Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone has never played a gangster in a movie despite trying for many years. But it seems now his wish has come true, albeit with a twist. The new crime drama “Tulsa King” sees Rocky Balboa playing the leading role, on the small screen.
But really, Stallone seems ecstatic about his new adventure. And why shouldn’t he? This show is equal times a high-octane western as well as a gangster show.
Who does Sylvester Stallone play?
He plays former mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi. His character is fresh out of jail after 25 years for a crime he committed to save his boss. But instead of a warm welcome back into the mafia, he gets exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma. His next step – starting a criminal empire of his own.
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Did you know Stallone was almost in a gangster movie?
The Rambo star says that he was almost in a movie with gangsters, almost 50 years ago.
The movie in question? The Godfather. Here’s how he tells it:
“I was rejected to be one of the 200 extras who basically stood behind a wedding cake in The Godfather in 1970. I’d been trying to get in gangster films, and it just never happened.”
Tulsa King may be his biggest role yet
We’re talking about the guy who has had an illustrious movie career spanning six decades with memorable roles. He has played a one-man army killing machine, a washed-out boxer who achieves glory, that dude in Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, and a cop who gets cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the future, among many others.
That’s a lot of iconic outings. But with Tulsa King, he is trying something new. This is Sylvester Stallone on TV as you have never seen him.
Here’s what he says about his new shift:
“Now you have so many fine actors and writers specifically aiming for a TV career, to create these streaming shows that have such depth and give people a chance to branch out. I’m glad I just finally got an opportunity to jump on this train, really.”
How different is his TV experience from films? He says:
“Put it this way — in the amount of time that we did ten episodes, it’s the equivalent of doing five Rocky [movies] in a row; five two-hour films in a row with no break in between.”
Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone streams on Sunday on Paramount+.
