going into Mexico. I don’t think Rambo likes Mexicans.”
Sly also went on to drop what should be considered a major spoiler for Rambo’s proposed fifth outing, which we’ll leave you to check out via the interview link should you so wish. Still, here’s a clue… there certainly won’t be a sixth.
The Expendables 2 arrives on August 17th, while Bullet to the Head has been pushed back from its original April release date and is now expected to hit cinemas in November or December of this year.
Originally published March 9, 2012. Updated November 6, 2019.
