“I was done”: Sylvester Stallone reflects on rejection and redemption in trailer to Netflix documentary ‘Sly’
Netflix has debuted the trailer to its documentary Sly, about the unlikely rise, the unexpected fall and the later-in-life redemption of Sylvester Stallone.
The film, which drops on November 3, tracks Stallone’s career starting as an unknown actor who was once considered “uncastable.”
He remained undeterred. “The rejection became my encouragement,” Stallone says in the coming attraction.
He had given up acting, but he had a way out. “At that point I knew my fate was determined on the pen.”
The actor wrote a little film called Rocky and insisted he play the lead role. That would have been the Hollywood ending, but his career taking off and turning him into one of the biggest box office stars of the ’80s wasn’t the end of the story.
“When Stallone became famous, he wasn’t expecting the downside,” Quentin Tarantino says.
Sly admits he put his career before anything else, including his family.
“I lost everything,” he says.
The now-77-year-old filmmaker also reflected, “Could I actually go back and start over again? Not without family.”
Stallone hopes his documentary can inspire people the way his career did, people who have been overlooked — underdogs like Rocky Balboa.
“I am in the hope business,” the Expendables franchise lead and Tulsa King star says.
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