Can Sly Stallone Save Our World?

(Venice, Italy) I just came from Sylvester Stallone's press conference where a journalist from Buenos Aires asked him:

"You are a hero. Are you able to save our world?"

And I thought -- there's the answer! Where is Rambo? Where are all the real-life heroes???? All we have these days are video games and celluloid heroes. Sure, Sly and Arnold and Bruce will be together on screen for The Expendables next year, but we need real help right here right now!

Sly took a beat and then laughed after he heard the question. He said, "No, it's going to take more than someone like me to save the world." He said that a hero is someone who conquers his fear and tries to do the deed, even if he dies. That you give your life for something greater than yourself.

Sly is here because he is receiving the Jaeger-Lecoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award, which he said is a privilege and has given him a new vitality. He's also showing a trailer of The Expendables and screening the Director's Cut of Rambo.

Someone said that Mickey Rourke (who is also in The Expendables) said last year when he was here in Venice that he "owed" Stallone, and Sly said, "Everybody owes somebody something. He doesn't owe me anything. In Hollywood, the definition of a friend is someone who stabs you in the chest, not in the back." He said he and Bruce and Arnold have known each other for twenty-five years and that they have a long history together.

A question was asked about how he felt about sequels, and he said that if it weren't for Rambo and Rocky he would not be here today. Rocky and Rambo are part of the collective image. A male journalist said he used to pretend he was Rambo when he was a boy. Sly said that he used to pretend he was Robin Hood. He said that young males need a masculine image and need to do heroic deeds.

I agree. Men are different than women, and, by nature, men need to do heroic deeds. So, here is a question for the guys: WHY AREN'T MEN, AS A GROUP, RISKING THEIR LIVES TO STOP THE FORCES OF EVIL FROM TAKING OVER OUR PLANET? Why does this sweet journalist from Buenes Aires ask in all earnestness if Sylvester Stallone can save our world? Right now, the only male I see who is risking his life to get a message across is Michael Moore, and, to me, he gets away with it because he is overweight. What has happened to all the men? I see women becoming more aggressive to make up for this imbalance, and I think it is not the right way to go.

Anyway, Sly believes that the days of the big budget blockbusters are numbered, and that young independent filmmakers like Scorsese, de Palma, Lucas, Coppola, etc. will make a comeback. He said that if a movie costs 200-300 million dollars to make and it doesn't work, the studio is gone.

Like me, Sly believes that it is the Divine Comedy, NOT the Divine Tragedy, only he quoted Shakespeare, not Dante, but I didn't write down the quote. Then he said, "If I didn't have a sense of humor, I would have jumped off a building long ago."

So, Dear Men, we beg you to please find your sense of humor once again, gather up your Jedi swords and save our Dear World from the forces of Darkness and Evil before it's too late!!!


Ciao from the 66th International Venice Film Festival,
Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com