The movie Sylvester Stallone said “altered my life completely”
Sylvester Stallone is the ultimate example of a Hollywood success story. Like his boxing alter ego in Rocky, Stallone came from nothing and built himself up as one of the most incredible action stars in his field, crafting a tale of perseverance and never giving up in the face of defeat. Even though there’s a lot of persistence needed to become an actor, Stallone found inspiration from one of the first significant tales of perseverance.
Before Stallone became one of the biggest action stars in the world, though, the look of the average bodybuilder actor looked much different. Although Rocky changed the feeling of what an action star was supposed to be, the early stages of action in cinema tended to cater towards people like Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry and Sean Connery’s turn as James Bond, with an attention to their proper side rather than the animalistic part of their personality.
While Stallone may not have fit that description at the start of his career, he singled out one film that turned his world upside down. When talking about what made him want to become an actor, Stallone recalled, “I went to see a film one day, and it altered my life completely. It was Steve Reeves and Hercules Unchained. When he struck that pose, I had an epiphany. I said, ‘That’s what I want to be’.”
Having turned in time as a bodybuilder, Reeves had begun his film career in various uncredited roles in the 1950s. When the first Hercules movie was presented to him, moviegoers got a look at how Hollywood could portray a god among men, towering over the rest of his co-stars as one of the biggest men among gods.
At first, Stallone didn’t focus on the acting method, knowing that he had to get into good enough shape to rival what Reeves was doing, explaining, “I ran out of the theatre and went to a junkyard and started lifting little brake drums or anything I could lift.” While the long hours of lifting may have been gruelling work at the time, Stallone wouldn’t be rewarded for his efforts until a few years later.
When presenting the film Rocky, Stallone made sure he was in the best physique possible to take on the massive boxing scenes. Although there was a particular build that he needed to have to even take on a role like that, Stallone never skimped out on making sure that the story held up just as well.
One of the other lessons from Hercules Unchained came from its central story. While Reeves’s portrayal of the Greek legend looked unstoppable, seeing him getting captured and suffering from memory loss brought him back down to Earth, making it all the more satisfying when he’s able to overcome adversity and win the day by the end of the film.
Outside of the labour onscreen, Stallone kept the heart of Reeves’s role going in his own films, saying, “A lot of action guys have no heart, and you can see in their films, all they do is kick ass. They never get hurt, ever. That’s not real. The audience can’t relate to that. Everybody gets hurt, whether it’s metaphorically, symbolically, they get hurt, and you root for that person to get up because we all get knocked down.”
Regardless of the superhuman feats of strength that might pop up in Hercules Unchained, Stallone knows more goes into a movie than just the spectacle. In a world where every action star appears indestructible, Stallone knows the power of airing his vulnerabilities onscreen.
