Fifty years after Rocky, Sylvester Stallone reflects on his journey and new memoir

Fifty years after creating the iconic film Rocky, Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone says he no longer considers himself an underdog. Stallone, who turned 80 in July, made the remark during an interview in a luxury Manhattan hotel while promoting his new memoir titled Steps, which was published on Tuesday. He has generated billions of dollars throughout his career via hit franchises like Rocky, Rambo, and The Expendables, and currently stars as mobster Dwight Manfredi in the Paramount+ series Tulsa King.

Memoir and Biopic

His memoir arrives less than two months before the release of I Play Rocky, a fictionalized and semi-authorized movie about his life directed by Peter Farrelly, starring Anthony Ippolito as a young Stallone. In his book, Stallone writes about his difficult early years as a struggling 29-year-old actor and writer who convinced United Artists to back his low-budget script about a journeyman boxer. Rocky went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, beating films like Taxi Driver and All the President's Men. Stallone shared that he spent fifty years burying those painful early memories, describing the writing process as acting as his own spiritual archaeologist.

Personal Life and Politics

Stallone splits his time between Manhattan and a Palm Beach, Florida estate that he shares with his wife, Jennifer Flavin. Last year, he received a Kennedy Center honor presented by Donald Trump, whom Stallone has previously called the second George Washington. At the same time, he has contributed to both political parties and broken with conservatives by advocating for stronger gun control laws, while also condemning war as a military complex putting people into a meat grinder.

Context

Memoirs by veteran actors often look back at foundational early successes that defined their careers decades earlier. The enduring cultural footprint of the Rocky franchise demonstrates how sports underdog stories continue to resonate across multiple generations of filmgoers.