The one movie Sylvester Stallone will always regret: “The biggest mistake I ever made”
Sylvester Stallone’s rise to the top of Hollywood is truly extraordinary, a journey that reflects the grit, determination and ambition it takes to achieve the American dream. There are few performers in Hollywood who can boast a fairytale story on their resume, but how Stallone managed to achieve greatness, writing and starring in Rocky — itself a bastion of the American dream — is one of the few genuinely pure moments in cinema history.
Going from rags to riches largely off his own back, the towering action hero, famous for roles as the resilient boxer Rocky Balboa and the machine-gun-wielding Rambo, thoroughly deserves his position in the industry as an actor, writer, producer and director. It’s a position he has acquired through grit and determination, and not without a few issues along the way.
Brought into the world in 1946, Stallone endured a tricky start. A troubled birth led to the actor injuring several nerves, resulting in paralysis in parts of his face that would result in his signature slurred speech. This didn’t hold the ambitious young drama enthusiast back, and in 1969, he would appear in his very first film role in Edmond Chevie’s The Square Root.
Enjoying further success through the 1970s in such movies as Death Race 2000 and Farewell, My Lovely, Stallone’s most significant victory came in 1976 with the release of Rocky, rocketing the actor to international acclaim. Winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Stallone’s movie became an American sensation, with the effort to create the boxing feature being as heroic as the protagonist’s own sensational story.
The film undoubtedly remains the actor’s greatest-ever release, even after almost half a century, and several other iconic movies to his name, including First Blood and Judge Dredd. Those two pictures are arguably as iconic as Stallone himself, so drenched as they are in cult fandom. However, the latter picture has always been a sore spot for Stallone.
While fans may love Stallone’s original take on Judge Dredd’s comic-book character, the actor wasn’t quite as delighted with the 1995 flick. Speaking at a press conference to promote the sequel movie Rambo in 2008, the actor surprised audiences by commenting on the ’90s movie, stating, “The biggest mistake I ever made was with the sloppy handling of Judge Dredd“. For those aghast at Stallone’s c moments, it’s worth reminding that the creators of any art never have the pleasure of viewing it without seeing the moving parts and unwelcomed mistakes within it.
Clarifying his position on the comic-book movie, he added, “It could have been a fantastic, nihilistic, interesting vision of the future – judge, jury and executioner. That [film] really bothered me a great deal”. Starring Stallone as a police officer in the distant future who has the power to judge, sentence and kill on-site, the film, directed by Danny Cannon, embraced the bombastic energy of action filmmaking in the 1990s but, when compared to its 2012 re-imagining, pales in comparison.
Rather than remove the character and story from the real world, the film leans toward pop references, something which not only immediately dates the movie, but also sends out the wrong message that Dreed is a character for the ages. Highly disappointed with how it turned out, the actor adds: “With all the pop culture, that really bothered me a great deal. I thought it was a fantastic concept, but somebody has to take the fall when things don’t work – and because I was the most recognisable, highest profile”.
Re-imagined in 2012 by director Pete Travis and screenwriter Alex Garland, Dredd is a fan-favourite among contemporary cinephiles for its frenetic comic-book violence and memorable cinematography. Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey, fans have long been requesting a sequel, with Lionsgate considering a move to make another movie about the Judge and Mega-City One.
