When Anthony Ippolito was cast as a young Sylvester Stallone for the upcoming 2026 release, Amazon MGM’s biopic I Play Rocky, he seemed like an understandable and fitting choice for this movie in a way that director Peter Ferrelly (of Dumb and Dumber and Balls Up) seemed like a strangely inspired one. But guess what? The first trailer has dropped, and it’s a surprisingly convincing trip back through time, and Ippolito is absolutely aces as its iconic subject, Sylvester Stallone.

As seen in the trailer above, the Purple Hearts star slides right into playing Sylvester Stallone without making it a parody or SNL-esque impression, and while also not just making it a fully Rocky-laden performance. There are layers here. Stal-layers, if you will.

Ippolito has been in the biz for years, but really made a name for himself with his take on a young Al Pacino in the cast of the limited series The Offer, and despite its limited capacity, it was a performance that was arguably better than the show as a whole. So it only makes sense that he could step into Stallone’s in-ring boots and bring the goods for this movie as well. I can only assume he’ll be playing Robert de Niro, John Turturro and Stanley Tucci over the next decade.

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Rocky’s release, so it’s a fitting time to revisit the inspirational tale of a smalltime actor who believed in himself like no one else would and scripted one of the most classic sports movies of all time, and created one of cinema’s most celebrated underdogs and champions. The character fronted six movies on his own, along with three Creed-centric spinoffs. I doubt we’ll get biopic representations for each of those movies, but Hollywood is unpredictable like that.

Beyond Anthony Ippolito, I’m absolutely loving Stephan James as Carl Weathers, which seems like another spot-on portrayal. (I hope he talks about making a stew, baby, for Arrested Development purposes.) The cast also includes such heavy hitters as Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, and Kiki Seto.

Peter Farrelly turned in what appears to be quite an inspirational and not-entirely-serious take on the struggles Stallone faced before his meteoric rise to fame on those Philly stairs. I can’t imagine the movie will be entirely free from fart jokes and juvenile humor — this is the guy who made Shallow Hal, after all — but it does look slightly less schmaltzy than Oscar winner The Green Book.

It was written by Peter Gamble, whose most recently produced script was for the 2018 comedy Office Uprising, co-starring Brenton Thwaites, Jane Levy and Zachary Levi. At least his words sound excellent coming out of Ippolito’s mouth, amirite?

I Play Rocky is set for a limited theatrical release starting on November 6, but will then open wide to theaters all over the country later that month. Which possibly means spending Thanksgiving sparring against turkeys hanging in a walk-in freezer. Or not.

Chuck Norris made himself into a legend of the large and small screens alike over the many decades of his career, and the death of the Walker, Texas Ranger vet prompted many celebrities to speak out with tributes to him. Ranging from fellow action stars of the 20th century like Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme to horror master Stephen King himself, the people mourning his death shared kind words in his memory.

The family of Chuck Norris confirmed that the "sudden" death of the acting legend occurred on March 19, with a statement that they would "like to keep the circumstances private" but also letting well-wishers know that he "was surrounded by his family and was at peace." He died less than two weeks after his 86th birthday, not too long after he was still providing octogenarian workout updates.

Those who knew and respected Norris wasted no time in penning tributes to him on social media after the sad news broke, with Sylvester Stallone sharing this via Instagram in honor of his The Expendables 2 costar:

Fellow Expendables franchise vet Dolph Lundgren, who is making headlines again for his work on the original Masters of the Universe movie, also took the time to share a photo and a kind message. He posted:

Jean-Claude Van Damme, who was name-dropped by Cody Rhodes for his Street Fighter work, is an action star of the same era that produced Chuck Norris... and yet another actor credited with an appearance in The Expendables 2. He wrote on Instagram:

Of course, Norris' body of work didn't just touch the people who he worked with on the big screen, as author Jack Carr made clear on social media as well. Carr wrote The Terminal List source material that inspired Chris Pratt's show of the same name (available streaming now with an Amazon Prime subscription). The former U.S. Navy Commander-turned-writer shared:

Lee Majors, another 20th century TV legend as the star of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy, reflected on his time working with Chuck Norris. While Majors may be best remembered for his more prominent projects, he did appear in an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger back in 1998. He wrote on Instagram:

While the late actor is obviously remembered for his body of work in film and television, some people who have never seen an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, a single second of Firewalker, or witnessed the reunion of action stars in the Expendables franchise may be familiar with him for the genre of humor known as Chuck Norris jokes. Stephen King himself honored Norris on X (formerly known as Twitter) by choosing his two top Chuck Norris jokes:

• "My fave Chuck Norris joke: Chuck doesn't flush the toilet, he scares the shit out of it."
• "Second fave: When he was born, Chuck Norris drove his mother home from the hospital."

Two solid choices from the author! Stephen King, who recently shared high praise for Paradise Season 2, also got serious to name one particular movie that he thinks is "great."

Considering that Stephen King has been scaring the hell out of people going back to the publication of Carrie in 1974, his comment about a somewhat obscure film scaring his kids is a pretty high compliment. All in all, the messages celebrating Norris' life and accomplishments make it feel all the more appropriate that his final post on his own Instagram account prior to the announcement of his death was filled with action:

It's a safe bet that there are plenty more tributes on the way in the wake of Chuck Norris' death, although hopefully the family's request for privacy will be honored. If you want to check out the show that helped solidify his legacy as an actor, you can find Walker, Texas Ranger streaming free on The Roku Channel and Pluto TV.

I feel like I’ve been writing a lot about Gen X nostalgia lately, and now we know that a new Rambo movie is on the way. This time, we’re getting a prequel to the original film in the series, First Blood, called simply John Rambo. With all due respect to Sylvester Stallone, he won’t be starring as the title character because that simply would be too unbelievable, even for this franchise. In the starring role this time is Noah Centineo, and the director is Jalmari Helander (more on this exciting development below).

We don’t know a whole lot more, but we do know who will co-star with Centineo, and some hints about what's to come based on the early days of the production. Here’s everything we know.

Release Date For John Rambo

As of March 2026, there is no release date yet for John Rambo. In January 2026, Deadline reported that the movie had just begun production in Thailand, so it seems pretty unlikely that we’ll see it on the 2026 movie schedule. However, 2027 does seem pretty likely at this point.

What Is John Rambo About?

This is a big question, and right now, all that's been announced has been in the vaguest of terms. Obviously, we know this is a prequel, so it’ll take place sometime before the events of First Blood, which happened in December 1981. It’s also been hinted that this will follow the young Rambo as he becomes the soldier we know him to be in the Rambo franchise.

Furthermore, in the Deadline article, it was revealed that production on the movie has begun in Bangkok, Thailand, and that some of the announced cast members are Southeast Asian actors. Obviously, this all seems to point towards the movie being set in Vietnam, where Rambo became a killing machine during the Vietnam War.

John Rambo’s Cast

As I said in the introduction, we know that Noah Centineo will be playing the younger version of the character, before he got into trouble in First Blood. We also know who a few other cast members are, and although we don’t know what characters they are playing, we do know the names of some of the people they could be playing.

Noah Centineo

As a Gen Xer, you might suspect that I’d be wary of a younger actor like Noah Centineo (or honestly, any actor not named Stallone) taking over the iconic role, but I think he’s a great choice. The Recruit, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription, was a great show with Centineo in the lead role. He’s also got the highly anticipated Street Fighter reboot coming later this year. I think he’s a great fit for a young Rambo in Vietnam.

Yao

Yao had a big year in 2025 with an important supporting role in one of the biggest hits of the year, Sinners, where he played Bo Chow. The Malaysian actor is one of several Southeast Asian actors in the cast, but who he will play is unknown so far.

Tayme Thapthimthong

Tayme Thapthimthong was a breakout star of The White Lotus Season 3, where he played the occasionally hapless security guard Gaitok. Thapthimthong, who served in the Thai military for several years before becoming an actor, also appeared in 2025’s Alien: Earth.

Jefferson White

Fans of Yellowstone know Jefferson White as Jimmy, the newbie ranch hand, at least in the beginning of the show. He was a main cast member for the show’s entire run; one of the few who survived the murderous show. He’s also in the cast for another upcoming prequel in a popular franchise, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which hits theaters later this year.

Quincy Isaiah

Best known for his breakout role as Magic Johnson in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Quincy Isaiah is looking to break out on the big screen in John Rambo. Like most of the others on this list, we don’t know who Isaiah is set to play, but one intriguing person from Rambo’s life in Vietnam that we do know of is Delmar Barry. Barry’s family is the one Rambo visits in the opening moments of First Blood, who we discovered died of cancer as a result of exposure to Agent Orange in the war. Could Isaiah be playing Barry? We’ll be sure to update this when we know!

Jason Tobin

Hong Kong native Jason Tobin is best known for playing the role of Young Jun on the Cinemax series Warrior (which is now available with an HBO Max subscription), and as Earl in the Fast franchise.

Jalmari Helander Is Directing

Maybe the most exciting news about John Rambo is that it will be helmed by Finnish director Jalmari Helander. Helander is responsible for Sisu and its sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, the latter of which was one of the best action movies of 2025. Herlander proved he really knows what he is doing with the under-appreciated Big Game, starring Samuel L. Jackson, in 2014. If you’re not familiar with his work, I highly recommend any of those three movies. I think you’ll agree that he is the perfect director for a Rambo film.

We’ll be sure to keep this updated as more news about John Rambo comes in, but we can leave it for now on a high note, as Sylvester Stallone, while he isn’t expected to be in the movie, has joined as an executive producer, which tells us that he believes in the project, and that is enough for us to have faith in it.

One of Sylvester Stallone’s most iconic characters is set to return to the big screen, but he’ll look a bit different this time around. Production is currently under way on John Rambo, a prequel film that follows the titular character before the events of 1982’s First Blood. With that, the eventual war veteran will be played by Noah Centineo. Up until this point, it was unclear as to whether Stallone himself would be involved in the upcoming action flick. The veteran actor has since confirmed that, though, with a message.

John Rambo, which is being directed by Jalmari Helander, reportedly began filming in Bangkok back in January. This week, Stallone shared a video on Instagram in which he acknowledged the impact that Rambo has had on his life and career. With that, he also confirmed that he’d officially boarded the prequel as an executive producer. Check out the video, in which “Sly” also flashes a copy of the screenplay:

It was probably only a matter of time before Stallone joined the production in some capacity, and it makes sense. After all, at this point, he’s played Rambo in a total of five films, with his latest portrayal being in 2019’s Last Blood. It’s easy to get the feeling that the character is also embedded in his DNA, not unlike Rocky Balboa. Stallone doubled down on his connection to John and affinity for the franchise in the caption shared on his IG post:

Based on David Morrell’s 1972 novel of the same name, Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood follows Vietnam War veteran Rambo as he arrives in a small Washington-based town. John – who suffers from PTSD – eventually draws the ire of the local authorities, who eventually launch a manhunt for him. With that, Rambo uses his grisly combat tactics to take down those seeking to subdue him. A box office hit, the film remains one of the signature titles in Stallone’s filmography.

Long before the upcoming prequel was even greenlit, Stallone had apparently had ideas about what Rambo’s early life was like. While weighing in on Centineo’s casting, Stallone revealed that he imagined that prior to enlisting, John was a well-adjusted young man who got straight As and was captain of his school’s football team. Stallone also said he couldn’t speak to how Centineo would perform in the role but opined that the young man would have quite a “challenge” ahead of him.

What’s particularly interesting is that Sylvester Stallone had a completely different idea in regard to an actor who could play Rambo after him. He previously revealed that he’d hand the reins to Ryan Gosling, who he met sometime ago. It was apparently during that meeting that Gosling revealed his lifelong love of the character, which Stallone found to be endearing.

For his part, Noah Centineo also seems to have reverence for Rambo and, hopefully, that passion will shine through in his performance. I’m curious as to how John Rambo (for which a release date has yet to be announced) will turn out. But, at the very least, I’d say the cast and crew could benefit by having Stallone included in the creative process. While fans wait for updates on the prequel, they can stream First Blood for free on Tubi.

The best buddy cop movie of the ‘80s is…Lethal Weapon 2. Full stop. And, look, I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. There’s a reason why we once called Lethal Weapon the “greatest action franchise of all time.”

It’s also why there have been so many sequels. The mismatched chemistry between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is second to none. However, there’s another buddy cop movie from the ‘80s that I’m always surprised more people don’t talk about, and that’s 1989’s Tango & Cash starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell.

Tango & Cash is a bit by the numbers in a lot of ways. However, when was by-the-numbers ever a bad thing when the overall package is so much fun? That’s what Tango & Cash is. Fun! So, here’s why you should check it out if you haven’t already.

Tango & Cash Is Like If Cobra Met Jack Burton

You know, when you think about Stallone’s career, he sure has played a lot of cops. Of course, he played Judge Dredd in the 1995 version, and he also played Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva in Nighthawks (which I really have to write about someday). He’s also a cop in Demolition Man, and even played it for laughs (if you can call them laughs) in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! My favorite cop movie starring Stallone is Cobra, where he plays the hard-as-nails titular character, rocking dark sunglasses and a bad attitude.

I only bring up this movie because Cobra, while trying to be a badass film, is actually pretty silly. Stallone drops cheesy one-liners, and that’s just like Lieutenant Raymond Tango in Tango & Cash, who plays the straight man to Russell’s jocular character.

In fact, one thing I love about Stallone in this movie is just how much he can poke fun at himself. For example, in one cool scene, a cop asks Tango who he thinks he is, and another cop responds, “He thinks he’s Rambo.” (Get it? Because Stallone is in the Rambo movies). But, Tango responds (in less PC words than I’m putting here, mind you) that Rambo sucks.

Funny stuff. Then, you have Kurt Russell, who plays the rival narcotics detective, Lieutenant Gabriel Cash. Russell is channeling his inner Jack Burton here from one of my favorite movies, Big Trouble in Little China, and it adds a huge dose of humor to the film. But, I think Stallone and Russell are equally funny in this movie, which I’ll get into next.

It’s Probably One Of The Best Buddy Cop Movies From The ‘80s When It Comes To Comedy

Now, here’s the thing about the Lethal Weapon series. All of them are funny, but it’s in 1989’s Lethal Weapon 2, when Joe Pesci arrives, that the series gets really funny. Yes, Glover and Gibson make for a humorous team, but I’d say that the first movie makes for a better action movie than it does a comedy. In fact, I’d say that it’s funny in the same way that Die Hard is funny (and also, I guess, a Christmas movie in the same way that Die Hard’s a Christmas movie)

However, Tango & Cash, which unfortunately only got one movie, is funny from the get-go. I think a great deal of that is because it gives Stallone a more subdued role. I’ll explain. Tango is a rather reserved narcotics detective. He wears nice suits and even does some trading on the stock market. When he jokes, it’s usually with a smile, but it’s also deadpan, which in itself is pretty funny coming from Stallone.

That said, Russell is nothing but manic energy, which is hilarious when juxtaposed with Stallone’s unamused expressions. Russell is also the one who gets some of the best scenes, like when he dresses up as a woman - with a slow pan up his body and everything - in order to escape a club, or, his many scenes screaming his head off, while everybody just looks at him funny (again, channelling that inner Jack Burton).

In the end, what I really love is that this movie never takes itself seriously, even in the action scenes, which are also pretty amazing. Oh, and about them…

The Action Is Really Great, Too!

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there were plenty of action stars, but the two main ones of note were Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Now, personally, I was always more of a Schwarzenegger guy myself, but I would never turn down a Stallone action movie (like Daylight, which more people need to talk about, or Cliffhanger).

We get some of that classic Stallone-action here. From the very beginning, when Tango stands directly in front of a barrelling truck and unflinchingly starts shooting at it, to the end when both cops are facing down the big bad in a hall of mirrors, the whole movie never lets up. Jack Palance plays the main villain, and his underlings (who are in jail) - which I'll get into next - put our leads through the wringer with fights, shoot outs, and tense moments.

Now, is the action as good as in a movie like, say, Commando? Of course not, nothing is as good as Commando. But, does the action keep you invested all the way to the explosive conclusion? You're damn right, it does.

Which is why I'm always surprised that more people don't bring this movie up when they talk about awesome action movies. It might be because it came out in 1989, which was the same year as the already-mentioned Lethal Weapon 2. But, if it had come out in say, 1984 or ‘85 (around the same time as Rocky IV when Sly was at his peak), then I think it would be talked about a lot more today. Oh, well.

It Swerves In Unexpected Places

I've talked about the characters, the humor, and the action, but I haven't brought up the actual plot yet. While that might be secondary in some movies, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for instance, the plot is actually really interesting in this movie, and it’s also full of twists.

Tango and Cash are the best of the best from their respective sides of L.A. As mentioned earlier, Tango is the cool-headed cop, while Cash is the hot-headed cowboy. They hate each other before they even meet since their reputations precede them. However, when they are eventually paired up, Jack Palance’s character, Yves Perret, frames them for murder and has them both thrown in jail. Now, I said in the intro that this movie is by-the-numbers, and it is, but it also swerves in creative ways, and mostly in how the two rival cops become friends.

It’s in prison where the two become allies, but what surprised me was when Cash’s former commanding officer, Matt Sokowski (Phil Rubenstein), is at the prison as well. He's now a warden, and he helps them escape. One might think that a large portion of the film would take place in the prison, but once they're out, there’s quite a bit of film left, as they go out in search of the witnesses who put them in jail.

It’s great stuff, and an excellent buddy cop movie from the ‘80s. So, if you’re a fan of Sly Stallone and Kurt Russell and somehow managed to miss this one, check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

After years of uncertainty, the long-discussed Rambo prequel is finally moving forward and headed toward the movie release calendar. Noah Centineo is set to play a young John Rambo, but Sylvester Stallone once had a very different vision for who would wear the red headband and dog tags. Some fans may even be surprised to learn that Stallone's idea involved a major Hollywood A-lister.

Stallone, who originated the role in the iconic 80s film First Blood, has been open about stepping away from Rambo, much like he has with Rocky Balboa. In a resurfaced clip from The Tonight Show, recently shared by OutstandingScreenplays on YouTube, the action icon revealed that Centineo wasn’t his original pick to take over the character. That distinction, somewhat unexpectedly, went to Ryan Gosling. Explaining his reasoning to the late-night host, Stallone said:

It’s a pretty funny image, Gosling, of all people, running around as a pint-sized Vietnam vet. The Tulsa King star went on to explain why that passion stuck with him, adding:

That baton, however, won’t be going to Gosling, seeing that the role is set to be taken on by Noah Centineo. The Expendables veteran previously admitted he didn’t know much about Centineo personally, but he’s been open to the idea of the forthcoming Rambo prequel and what it could explore if handled the right way. As he put it, it would be “quite a challenge,” but one that could be “fantastic” if the filmmakers “hit all the marks.”

That’s no small task. The Rambo franchise has been a fixture of pop culture for nearly 50 years, and the character has only ever been played by one actor: Sylvester Stallone. But, with the man who originated the character officially stepping away and the film finally moving forward, that long-standing status quo is about to change.

With Centineo’s Rambo now officially a "go," there’s a real opportunity to explore what it actually means to become that hardened war veteran we met in First Blood. Stallone may not be directly involved, but his comments offer cautious optimism. If the prequel works, it won’t be because it replaces what the Tango & Cash star did in the original, but because it understands why Rambo mattered in the first place, long before a young Ryan Gosling ever decided to dress up as him and chase that feeling.

And, if this has you itching to revisit the action movie franchise, you’re in luck. The Rambo films are currently free to stream on Pluto TV and are among the best movies available, making it easy to jump back into the action.

The Amazing Spider-Man comic book author Dan Slott has hobnobbed with some well-known people over the years. Sometimes this means sitting down to dinner with famous people he may not initially know are famous people, as happened during a dinner with Rambo creator David Morrell, who penned First Blood. Years later, Slott admitted he still thinks “about this” meeting quite “a lot.” Here’s why.

In a rundown on threads, Dan Slott opened up about a night he went to dinner with some heavy hitters in the writing industry. Among them were fellow Marvel comics writers Peter David, Brian Reed, Mike Carey, and First Blood’s Morrell. He said Morrell told the story about Rambo going from book to the big screen, and how his agent really went to bat for him… despite the author really try to fight him every step of the way. Here’s how it went down, per his story on Threads:

Obviously, we know now that Rambo became a giant five-movie franchise for Sylvester Stallone, and also for the many people who collaborated or became a part of the franchise. But Morrell may never have really gotten a cut of what would come later if he hadn’t had an agent that was super bullish about possible later opportunities. Slott explained:

Dan Slott's known for sharing opinions on Spider-Man, but in this case I'm glad he went a little off topic to tell this Rambo story. Certain people come into your life for an age or a season, and this agent obviously made a huge difference in terms of monetary add value for his Hollywood client.

If his manager hadn’t fought for things like “action figures” and sequels, he likely would have been cut out of that process, and it could have been another instance of a creative screwed out of the almighty dollar. (A fact that often happens in the comic book industry.) But his agent looked after him, and it made all the difference.

Rambo went on to make four sequels, including the more recent Rambo: Last Blood, not to mention a whole f–kton of other merch. It's nice knowing the creator got a piece of that pie.

Ask anybody. Literally anybody. If they love Sylvester Stallone, then their favorite movie of his is either Rocky or First Blood.

And, yeah, I love those movies, too. I've seen every Rambo movie, as well as every Rocky film, and while I love most of them, none of them is my actual favorite Sly Stallone flick. I mean, yeah, I do have a soft spot for Judge Dredd, but my personal favorite of his will likely always be 1996's disaster film, Daylight.

Ah, Daylight, the film that makes me dread going into New York City (and I go there a lot) every single time. Critically panned (though, when has that ever stopped me from liking a movie?), and definitely one of Stallone's least talked about films, it's still my favorite of his for some reasons. Here are just a few.

As A New Jersian, I Both Love And Hate The Setting

As mentioned in the intro, I go to New York City a lot, and it's mostly because I live in New Jersey (home to the best superheroes, baby). I almost always take the bus. The only problem? I have to go through the Lincoln Tunnel. Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but you would be surprised at how uncomfortable I get every time I go through it, and it's all due to this movie right here.

You see, I'm not a claustrophobic person, but this movie (and Buried, with Ryan Reynolds, I'm sure) is a claustrophobic person's nightmare! I mean, it must be if even I feel uncomfortable watching it. There's a truck filled with toxic waste that is going to be dumped off in New Jersey (wow, what were you trying to say about my home state, Hollywood?), and it enters the Lincoln Tunnel. But uh oh, some jewel thieves are in a high-speed chase with the police, and they manage to crash into the truck, and BOOM! Explosion.

Rubble falls, and both ends of the tunnel are blocked off. People are trapped within, and there's the looming threat of water coming down and drowning everybody below. And do you SEE why I'm now paranoid whenever I go into the Lincoln Tunnel? I watched this movie as a teenager, and I'm STILL freaked out by it.

That said, I love it, too, because it's one of the only movies where I am intimately familiar with the setting. So, it's a love-hate relationship, really.

It Also Truly Feels Like A Harrowing Experience For Everyone Involved

Now, even though Daylight wasn't on our list of disaster movies, I would consider it one of the best in the genre, even if it is a more personal, self-contained story. You see, once the rubble falls, the problems begin immediately.

First, there's toxic gas from the trucks to worry about, which kills several people. Then, there's falling rubble, which crushes folks. Then, there are explosions. Then, there's water that leaks into the tunnel, and man, oh man, you want rising action? This movie has it by the boatloads. And what’s best about it is that it’s all really believable. I mean, the events are ridiculous, but the way the people react to the turn of events that take place is pretty realistic.

For instance, Viggo Mortensen is in the movie, and he plays a sports celebrity whom people have seen on TV. Inversely, Stallone plays a former EMS chief who actually knows what he’s talking about, but he lives a much less glamorous life than the celebrity. Now, instead of people listening to the person who actually has an idea of how they could get out, they instead follow the celebrity because they think he knows what he’s talking about just because he’s famous.

That’s totally believable. Lots of people think celebrities are authorities on something they may have no idea about, and I could see something like this happening in real life. Not me, though. I’m trusting the guy who looks like Sylvester Stallone. Speaking of which…

Sly Stallone Is Really Heroic In The Film

Is John Rambo a hero (we’re getting a new Rambo, by the way)? Well, if we’re talking about the First Blood John Rambo, then no. But, if we’re talking about everything after First Blood? Then yeah, I guess. I mean, the “bad guys” are more clearly defined in the later Rambo films, so I suppose Rambo could be seen as heroic, even though he’s mowing down tons of dudes.

However, I don’t have that quandary of wondering whether Stallone is heroic or not in Daylight, because yes, his character, Chief Kit Latura, is indeed heroic. When things get serious within the collapse, he immediately gets into action, helping anybody he can. Some of his former colleagues are there, and he gets with them right away, discussing possible plans to get everybody out. He even encounters the person who replaced him on the job, and Kit tries to work with him, even though his help is not appreciated.

That said, since this is a Stallone movie, it couldn’t just be him offering to help. Instead, he gets into action. In one harrowing scene, Kit goes through the ventilation system, which is dangerous since the fan could come back on at any moment. In another scene, Kit uses explosions to STOP a leak.

In every way, Stallone’s character is the hero that these people need, and it all leads up to a pretty dramatic ending.

I Love The Conclusion

You know how a ticking clock is always an important element in any action film? Well, the ticking clock in this one is the water, as it’s bursting through the walls and constantly leaking. Now, I’m going to show my ignorance here because I honestly had no idea that when you’re going through the Lincoln Tunnel, you’re actually going below the Hudson River.

I mean, it’s completely obvious, but when I was a teenager, when this movie came out, I never questioned why we had to go through a tunnel at all. I just tuned out and stared at the tiled walls while I listened to 311 or something.

Well, in this film, the water is constantly flooding the tunnel, and Kit and his new lady friend, Madelyne (Amy Brenneman), are literally up to their necks in water. So, Kit blows the roof off, which sounds like it makes no sense, but that’s how bad it’s gotten in the tunnel. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Well, anyway, mud rains down on Kit, and we think he’s a goner, only for Madelyne to make it to the surface, and Kit floats in the water.

It’s a really exciting conclusion, and probably one of my favorites in Stallone’s filmography.

In The End, It’s One Of Stallone's Most Unique Movie

Now, I’m not going to say that Daylight is more original than a movie like Demolition Man, nor will I say that it’s a stark departure from his other films like F.I.S.T. I also wouldn’t say it’s as ridiculous as something like Over the Top, nor would I say it’s an underrated Stallone film that deserves a reassessment, like Oscar.

What I will say, though, is that Daylight is a unique film in Stallone’s filmography that doesn’t get talked about enough. It’s a disaster film, an action movie, and a great vehicle for Stallone in the ‘90s, and one that I don’t hear nearly enough people talking about.

Sylvester Stallone has had an incredible career that has created some of the most iconic characters in film history. However, the actor hasn’t always been a box office smash, a fact that he admits became difficult for him to deal with during the lowest point in his career.

While Stallone has had some incredible box office successes, it’s rare for anybody with as many projects as he has had to not have a few flops, too. However, for Stallone, many of those flops came all in a row. Speaking with CBS Mornings, Stallone says it got so bad that his kids didn’t realize what he did for a living because they had never seen his work. He explained:

It’s not difficult to see the period of time that Sylvester Stallone is talking about. Following the underperformance of Rocky V, which put the actor’s major franchise on ice, he tried to do new things. He attempted comedy, including the infamous Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, a movie Arnold Schwarznegeer claims he tricked Stallone into doing.

He made a couple of solid films in Cliffhanger and Demolition Man, after going back to action, but after that, it gets really rough. Judge Dredd was a bomb that fans hated. Most people have forgotten his action entries of the time, like The Specialist and Assassins. I’ll defend Cop Land as a great Stallone performance, but it certainly didn’t make much of a cultural impact.

Stallone says after his string of bombs, he wanted to try to do something big so that he and Rocky didn’t go out on the bottom. He wanted to make the film that would become 2006’s Rocky Balboa. Unfortunately, it seems he was considered box office poison by this point, as the response he got from the studio wasn’t inspiring. He said:

In the end, as Stallone says, it came out pretty well. Rocky Balboa impressed at the box office 16 years after the previous film had struggled. From there, he was able to revisit the Rambo franchise as well and launch a new one with The Expendables.

Sylvester Stallone’s legacy as a filmmaker is assured, and on balance, he certainly had more success than failure. While he’s officially parted ways with Rocky Balboa, and the Rambo prequel starring Noah Centineo will go on without him, he certainly proved the studio wrong once before. Perhaps he will again before he’s done.

You know a movie has a tiny budget when it's cheaper to film a new scene than it is to reprint a banner. That’s what happened with Rocky, the best sports movie of all time, and according to the film’s writer and star, Sylvester Stallone, that’s exactly what they did when the posters for the final fights were printed incorrectly. In fact, the scene they had to film to “fix” the mistake makes the movie so much better that it’s hard to think of the best Rocky movie happening without it.

Red Trunks With A White Stripe Or White Trunks With A Red Stripe?

It sounds like one of those memes where one person hears “Laurel” and another hears “Yanni” or some kind of Mandela effect, but were the trunks Rocky wore in his fight with his opponent Apollo (Carl Weathers) red with white stripes or white with red stripes? The answer in the movie is white with red stripes, but on the banner that hung above the ring, Rocky is wearing red trunks with a white stripe.

You can catch the mistaken seen in the film and the scene that fixed it with a Peacock subscription).

Meanwhile, now you know that wasn’t intentional. The banner was supposed to match what Rocky would actually be wearing for the fight, but somewhere along the line, things must have gotten mixed up. When the posters arrived, the trunks were the wrong color. When life (and a tight budget) gives you lemons, well, figure out a cheap solution. As Stallone explained in an Instagram post, the solution was to film a quick scene explaining away the inconsistency.

It worked, of course. It even adds to the movie in a subtle-but-brilliant way. Rocky is the underdog in the movie, of course. No one takes him seriously. Not the public, not the champ, certainly not the boxing press. So, a banner maker not paying attention to the proper color works perfectly and provides another wonderful example of disrespect that Rocky experiences.

It’s also just a cool scene. Rocky has that moment with the promoter right after the inspiring montage that has become cinematic history, and he’s immediately reminded that no one is giving him any chance in the fight. The promoter, Mr. Jergens(Thayer David), tells him:

It sums up everything Rocky is supposed to be about. As Rocky walks out of the arena and returns to his crappy apartment, we, as the audience, are right there with him. Ready for the fight, but unsure he’s supposed to be there.

In the ‘80s, filmmakers loved setting great action movies around Christmas. I decided long ago not to engage in the well-worn Die Hard debate, and Lethal Weapon is usually another one people love to argue over whether it’s a Christmas movie or not. I’m not engaging in that debate either. No, I’m here to open a new debate. Is First Blood (or sometimes retroactively Rambo: First Blood) a Christmas movie? I say yes.

First Blood Takes Place In December

I suppose since it’s set in the lush Northwest United States, First Blood doesn’t stand out as taking place in the yuletide season. There is no snow, and the evergreens make it seem as though it could be in any part of the year, though it is obviously cold in the movie. It could be October or February; the weather in that part of the world is notoriously unpredictable, but it’s definitely set in December.

Of course, setting it in the month of Christmas doesn’t make it a Christmas movie, per se. However, in the first act of the movie, when Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is arrested by Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy), it's made clear the movie has some Christmas… cheer. In the police station, all the Christmas decorations are up, like a tree and a “Merry Christmas” banner, so it’s no accident. The movie was definitely supposed to be set during the holiday season. That’s even more obvious when Rambo hits the streets of the small, quiet town and takes off on the motorcycle, and all the stories are decorated in their Christmas best.

We Can Argue Over Which ‘80s Action Movie Is The Best

If you want to have the argument over which of the “Big 3” ‘80s action Christmas movies is the best action movie, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon or First Blood, by all means, go for it. As much as I love Die Hard, First Blood might be my favorite. It’s not as quotable as the other two, that’s for sure, and it’s not as “fun” as either Die Hard or Lethal Weapon, but it’s just such a great movie. The rest of the Rambo film series doesn’t do much for me, but to be honest, the rest of the movies in the other franchises don’t do much for me, either.

If you’re not sure which is the best, or if you haven’t watched First Blood lately, then I recommend checking it again (or for the first time) with your Paramount+ subscription. In fact, now is the perfect time because there is a great Black Friday deal going on right now. After you finish off your turkey on Thursday, start getting into that festive mood by watching Sly Stallone terrorize a whole town full of hapless police officers in the woods of Oregon.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet streamed Tulsa King’s Season 3 finale via Paramount+ subscription, so be warned!

Another season-length journey into Tulsa’s criminal underground has ended, giving Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi a little time to breathe and get comfortable with his girlfriend Margaret — because they’re using labels now — before the next big threat comes crawling out of the New York City woodwork. The squad’s efforts to make above-the-board profits were granted in the form of a federal liquor license granted by Kevin Pollack’s Musso, while most of the immediate threats in Dwight’s life were put to pasture.

All in all, it was a solid way to wrap Season 3, which started off strongly before spinning its wheels a bit in the middle. and I think it handily delivered on two of my biggest hopes for Tulsa King ahead of the currently in-production Season 4 and the impending spinoff set in New Orleans. That said, “Jesus Lizard” did screw the pooch when it came to closing out one character’s storyline, at least assuming that storyline is indeed concluded. Pour yourself a rocks glass of that Montague and read on!

NAILED IT: Setting Up Samuel L. Jackson's Hitman For NOLA King

Tulsa King followed in the footsteps of many a traditional broadcast drama by introducing a brand new character destined to go off and star in an impending spinoff. To be sure, these final two episodes technically didn't serve as a backdoor pilot, as they were both firmly invested in wrapping up everything happening in Tulsa, but the ninth episode brought in the always excellent Samuel L. Jackson as the highly connected hitman already set to head up NOLA King, one Mr. Russell Lee Washington Jr.

Realistically, the crew could have just left the camera rolling on Jackson without giving him any direction, and I still likely would have come out of his introduction pleased as punch. But Tulsa King's writers brought Lee into Dwight's life in a way that immediately set up high stakes — he's on Quiet Ray's to-be-killed shitlist for refusing the task of taking Dwight out — and gave viewers a window into his world.

Namely, Lee is tired of being a hired hand, and wants to basically duplicate the success that Dwight has had, only in his stomping grounds of New Orleans. As a Louisiana native myself, I was ready for Jackson's accent to border on grating, but I think he handles it well enough, and I can buy into the idea that he lost some of it during his years living away from the city. All in all, I'm 100% more excited for NOLA King than I was before Lee was introduced, and I can't wait to see him mixing it up with the rest of that cast.

NAILED IT: Killing Off Jeremiah Dunmire In An Over-The-Top Brutal Way

Robert Patrick rules, without question, and he delivered as expected throughout Season 3 as Dwight's booze-minded antagonist Jeremiah Dunmire. But for as much as I like watching Patrick's work, Jeremiah was a hateful, spiteful and godawful human being without a speck of levity to lean into, and only self-serving motivations to guide him. Rarely have I wanted more to see a drama's season-long villain get taken out in the episode after they first appeared.

Understandably, Jeremiah continued breathing for episode after episode, making everyone's life worse around him as Dwight found different ways to invade and infect the Dunmires' illegal monopoly on bourbon distribution. It'd be one thing if Jeremiah was only mean to his enemies, but the person he arguably treated worse than anyone else was his own son Cole. Though I guess trying to calm Joanna by directly saying, "I don't hit women," didn't exude tranquility.

So when the finale started, I found myself wishing for Dwight to take Jeremiah out in the most pettily ruthless way imaginable: dragging him behind a car down a gravel road with his legs spread wide, or by having him lay down in a pit full of vipers. Or just like. throwing him into a woodchipper, feet first. But hey, Dwight managed to top each of those ideas by beating the shit out of Jeremiah and then essentially burning him alive at the stake. Good riddance.

MISSED THE BOAT: Giving Cole The Chance To Take His Own Father Out (Or To At Least Watch Dwight Do It)

For all that I cheered when Jeremiah Dunmire joined the flaming choir invisible, I found myself highly disappointed that Tulsa King's creative team didn't allow for the easiest example of poetic justice possible: allowing Cole to dish out some painful vengeance on his own to the man who made his life hell for decades on end. I mean seriously, after Jeremiah threateningly held that axe up to Cole's face in the penultimate ep?

To be sure, I fucking hate Cole Dunmire, and I almost want to hate Beau Knapp by extension for delivering all of the character's shitty expressions and all the insecurity on display in the way he aims to intimidate others by using his physicality. He's the personification of the phrase "Hurt people hurt people," though, and I guess I wasn't hating him so much as what Jeremiah made of him.

Thus, I desperately wanted Cole to be the one to completely ruin his dear old dad. Definite props to him for recognizing that the last straw exists, and for going to Dwight with all of the relevant info needed to save Joanna and take Jeremiah down. But we needed to see the big moment where Cole makes it clear that it was Jeremiah's own flesh and blood that caused his downfall, presumably then followed by Cole shoving a live grenade in his dad's mouth. Again, I definitely enjoying seeing Dwight light up the night with Jeremiah's beaten body, but Cole deserved to be the one to have sparked that flame.

Is this the last time we'll see Cole in Tulsa King? Does the death of his pops mean that he's in contention to either take over the family business, or will he jump ship and attempt to slot himself within Dwight's ranks? Or hell, might he even decide to join Lee on a trip down South? Hopefully we'll get some answers when the first Season 4 updates start dropping.

NOLA King will be hitting the 2026 TV schedule at an unforeseen date, so stay tuned for that, and also stay tuned for Tulsa King star Garrett Hedlund's other upcoming streaming show, the comic adaptation Criminal.

From an outsider's perspective, two things about Tulsa King appear clear. #1. The action-filled Sylvester Stallone-starring crime drama is a one of Paramount+ biggest shows, and consistently sits in the #1 slot of the streamer's Top 10 ranks. And #2. The show has gone through nearly as much behind-the-scenes drama as Dwight's own crew has, at least of the non-violent variety, and one of the more than two dozen recently terminated crew members has spoken out, claiming a lack of leadership persists even with Season 4’s production imminent.

With everything still yet to explode for the criminal protagonists in the Season 3 finale (streaming on November 23 via Paramount+ subscription), Tulsa King has reportedly kicked off production in Atlanta for Season 4, having been officially renewed by the streaming service in September before the new episodes kicked off. (Stallone’s own deal negotiations made a fourth season all but inevitable back in November 2024.) But that production will be with the 26 veteran crew members that were suddenly released in the weeks ahead of Season 4’s onset.

Freddie Poole was nominated for two Emmys for his work as Stunt Coordinator on Tulsa King’s first and second seasons, with the possibility for Season 3 to get nominated in 2026, but was one of the many crew members who lost their jobs. Speaking with Variety, Poole says the swath of firings was not hinted at ahead of time, though the lack of a replacement showrunner did have him feeling on edge in the time just prior. Scott Stone, an exec heading up the show’s production house 101 Studios, has reportedly been handling day-to-day duties. According to Poole:

It's not clear exactly when those alleged comments were made, but whatever the case, staffers from sound department, stunts, hair and transportation were part of the eventual terminations, among others. To be sure, this wasn't a breach-of-contract situation, as none of the fired crew members are said to have had Season 4 deals in place. But while such staff turnover isn't a rarity, there is usually more communication involved. Per Poole:

Another former crew member who spoke to Variety claimed they only found out they were fired when someone else showed them a job posting for their Tulsa King position.

Scott Stone's serving as unofficial head honcho doesn't even count as the first time Tulsa King has gone into a season without a showrunner. It'd be an truly bizarre distinction for the majority of shows, but this series has maintained its in-flux leadership throughout its run. Though created by Taylor Sheridan, the show's first season boasted Emmy winner Terrence Winter as showrunner, but he stepped back to writer and EP for Season 2, which was more or less handled by EP and director Craig Zisk.

Going into Season 3, Mayor of Kingstown boss Dave Erickson was brought in for showrunning duties. However, Erickson vacated double duties to focus on Kingstown, reportedly due to creative differences with Sheridan, while Winter returned to the fold as head writer and EP. However, he's said to be running a writers room in L.A., and has it contractually stipulated that will not be an on-set presence for Season 4.

For all the alleged BTS issues, Tulsa King's cast haven't spoken up about any of their own issues, and it's assumed that the majority will be back for Season 4. At least assuming their characters make it through the Season 3 finale intact.

Be sure to check it out when it drops on Sunday, November 23.

Robert Patrick and Sylvester Stallone have reunited as antagonists in the latest season of Tulsa King, which you can watch with a Paramount+ subscription, after first working together in Cop Land almost 30 years ago. It’s clearly great for Patrick, who has long considered Stallone a friend and an inspiration. In a recent interview, the "Terminator Hunk" explained just how important Stallone has been to his career over the years.

It Started Long Before They Met

Patrick’s feelings about Stallone go back long before they met and first worked together on the 1997 drama about corrupt New York cops living in New Jersey. He recently explained just how far in an interview with UPI:

Patrick points out how Rocky gave him the sense that anyone can succeed at anything if they put their mind to it:

That later translated to Patrick’s career as an actor. In fact, while working on Cop Land, he didn’t shy away from asking Stallone about the movie, and it provided more inspiration:

Rocky is, in so many ways, the ultimate story of the underdog. Not only is the character in the movie the underdog, but Stallone was a Hollywood underdog himself. I don’t need to go into the history of the movie; it’s well-known at this point, but learning that someone as successful and well-thought-of as Robert Patrick is putting that inspiration to good use is, well, inspirational in and of itself.

They say you don’t always want to meet your heroes, but this is obviously a case where that isn’t true. Even now, three decades after first working with Stallone, and well into his wildly successful career, Patrick still has those thoughts about his co-star on Tulsa King, and the respect is mutual, as Stallone praised Patrick in a recent interview with CinemaBlend. We should all strive to have working relationships as great as these two.

When it comes to my personal ranking of all the Rocky movies, Rocky IV is easily in the Top 3 of the franchise. The story of Rocky Balboa traveling to the Soviet Union to battle Ivan Drago to avenge his dead friend is iconic. To the point where if such a bout really happened in 2025, I'm sure a small fortune would go into making the world watch it with a Netflix subscription.

Another element that would be around in 2025 is betting odds, and while I know there are some strong opinions on how much its intertwined with the world of professional sports, I'm only human. As such, I couldn't help but be intrigued when a site provided the sportsbook numbers for this movie, and it has made me appreciate the film a lot more.

The Betting Odds Were Heavily In Drago's Favor

I want to think Rocky IV does a solid enough job explaining that Ivan Drago is the odds-on favorite to beat Rocky Balboa, but the numbers from Oddspedia really show just how much of a massacre this fight was expected to be. In a hypothetical analysis of the battle (meaning they're pretending they don't know the ending and treating this as an actual bout), Drago was given odds of -250 to win. This means he had an implied winning probability of 71.4%, which I can understand, given that he killed Apollo Creed.

As if that weren't enough, the odds of Drago winning by knockout are at -175, meaning there was a 63.6% implied chance that he would drop The Italian Stallion and lower the Iron Curtain. With wordplay like that, I'm saddened that CinemaBlend's Phillip Sledge didn't work that in as a factor in his showdown between Rocky III and IV.

No One Would Have Expected This Fight To Go The Distance

If betting apps were prevalent in 1985, oddsmakers would've been sweating at the outcome of the Balboa vs. Drago fight. Absolutely no one expected this fight to go the distance, with the odds of Drago being a winner by decision at +1000 (9.1% odds) and Rocky winning at +2000 (4.8%).

For those unfamiliar with betting, it means that if someone places a $100 bet on Rocky to win by decision, and that happens, they'd have a total of $ 1,100 in winnings. I can imagine there would've been a sigh of relief in Vegas when Rocky knocked out Drago in the final round, which only carried odds of +220. In comparison, that's a significantly smaller payout, with those staking $100 earning $320 in winnings.

In hindsight, it's probably a good thing that sports betting wasn't as prevalent when the Rocky movies came out. Paulie would've lost all of the fighter's money a lot quicker than he did, probably by hedging some of his brother-in-law's money on a Drago knockout. Or, he'd get tied up with the mob and try to convince Rocky to take a fall or something.

Rocky IV is available to rent on Amazon, and with a Prime subscription, there are plenty of other great movies to watch on the video platform. November is one of my favorite times to watch the Rocky movies, and it is always a great conversation starter with other family members when we gather for Thanksgiving.

Spoilers below for the latest episode of Tulsa King, so be wanted if you haven’t yet streamed it via Paramount+ subscription!

With the seventh episode of Season 3, Tulsa King continued widening the tense rift between Dwight Manfredi and Robert Patrick’s Jeremiah Dunmire, while also showcasing the damaged father-son relationship between ol’ Jeremiah and his annoying egotistical son Cole (Bean Knapp). Not to mention laying out how Dwight & Co. managed to lure the Attorney General onto their side. But it’s what wasn’t shown at all that was most noticeable to yours truly.

At this point in Tulsa King’s run, we’ve obviously seen more than enough of Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight pulling cons on gangsters both minor and major, and while that’s still fun enough to keep this as one of Paramount+'s best shows, I’ve found myself drawn quite heavily to Bodhi’s evolving story in this third season, perhaps more than any other plotlines. And yet Martin Starr’s character was completely absent, despite all the other main characters being present.

Bodhi's PTSD-Laden Storyline Stands Out And Deserves More Attention

Given that so much of Tulsa King's on-screen story is devoted to ball-busting machismo, gangster violence, and Tyson's attempt to rise up the ranks as Dwight's right hand, I always enjoy when the show takes a step back from the dark vibes and puts the spotlight on Bodhi and Grace, who have both maintained their small-fish status while part of Dwight's crew. In the past, it's been largely for comedic purposes, and while that's still largely the same, Bodhi's also dealing with shit this season.

The Season 2 drive-by shooting in front of the dispensary that left Glen Gould's Jimmy The Creek dead still haunts Bodhi, considering Jimmy had become his best friend behind the scenes of Dwight's operation. To have his BFF ripped away like that in such a violent manner had a huge impact on Bodhi's mental state, especially since he held Jimmy in his arms until he fully passed on. It's the kind of experience that would make anybody leave their current job, but that's not currently a luxury he's been granted.

Bodhi took it upon himself to stand up to Cowboy Art, the dude responsible for killing Jimmy, earlier in the season, using a gun to smash the gangster in the face while also threatening the dude's life. Rather than solely relying on aggression to make his point, Bodhi explained why Art's actions fucked him up on such a deep level, and the two men came to an uncomfortable-but-survivable compromise in the end, with Bodhi understanding that adding more violence to the situation wouldn't produce any miracle solutions.

Even when Starr's characer appears to be having a good time, as it went in Episode 6 during his road trip with Grace, the more fractured side of his persona resurfaces immediately, in this case whenever he got that phone call from Art asking about Bevilaqua. The villainous party was looking for help in locating his boss, which must have felt very strange for Bodhi.

Yet in Episode 7, we don't get any real updates about him, despite Grace being around to help out with the casino craps game shenanigans that put the Attorney General into Dwight's back pocket. Maybe Bodhi just ate too many edibles and is sleeping for a few days.

What Martin Starr Told Me About Bodhi's Season 3 Storyline

When I talked to Tulsa King's cast to promote Season 3 on Paramount+, I asked Martin Starr about Bodhi's getting arguably deeper character development than what might have been expected. And he told me it's all part of an ongoing plan for the character that was set up back in the earliest days. In his words:

For so long, Bodhi has been the outlier pacifist who has mostly avoided getting his hands too dirty while running the legal weed shop side of things, but has obviously found himself in more troublesome waters. As it turns out, Sylvester Stallone himself is one of the creatives who has pushed hardest for Martin Starr's character to get a bigger and richer storyline. According to the actor:

I cannot wait for the day, perhaps in Season 8 or 9, when a van pulls up, its side door open, and out steps Bodhi in full Punisher garb, with a semi-auto locked and loaded in each hand. It's hard to imagine such a fate coming for a character who's largely avoided the senseless violence, but spend enough time around ducks, and you're liable to start quacking.

As such, I believe that this show will indeed give Bodhi a big make-or-break moment before Season 3 wraps that will put him on the path to no return, where he'll do something that will further tarnish whatever remaining innocence he has left.

Will Tulsa King fully turn Bodhi into a hardcore gangster ASAP, or will this evolution continue on into the as-yet-unconfirmed Season 4? Find out when new episodes air Sundays on Paramount+.

Recently, I was watching an interview with Sylvester Stallone where he was looking back on his career. As he was talking about the Rambo franchise, specifically the first movie in the series (and by far the best of the series), First Blood, he mentioned another movie I’d never heard of: The Hunted.

Stallone said that the movie, which you can watch with a Paramount+ subscription, was based on the book First Blood, which his movie from 1982 was also based on. I read it years ago, and I knew a lot had been changed for the movie, so I had to watch The Hunted. It’s a wild movie.

The Hunted Is Packed With Talent

After reading a little about The Hunted, I was surprised that I had never heard of it. It’s loaded with A-list talent. Benicio del Toro plays an elite soldier who has gone nuts, and Tommy Lee Jones, his former instructor, is tasked with bringing the loose cannon in. It co-stars Connie Nielsen, of Gladiator fame, and features some great character actors, including Rex Linn, Mark Pellegrino, and José Zúñiga. Johnny Cash provides a brief intro narration.

The film is directed by the Academy Award-winning William Friedkin, who is most famous for The French Connection and The Exorcist, among many others. It also had a reported budget of over $50 million, which certainly wasn’t chump change in 2003. All things pointed to The Hunted being an underrated classic. Well, all things except the reviews, which were mostly negative. Still, I was ready to dive in.

The Hunted Is A Violent, Crazy Flick, But The Direct Connection To First Blood Isn’t Clear

It also appeared that maybe Stallone wasn’t exactly correct when he said in the interview with GQ that the movie was based on the book. I couldn’t find any evidence that the book First Blood, which was published in 1972, and The Hunted were directly connected. However, plenty of reviews of the movie compared it, mostly negatively, to the book and the Stallone film.

First Blood famously changed quite a bit from its source material, most notably the ending. I won’t spoil it if you’ve never seen it, but let’s just say the book is much more violent and much more tragic in the end than the movie is. It seems to me that The Hunted was very much inspired by the original First Blood book. The plot is that of a rogue soldier hunted by his former mentor (Col. Trautman in First Blood) that ends tragically for everyone. In fact, if I were author David Morrell, who wrote First Blood, I’d have to question if too much was lifted from my story.

In The End, The Hunted Just Isn’t Very Good

I went in with an open mind, ignoring the critics on this one. As the movie went on, however, I got more and more frustrated. I really wanted this to be good, but it just isn’t. The dialogue is cheesy and ham-fisted, the performances are pretty thin, and the direction is lazy. It’s not what I expect from the talent involved. There is so much obvious foreshadowing early in the movie that the third act of the movie was basically spoiled before it even started.

I see now why it carries only a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; it’s not what anyone wants to see from the likes of Friedkin, Jones, and del Toro. At least I can take comfort in the fact that one of the best movies on the 2025 movie schedule, One Battle After Another, features del Toro in a much better performance.

I'm not personally an actor, but one thing that I admire about the profession is the emotional vulnerability to which the most dedicated stars open themselves in their work. Providing an authentic performance in a heavy drama can require going to some dark places, and that kind of internal exploration can leave a person feeling very raw. And when I hear a story like the one about the time that Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone had a hard cry on the set of director Ryan Coogler's Creed, my admiration is really only enhanced.

Stallone personally shared the story recently as part of a career retrospective video recorded for GQ. He looks back at a number of performances, including his time in the Rambo movies and the Expendables franchise, but in the segment during which he discusses his long time playing Rocky Balboa, he talks about the series entering a new era with Creed and a powerful moment that he shared with co-star Michael B. Jordan. Said the actor,

Reflecting on the film, it's likely that Stallone is referencing a sequence toward the middle of Creed when Rocky and Michael B. Jordan's Adonis are sparring in a ring late one night. Things seem fine at first, but then Rocky gets dizzy and runs to the ropes to vomit in a bucket. In a following scene, the boxing legend is taken to a hospital and diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (there was talk at one point about Rocky dying in the movie, but Stallone had that idea nixed).

Apparently the filming of the sequence was a lot to take on for the actors, and they both had a shared bawling session at what was the end of the production day. Stallone added,

I kind of hope that whatever was the root "cause" of the moment never comes out. It sounds like the two stars shared a very personal moment together, and I feel it's worth appreciating their powerful emotional expression by itself without digging into it further.

In addition to being a lovely story about two beloved stars, this is also a nice reminder of just how great a movie Creed is. The film is actually celebrating its tenth anniversary next month (how time flies!), and if you're feeling game for a rewatch, it's not presently available to stream from any subscription service, but it is available for digital rental and purchase, and it has been released on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray.

In 2015, nine years after he’d reprised Rocky Balboa in the same-named movie following a 16-year absence from the role, Sylvester Stallone returned to the character that made him famous. This time around, though, he wasn’t playing Rocky as the main protagonist, as Creed instead saw Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed filling that position. In fact, originally the plan was for Rocky to die in the spinoff, but Stallone has explained why he nixed that idea immediately.

While I remember speculating, like so many did, that Rocky might die when Creed came out, I didn’t realize director and co-writer Ryan Coogler intended for this to happen in the original script. This was initially why Stallone didn’t want to do Creed, with the actor saying the following while breaking down his most iconic characters with GQ:

I can see where Sylvester Stallone’s coming from to an extent, especially given how important Rocky Balboa has been to his career, to the point that there’s a movie being made about the making of Rocky. So after dodging Ryan Coogler for several years, eventually he sat down with the filmmaker and voiced his concern with what was going to happen to the Italian Stallion. Coogler was amenable to changing that aspect of the story, so death by Lou Gehrig’s disease was dropped.

Rocky did still experience a health scare during Creed, as he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Fortunately, after initially turning it down, he underwent chemotherapy and started to bounce back by the end of the movie. Funny enough, Stallone accidentally spoiled this portion of Creed in a social media post from December 2014.

Sylvester Stallone reprised Rocky Balboa again in Creed II, but did not return for Creed III. He described his absence in the threequel as “a regretful situation” in November 2022, saying that the then-upcoming movie was “taken in a direction that is quite different than I would’ve taken it.” Stallone has also spent the last few years expressing his displeasure that he doesn’t have the legal rights to the Rocky/Creed franchise, also saying in November 2022 that the deal he signed for the original Rocky was “done unbeknownst to me by people that I thought were close to me and they basically gave away whatever rights I would have had.”

Because of all this, it seems unlikely we’ll ever see Sylvester Stallone play Rocky again, even though there was a time when a seventh Rocky movie was in the works. However, there is a Rocky prequel TV series in the works at Amazon Studios, and a Drago spinoff and Creed IV are also still in development.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet caught up with Tulsa King’s latest Season 3 episode, “The Fifty,” via Paramount+ subscription, so be warned!

Tulsa King’s third season is already a blast, with not just one but two high-ranking threats clouding up any future endeavors he's planning for the 2025 TV schedule . There’s James Russo’s mob boss Quiet Ray Renzetti, who didn’t take kindly to Dwight’s solo venturing, and there’s Robert Patrick’s Jeremiah Dunmire, who doesn’t seem like he’ll be taking kindly to anything Dwight’s crew gets invested in. Case in point: Episode 302 had me stressing the hell out each time Patrick and Stallone shared the screen.

Having previously costarred in 1997’s Cop Land, the two actors have never faced off on opposing sides of a narrative in the same way that things are going down on Tulsa King, and I have to say, it was worth the wait in every way. From the early showdown at Theodore Montague’s wake — “This business requires sound judgment, not the foul hand of a bottom-feeder.” — to their late-ep sit-down, ever second of the two actors squaring off is electric. It’s just another reason why Tulsa King is one of Paramount+’s best shows.

When I talked to Sylvester Stallone ahead of Season 3's debut, I asked him about working with the iconic Terminator 2 co-star, and Sly paid him something akin to the ultimate compliment by saying:

Stallone made it pretty clear that he believes Patrick was indeed born with it, and has been showing it off on screen for many decades now. Wildly enough, this isn't even the only current streaming action-drama co-starring Frank Grillo that features the actor as a backwoodsy villain. He's also currently adding to the evil over on Peacemaker, though nobody else on that show is as formidable a nemesis for him as Stallone.

The Expendables star continued, saying that Robert Patrick brought his own personal flourishes to playing Jeremiah Dunmire:

Indeed, for all that we've seen Dwight Manfredi standing up to a bunch of other mob underlings who were clearly cut from the same Italian cloth, the Dunmires bring a more southern-fried flavor to Tulsa King's lineup of antagonists. (Oh, Neal McDonought's Thresher is still out there, of course, but he's not on the same level at all.)

Sylvester Stallone Talks Getting Into The Right Headspace For Intense Scenes

The final scene's conversation between Dwight and Jeremiah definitely got my blood pressure boiling, with Mitch getting ambushed also adding to the turmoil. So I had to ask the Rocky icon if he had a process for getting into the right mental space for scenes like that where threats are being bandied about. He agreed, but then shared why it's harder than one might expect to get into that stressed-out mindset, saying:

For example, if Robert Patrick was only on the set for two weeks, and the crew had to film all of his scenes smashed together, that would create a lot of timeline havoc for the actors, as they'd need to constantly stay on top of tracking the plotline and what their characters would be feeling from one moment to the next. Maybe not so hard for minor characters, but quite difficult for someone who's on screen for 80% of every episode.

Granted, the example above wasn't exactly what was happening here, but that doesn't mean all the scenes were filmed in sequential order. Locations, times of day and other factors also play into why productions shoot scenes out of order. Whatever the reason, even a longtime pro like Sylvester Stallone still has to keep his head straight on the set.

Tulsa King streams new episodes on Paramount+ every Sunday, with eight more stress-filled episodes on the way.

Many actors in Hollywood would give anything to bring just one character to life who has a pop culture legacy that will stand the test of time, and Sylvester Stallone is making it happen for a third time as Tulsa King’s moves-making mobster Dwight “The General” Manfredi. The TV character is seemingly worlds away from the actor’s two most iconic prior roles: Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, but Stallone says it’s actually a dream combination of the two.

Ahead of Tulsa King’s third season hitting the 2025 premiere schedule, CinemaBlend spoke with Sylvester Stallone, and I asked him about how jumping back into playing Dwight on a regular basis compared to lacing up the gloves and strapping on the bandolier for Rocky and Rambo, and here’s what he told me:

I mean, we're going to go ahead and assume that Stallone's personal behavior isn't quite as criminal or deadly as Dwight's is, and that side of the character isn't part of the convo here. Rather, Dwight Manfredi seems to impart all of the badassery and fury of Rambo, but with a more calm and collected approach that would even put Rocky at ease. Assuming Rocky doesn't pull some shit like trying to work with Vincent Piazza's Vince Antonacci or anyone else behind Dwight's back.

Sly Stallone shared a bit more insight when it comes to how Dwight is both an extension of himself and his past characers, saying:

In the past, Stallone has shared his opinion that action movie heroes shouldn't talk much, which obviously stems out of his work on Rambo. But even though Tulsa King isn't a movie, and so that comparison doesn't quite match, I think we can all agree Dwight Manfredi would feel like a different person if he didn't talk much. How else are these characters going to learn about crossing the Rubicon and all of Dwight's other encyclopedic info-bombs?

So often, movie-centric actors make the transition to television by playing a role that contrasts what audienes are used to, and while that can sometimes go extremely well, the chances are high for it to fall flat. That's definitely not the case here with Tulsa King, however, and I can't wait for Season 3 to expand this Taylor Sheridan-produced empire.

Tulsa King's Season 3 premiere is now live for fans to stream via Paramount+ subscription, with new episodes releasing every Sunday.

Fall TV is finally making its way to the 2025 premiere schedule, and while there are plenty of network shows kicking off soon, one of the biggest debuts this week is easily the Season 3 opener of Sylvester Stallone’s action-steeped crime drama Tulsa King. With its first two seasons, the mob-centric series cemented itself as one of the best shows streaming on Paramount+, and I was very excited to talk to the cast about the new threats soon rising up in Oklahoma.

When I spoke with Annabella Sciorra alongside Jay Will and Martin Starr, I was curious about the actress’ experiences both on this show and during her memorable run on The Sopranos as Angie Bonpensiero. Relatively few actors can say they’ve shared the screen in gangster dramas with both Stallone and the late, great James Gandolfini.

When I asked Sciorra to compare working with two of Hollywood’s major heavies, she was understandably hesitant to speak too openly about her former on-screen beau, saying:

Oh, um, wow. I mean, gosh, they're both very particular. Jim was very...he liked to get himself in a state, you know, when he was doing something,. Oh, gosh, it's so hard to talk about Jim, I have to tell you that, so I'm not going to talk about him too much. But very different, very different.

Gandolfini, who died in June 2013 of cardiac arrest at 51, remains idolized by millions of fans, not just for his undeniably powerful role as Tony Soprano, but for a career full of interesting and often intimidating characters. As Sciorra noted, he was known to work himself up while filming to bring Tony to the razor's edge of emotions, and it's not like there were tons of scenes where Tony and Angie just hung out peacefully on the beach without any other cares in the world. That not how The Sopranos worked.

Annabella Sciorra continued, pointing out that where James Gandolfini was an intense performer, Sylvester Stallone is apparently the exact opposite, and that he knows how to mince words in a way that's most impactful. As she put it:

In the case of Tulsa King, one might imagine the actor's rituals involving throwing two-bit goons through bar windows. But it's probably more peaceful than that.

Sciorra also spoke to how immaculately prepared Stallone is when he's on the set, and not just when it comes to what his character Dwight Manfredi is doing at any given monent. The Rocky vet knows it all, and Jay Will had something to say about it.

• ANNABELLA SCIORRA: I will say this: he knows his lines spot-on, and he knows everybody else's lines in the scene.
• JAY WILL: It’s annoying.
• ANNABELLA SCIORRA: Super professional, spry, lot of energy. He's fantastic to work with.

Martin Starr also talked about how well-versed Stallone is, not only with everyone's scene dialogue, but also with each of the characters' evolving storylines from season to season. It sounds like he has the long-game in mind, and I can only imagine that Paramount+ will be happy to keep this show (Jelly-)rolling, so long as viewers keep tuning in.

Tulsa King Season 3 premiere, titled “Blood and Bourbon,” will be available to stream via Paramount+ subscription starting on Sunday, September 21, with new episodes arriving weekly thereafter. Fans aren’t going to want to miss seeing Sylvester Stallone facing off against Terminator 2 and Peacemaker star Robert Patrick.

There are so many memorable scenes in Rocky, such as when Apollo Creed beat the Philly underdog, or when he used sides of beef as punching bags during training. But we can’t forget about The Italian Stallion throwing his fists in the air on top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Speaking of the famous stairs scene, Stallone told an interesting story surrounding that iconic moment that involved having to film that scene quickly, “before the police come.”

Before Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was a broke and unemployed 22-year-old until his boxing screenplay turned into a sleeper hit. His inspirational story was all the more reason why the Rambo actor promoted his memoir The Steps on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Not only did the Golden Globe winner talk about the symbolic steps of his successful career trajectory, but also the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps that are famous because of Rocky. However, Stallone also spoke about a relatable rookie mistake involving location rights:

Sylvester Stallone clearly didn’t know at the time that when you film on public property, you need a permit from the city or a local film commission before filming. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of films have sets built to avoid having to worry about securing a permit. But hey, you live and you learn.

Without a location permit, you would think one of the most motivational training scenes wasn’t going to happen. However, the New York City native found an unbelievable loophole that made movie magic happen:

Funnily enough, Sylvester Stallone originally planned to have his “buffalo”-sized dog Butkus up on the steps with him in his arms. But since the canine’s weight wasn’t doing wonders for the owner’s knees, the best sports movie’s lead had to do without Butkus on the stairs. Sure, Rocky Balboa holding his dog in his arms up the stairs would have been memorable, but seeing the boxer’s fists up in the air, jumping proudly at the top, was a more triumphant finish.

It’s a good thing the police didn’t stop Sylvester Stallone from filming the legendary 72 Steps scene, or Rocky wouldn’t have become the Philadelphia-set movie we know today. It would be easy to say that Balboa going against Apollo Creed was what made him the movie hero who makes you proud to be an American. However, it was actually being able to make that big climb despite his grueling training, ending with a triumphant cheer for the city to see.

Feel free to revisit the scene that almost wasn’t available on your Amazon Prime Video subscription. You can also find Sylvester Stallone's memoir, The Steps, on Amazon or at your local bookstore on May 5th.

There’s already plenty of great stuff to watch on streaming every week. Whether you’re into Only Murders in the Building or The Great British Baking Show, each week offers something new that must not be missed. But the streaming platforms seem to think we can’t have too much of a good thing, as there’s plenty more debuting this week.

Futurama, Season 13 - September 15 (Hulu)

Futurama is simply the show that will not die. Having been cancelled and resurrected multiple times, on multiple networks. This time, you need a Hulu subscription to watch the further adventures of Fry, Leela, and the rest. At least one more season will also happen, set to arrive next year.

Elio - September 17 (Disney+)

Pixar was once unstoppable when it came to its films. It introduced countless new characters over dozens of films, with many of them becoming successful franchises. Of late, Pixar’s original stories have struggled at the box office, and Elio, the story of a boy looking for a home in another world, is just the latest to not draw an audience. That said, the movie is quite good, and if you have a Disney+ subscription, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Gen V, Season 2 - September 17 (Prime Video)

The Boys and its various spinoffs have become one of the best reasons to get and keep a Prime Video subscription. While the main show is heading toward its final season, the college spinoff Gen V enters its second season this week. It will be our first look at how the fallout from The Boys impacted these characters, and we can expect all the mature superhero action the franchise has continued to provide.

The Morning Show, Season 4 - September 17 (Apple TV+)

One of Apple TV+’s early original series, The Morning Show, returns for Season 4 this week. Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are back alongside a host of returning and new characters. Fans who have been waiting to see what happens next with the network TV drama will want to have their Apple TV+ subscription ready to go.

Black Rabbit September 18 (Netflix)

Jude Law and Jason Bateman were a pairing I wasn’t necessarily expecting, but at first glance, Black Rabbit looks like it might have a lot to offer and be the best reason to have a Netflix subscription this week. Bateman plays a down-on-his-luck guy who is in deep with organized crime. He turns to his brother, a successful restaurateur, played by Law, for help, and ends up drawing him into the criminal underworld too.

Tulsa King, Season 3 - September 21 (Paramount+)

Tulsa King, with Sylvester Stallone, was one of the earliest hits among those with a Paramount+ subscription, and now the series is getting ready to enter its third season. While we certainly don’t know everything that’s set to happen in the new season, one thing we do know is that it will introduce us to a new character, played by Samuel L. Jackson, setting up his own spinoff series, NOLA King.

If you’re waiting for Slow Horses or Marvel Zombies, you won’t have to wait too much longer./ September is almost over, and both shows will arrive before the month is out.

In 1976, Sylvester Stallone achieved worldwide fame with the release of Rocky, one of the best boxing movies of all time. It not only won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and was nominated in seven other categories, it kicked off a franchise that was still going as of 2023 with the release of Creed III. Now a movie about the making of Rocky, which Stallone also wrote, is in the works, and I’m really liking the guy they cast to play the man behind the Italian Stallion in the mid-‘70s.

Anthony Ippolito has been selected to play Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky, which is being put together by Amazon MGM. THR shared the casting news, along with mentioning that Green Book’s Peter Farrelly is directing this movie about the great efforts Stallone took to make Rocky a reality and ensure that he played the title role. As you’ll see when comparing the below still of Ippolito to the one of Stallone in Rocky above, the resemblance is quite remarkable.

This picture comes from the Paramount+ subscription-exclusive series The Offer, which chronicled the making of The Godfather. Anthony Ippolito played Al Pacino in the miniseries, but hopefully enough of you reading this agree with me that he looks a lot more like Sylvester Stallone. Ippolito was also reportedly channeling the same kind of energy that Stallone was during the Rocky days, as the former made an “unsolicited” audition tape and sent it directly to the I Play Rocky producers.

Anthony Ippolito’s other credits include The English Teacher, Pixels, Purple Hearts and Grand Army. Rather than making I Play Rocky an exclusive offering for Prime Video subscription holders, MGM intends to release it theatrically. So count on a lot more people being introduced to Ippolito as he portrays another one of Hollywood’s famed Italian American actors, this time on the big screen.

As far as the Rocky franchise itself goes, there are a handful of projects in the works, including Creed IV, a spinoff focusing on Ivan and Viktor Drago, and a TV series following Rocky Balboa before the events of the first movie. There was also a time when Sylvester Stallone was developing a seventh Rocky movie, but that appears to be falling by the wayside over his inability to acquire any of the Rocky rights. Hopefully that doesn’t mean he’s not willing to meet with Anthony Ippolito and give him some tips on how play him when he was a struggling unknown.

We here at CinemaBlend will keep you apprised on more updates concerning I Play Rocky, including when it’s scheduled for theatrical release. Stream the Rocky and Creed movies to your heart’s content on Prime Video, and catch Sylvester Stallone reprising Dwight Manfredi in Tulsa King Season 3, which premieres on Paramount+ September 21.

Sylvester Stallone became one of the top draws in Hollywood in the ‘80s and ‘90s thanks to two major franchises, Rocky and Rambo. Both franchises have continued to serve the actor well into the modern era. However, Stallone had already said goodbye to the Rocky movies, and now it appears that we will have a new Rambo.

It had been previously rumored that there was interest in revitalizing the Rambo franchise via a prequel movie. It now appears that the project has taken a significant step forward. A screenplay written by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani is set to be directed by Sisu director Jalmari Helander. More importantly, the new John Rambo has been found in a Netflix heartthrob.

Noah Centineo Will Play A Young John Rambo

According to Deadline, Noah Centineo, known well to those with a Netflix subscription for romances like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, as well as more action-oriented series like The Recruit, is currently attached to take on the role of John Rambo. The new film is hoping to begin filming in early 2026 in Thailand, which will stand in for Vietnam.

The original John Rambo movie, titled First Blood, sees Rambo, dealing with PTSD following the Vietnam War and inadvertently crossing a small town sheriff, which leads to a standoff between the Green Beret and the local police. The new movie will tell the story, or at least part of the story, of Rambo’s time in Vietnam.

While First Blood was a more dramatic and complex story, each of the Rambo sequels that followed were more straightforward action movies. Stallone starred in the most recent entry in the franchise, the poorly-reviewed Rambo: Last Blood, in 2019. Despite the title, the movie left itself open to additional sequels.

Sylvester Stallone Reportedly Isn’t Involved In The New Film

According to the report, while Sylvester Stallone is aware of the project, he’s not involved in it in any way. It’s unclear if this is by choice or not. Stallone has indicated in the past that he doesn’t own any part of the Rocky franchise, a fact he’s unhappy about, and it appears that it directly contributed to his walking away following Creed III.

Stallone's lack of involvement is potentially interesting considering he has been one of the most vocal proponents of a Rambo prequel in recent years. Stallone himself had indicated he thought Ryan Gosling should lead future Rambo movies.

The marks the second major franchise opportunity for Noah Centineo coming up. He’ll also appear in the upcoming Street Fighter movie in the role of Ken. He had previously been attached to play He-Man in a live-action Masters of the Universe movie. That project ultimately fell through, but was later revived with Nicholas Galitzine in the lead. Ceninto also played Atom Smasher in Black Adam.

The announcement from Stephen Colbert that The Late Show was being cancelled sent shockwaves through the late-night television world. Fans were shocked, as were other late-night hosts. Now it seems the repercussions of the announcement are even being felt outside of late-night TV, and even Paramount+’s Tulsa King is feeling the heat.

Tulsa King, the popular Paramount+ series starring Sylvester Stallone, is getting a spinoff. NOLA King will star Samuel L. Jackson and take place in the Big Easy. Normally one would expect a spin-off to a popular series, with a big-name lead actor, to generate a lot of positive fan reaction. Instead, a recent Instagram post promoting the show is full of comments from angry Stephen Colbert fans saying they won’t be watching the show, as they’re canceling their Paramount+ subscription in protest. Comments conclude…

• I love that “cancel paramount plus” is trending on Google! I stand with Stephen!
• My subscription to Paramount + will end. All good things must come to an end. #Stephencolbert ❤️
• I will not be renewing. You paid a bribe to trump. Colbert was telling the truth. I will not be watching any of your shows.
• Subscription Canceled.

CBS claimed the decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was a financial one, as the economics of late-night TV simply didn’t support the show any longer. Still, some believe the decision is related to the recent lawsuit Paramount settled with Donald Trump, ahead of its planned merger with Skydance. Colbert referred to the lawsuit settlement as a bribe during his monologue just days before the cancellation announcement.

Whatever the reason for the cancellation, there seems to be a lot of people who are so upset by it that they’re taking it out on the parent company in the one way they know might have an impact, financially. It’s far from clear how many people are actually cancelling Paramount+ in reaction to the news, but if these Instagram comments are a microcosm, far more people are upset about Colbert than actually excited for the new show.

And that's not great news for a new show like NOLA King. Even if the number of actual cancellations isn't massive, the Colbert situation, drowning out any sort of promotion of new shows, won't be great for those shows. A show like NOLA King that hasn't even begun filming yet, will have plenty of time to recover. Other series coming in the short term might not be so lucky.

It will certainly be interesting to see what the future holds. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert isn’t actually ending for several more months, and quite a lot could happen in that time. If we continue to see this sort of reaction, Paramount+ could be in for a rough few months.

Will Smith is still a pretty big movie star today, but there was a time in the late ‘90s that he was quite possibly the biggest movie star in the world. This was, at least in part, because becoming a movie star was exactly Smith’s goal, and it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who taught him how to do it.

In a clip from the documentary film, Number One on the Call Sheet, available this week with an Apple TV+ subscription, that has been posted to Instagram, Smith tells a story which he’s mentioned before about attending a Planet Hollywood opening in the early 1990s. He had a chance to talk to three movie star shareholders, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone. Smith said…

It may seem like an obvious statement, that being a big movie star means being a star outside of the U.S., but there are plenty of stars that are loved domestically that aren’t nearly as big elsewhere in the world. A star at the level of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Tom Cruise or yes, Will Smith, is something of a rarity.

But there’s also a more practical reason that being a big star all over the world is important. Being so acclaimed in other countries means a better chance for box office success globally. This means movies can still be a hit even if they don’t become smash hits in North America. Smith continued…

It’s not too difficult to see exactly this idea in action in Will Smith’s own career. While all the Men in Black movies are among the highest-grossing films of the actor’s career, it’s worth noting that each film made less money than the preceding one at the domestic box office. However, the sequels did much better overseas. Men in Black 3 was the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise domestically, but the highest-grossing internationally, making it actually the highest-grossing movie in the series worldwide.

Whether or not Will Smith ever returns to the heights of his previous stardom, the man clearly understands how to be a movie star.

Sylvester Stallone has been a big movie star for decades, been part of major blockbusters, and been the lead of multiple franchises over the years. The Rocky and Rambo movies alone mean Stallone's name will never be forgotten. That being said, the man has made plenty of bad movies over the years to go along with his Oscar-nominated performances, and some of those bad movies are really bad.

Art is a subjective thing, and so there are rarely movies that literally everybody agrees are great. The same goes for movies everybody agrees are terrible. And yet, somehow, Stallone has been in not one, but two movies recently that haven’t received a single positive review.

Alarum Is Stallone’s Latest Rotten Tomatoes Bomb

If you’re not familiar with Sylvester Stallone’s new movie, Alarum, you’re probably not alone. It’s a direct-to-VOD movie that stars Scott Eastwood and includes Willa Fitzgerald and Mike Colter. Stallone appears as the "old, retired spy" type. Beyond that, the only thing we can say about it is that it must be pretty bad, as the movie has 17 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and all of them fall on the “rotten” side of the line.

While Alarum has only a fraction of the number of reviews that a major theatrical release would get, the fact that not a single one of its few reviews is even slightly positive likely indicates there won't be a lot more coming. It seems unlikely many people are going to be racing to check this one out. The question is, is Alarum better or worse than Stallone’s other 0% movie?

Stallone Had Another 0% Movie Just Two Months Ago

It seems Sylvester Stallone should simply not make direct-to-VOD movies with one-word titles beginning with the letter A, because Alarum follows the release of Armor, just this past November. That has a few more reviews than the new film, all of 23, but still has the incredible 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Sylvester Stallone’s career has remained on solid ground thanks to Tulsa King (available with a Paramount+ subscription), which has run for two seasons and has a third on the way, he’s seemingly had less success with movies. Prior to his back-back direct to VOD bombs, his last film was The Expendables 4, which didn’t get a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, but only just barely with only 17 out of 124 reviews giving it a positive response.

Stallone reportedly has several projects in pre-production, though to be fair, they mostly look like these two films, i.e. low-budget action films that likely won't get a lot of views or particularly great reviews. Still, one hopes that the upcoming Stallone movies do better with critics and viewers than the last couple have.

After months of Jake Paul's trolling, a medical event delaying the fight, and plenty of smack talk, the time has finally come. Everyone with a Netflix subscription will get to see Mike Tyson take on the young and cocky fighter, and we'll see if experience can overcome age in the boxing ring. Now, hours before the fight airs on the 2024 TV schedule, Sylvester Stallone seemingly made his selection for the match, but betting odds don't agree with him.

Stallone may not be a professional fighter, but his Rocky movies have made him synonymous with the sport. I've said many times that this fight kind of mimics the storyline of his Rocky Balboa, which is ranked fifth on our best Rocky movies list. In that movie, Rocky loses to a much younger fighter in a bout that goes to a split judges' decision, but is that what he thinks will happen this time?

Sylvester Stallone Shouts Out Mike Tyson Before The Fight

Sly Stallone didn't explicitly pick a winner of Tyson vs. Paul in his latest Instagram post, but I think it made it clear who he's pulling for. After sharing a photoshopped photo that depicted Mike Tyson taking on Rocky, the actor said the following:

Mike Tyson believes he can beat Jake Paul, and based on Sylvester Stallone's writing, he's pulling for the legend. I don't think he's alone in that sentiment, as many want to see the icon pull through rather than suffer a defeat to someone as antagonistic and, as some would say, as unworthy as Paul, considering the difference in accolades between the two.

Betting Sites Have Jake Paul As The Overall Favorite To Win

It could also be that Sylvester Stallone loves rooting for the underdog, because Mike Tyson is certainly that based on the odds circulating around betting sites. DraftKings currently has Jake Paul as a -200 favorite to win the bout, which means he's being given 66.67% odds of winning. That's not substantial favoritism over Tyson, but the odds are much higher than some may believe.

As someone who observed both Tyson and Paul's public workouts, I can say that while the former is the more skilled fighter, age will be a factor in the bout. Tyson looked pretty sweaty after just a three-minute workout, and even with shorter rounds for this boxing match, he stands a good chance of getting exhausted much quicker than Jake Paul.

I think for Tyson to win he'll have to go hard early, and hope he can land a knockout using his superior techniques to get through to Paul.

I've heard from many people that they're expecting Tyson to knock Paul out, but Vegas has the odds of that happening at +250, which is highly unlikely. The implied probability of that happening is 28.57%. As a betting man, I'd feel iffy about taking those odds, but I've seen them hit before! We will see what happens soon enough!

Stream Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul on Netflix beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. Just as a heads up, there will be other fights taking place before the main event, so don't plan on switching it on right at the start expecting to see the two trade blows!

Even the greatest actors have ups and downs in their careers. For some, it's more dramatic than others. John Travolta was virtually forgotten about before Quentin Tarantino cast him in Pulp Fiction, for example. Then there was "The McConaissance," when Matthew McConaughey roared back to prominence. Those two are hardly alone in finding roles that brought them back. Here is our list of 32 roles that saved actors' careers. 

Pulp Fiction - John Travolta

This was a big one. In the late '70s, there wasn't a bigger star than John Travolta. On the strength of a hit TV show (Welcome Back, Kotter), and two huge hits at the box office with Saturday Night Fever and Grease, Travolta was on top of the world. Then, almost all of a sudden, poof, he was gone. In the 16 years between Grease in 1978 and 1994, he appeared in only 11 movies, and three of those were Look Who's Talking movies and most of them bombed. Then Tarantino came along and cast him as Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction and once again, Travolta was on top of the business and he's never looked back. 

Dallas Buyers Club - Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey exploded onto the scene in the early '90s in Dazed And Confused, where he delivered some of the most iconic quotes. In the mid-90s he started playing more dramatic roles in movies like A Time To Kill, Contact, and Amistad. By the early 2000s, he established himself as a popular lead in rom-coms. Then, after a few of his movies struggled to make an impact in the late 2000s, his star faded a little. That all changed in 2013 when he starred in, and won a Best Actor Oscar, for Dallas Buyers Club and The McConaissance was born. 

Stranger Things - Winona Ryder

With movies like Beetlejuice, Heathers,  The Age of Innocence, and Little Women, Winona Ryder was a superstar in the late '80s and early '90s. But in the early '00s, after some bad press for her shoplifting conviction, Ryder's star had fallen quite a bit and she even took a short break from acting. Though she never fell off the map completely, it wasn't until she starred in Stranger Things starting in 2016, that Ryder returned to the top. 

Judy - Renée Zellweger

Between Jerry McGuire in 1996 and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2005, Renée Zellweger was one of the most popular and successful actors in Hollywood. With a slew of hits and awards,  Zellweger could do no wrong. Then, after a few less-than-successful movies, the industry showed how fickle it could be and she fell off the A-list. That all changed in 2019 with Judy, followed up with the TV series The Thing About Pam.

The Whale - Brendan Fraser

the 1990s were Brendan Fraser's decade. He had some massive hits, most notably The Mummy in 1999, but soon after, it's like everything dried up. He worked still, but barely and it left the world asking what had become of the heartthrob. He answered every one with his amazing performance in The Whale, winning the Best Actor Oscar and roaring back to the top. 

Birdman - Michael Keaton

In the 1980s, Michael Keaton delivered some of the funniest lines in some of the funniest movies. In the mid-90s and early 00s, his career slowed a bit. He was still working but wasn't the big star he'd been when he got the role in Tim Burton's Batman. That is, of course, until he starred as an actor much like himself in Birdman and brought the great actor back to the top of the A-list. 

House Of Cards - Robin Wright

When she burst onto the scene in The Princess Bride, the sky was the limit for Robin Wright. She reached new heights with her role as Jenny in Forrest Gump but found herself a tabloid regular with her marriage to Sean Penn. Ultimately, she found perhaps her greatest fame when she landed the role of Claire Underwood in Netflix's House Of Cards. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once - Ke Huy Quan

Has there ever been a feel-good story in Hollywood like Ke Huy Quan's return to fame after winning an Oscar for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once? After decades of virtually not working in the industry, having found fame as a kid, Quan was once again the toast of the town. 

Halloween (2018) - Jamie Lee Curtis

She's been called the original slasher film "final girl" for her role in the original Halloween, and Jamie Lee Curtis rode that fame to the top of Hollywood. You might not remember, but in 2006 she actually announced her retirement from acting. Though she didn't give it up completely, she was very selective about roles, mostly playing supporting characters. That changed with 2018 Halloween when she roared back into the business head first. 

Sin City - Mickey Rourke

People forget just how huge Mickey Rourke was in the 80s. Men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him, as they say. Then, he decided he'd put acting on the back burner and become a boxer. After a somewhat successful run, he returned to acting, and with Sin City and The Wrestler, Rouke was back on top in Hollywood

Scream - Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore became a huge star as a kid in the 1980s with movies like E.T. and Firestarter. In her teens, some personal problems derailed things a little, but when she starred in Scream, it brought her completely back and she's never looked back. 

Wild - Reese Witherspoon

When Reese Witherspoon won the Academy Award for her performance in 2005's Walk The Line, she was on top of the world. Just a few years later though, after a string of poorly performing romance movies Witherspoon dubbed her "love triangle period," her career hit a valley. Then came Wild which marked not only her resurgence as an actor but her transition to big-time producer as well. 

Iron Man - Robert Downey, Jr

There probably isn't a more famous comeback story than Robert Downey, Jr. After years of personal problems and addiction, his career looked like it was going to be completely wasted. Then Downey sobered up and landed the role of a lifetime as Tony Stark/Iron Man and the rest is history. 

Arrested Development - Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman has had quite a few ups and downs in his career. In the '80s, he was a teen star on the verge of big things, but then his career hit a serious lull. It really wasn't until the cult success of Arrested Development that Bateman once again commanded must-see TV. 

Ryan Reynolds - Deadpool

With big roles in 90s TV shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Two Guys And A Girl, Ryan Reynolds was poised for huge success. At first, that's what he found, but it started to fizzle out with a string of forgettable movies in the late '00s and early teens, including the disaster that was The Green Lantern. Then came another superhero movie in 2015 called Deadpool and now he will be doing that until he's 90. 

Yellowjackets - Christina Ricci

By no fault of her own, Christina Ricci's career hit a string of bad luck with projects that she shined in, but for one reason or another didn't capture the attention of audiences. That changed, obviously, with Yellowjackets starting in 2021. 

The Godfather - Marlon Brando

People forget that when Francis Ford Coppola cast Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, Brando was on the outs in Hollywood. It's well-known lore at this point that Coppola had to fight to get the legend in the movie, but we're all grateful he did. 

24 - Kiefer Sutherland

With roles in Stand By Me, The Lost Boys,  and the two Young Guns movies, the late '80s and early '90s were big for Kiefer Sutherland. The mid and late '90s saw a bit of a lull with some box office disappointments. In 2001, Sutherland took on the role of Jack Bauer in 24, which quickly became one of the most popular shows on TV and Sutherland rode it to a new level of fame. 

 Orange Is The New Black - Natasha Lyonne

Legal and personal problems almost completely derailed Natasha Lyonne's promising career in the '00s. Thankfully, she got the help she needed and cleaned up, she scored a role on the Netflix hit Orange Is The New Black and she's continued to crush in a number of roles since. 

This Is Us - Mandy Moore

Around the turn of the century, Mandy Moore was unstoppable, starring in hit movies and charting on the Top 40. It was in 2016, however, when she was cast as the matriarch in This Is Us that her fame shot to an entirely new level. 

The Town - Ben Affleck

After a big decade in the '90s, Ben Affleck's fame in the '00s was more about the tabloids than it was about his filmography. It took a few years, but eventually, he proved to everyone how great a filmmaker he was with The Town in 2010, and ever since, he's been crushing it. 

Monster-in-Law - Jane Fonda

There weren't many bigger stars in Hollywood than Jane Fonda in the '70s and '80s. Then, in 1991, she announced she was retiring from acting, coinciding with her marriage to Ted Turner. She returned, to everyone's delight, in 2005's Monster-In-Law alongside Jennifer Lopez and has scoring hits ever since. 

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - Neil Patrick Harris

Like his character on Doogie Howser, MD, Neil Patrick Harris was a prodigy. However after the hit show ended, he struggled to move into more adult roles. Surprisingly, it was playing a fictionalized version of himself in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle that landed him back on audiences' radar screens, and then he landed his most famous gig on How I Met Your Mother

Bohemian Rhapsody - Mike Myers

Mike Myers was everywhere in the 1990s. From SNL to Wayne's World (one of the best movies based on an SNL character) to Shrek to Austin Powers, he was on top of the world. In 2010, after a string of box office misses, he retreated from the scene, only to emerge with a glorious role in 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody. 

John Wick - Keanu Reeves

After proving to be box office gold for a couple of decades, Keanu Reeves had a string of misses in the late '00s, but when he teamed up with director Chad Stahelski for John Wick in 2014, he helped launch a whole new franchise that continues to pump out hits. 

Unfaithful - Diane Lane

Diane Lane has always been selective about her roles, going back to her early days in Hollywood in the '80s. This has led to multiple career "revivals" but the most notable has to be her turn in the hit Unfaithful in 2002 which earned her a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars in 2003. 

Airplane! - Leslie Nielsen

For a generation of audiences, Leslie Nielson will forever be known for his roles in some of the best parody movies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. But before Nielson was delivering hilarious lines in those movies, he was known for his dramatic acting., though his career had slowed before he reinvented himself in the first Airplane!  

Striptease - Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the '70s, but a few poorly received movies in the '80s knocked him off that lofty perch. While many might point to his role in Boogie Nights in 1997 as reviving his career, it was really his hilarious performance in Striptease from a year earlier that put him back on the map.

No Country For Old Men - Josh Brolin

After finding success as a young star in the 1980s in movies like The Goonies, Josh Brolin hit a career drought that lasted more than a decade and left him wondering if he'd ever regain his earlier success. He did so and more after his amazing turn in No Country For Old Men in 2007 and has been one of Hollywood's best ever since. 

Trading Places - Don Ameche

With an amazing career that had started in the 1930s, Don Ameche's bookings dried up in the 1970s. Luckily for all of his, he landed a role as one of the Duke Brothers in Trading Places and he once again was a huge star, this time with a whole new, younger, generation of fans. 

Sea of Love - Al Pacino

It is easy to forget that even the greatest sometimes find themselves in slumps. Such was the case with Al Pacino in the mid 1980s. After all the incredible success of the '70s, he learned how fickle Hollywood can be and it wasn't until 1989's Sea Of Love that Pacino regained his rightful spot among the elite. 

Rocky Balboa - Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone is responsible for some of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history, but even the great ones stumble. Stallone had a pretty rough run of bad movies in the late '90s and early '00s, but when he returned to his roots in 2006's Rocky Balboa, he once again found his footing and not only starring in Rambo, reviving his other monster franchise, but he launched a new one with The Expendables.

The list of Taylor Sheridan’s shows feels like it's neverending, and the so the Rolodex of famous actors he’s also gotten into said series also feels infinite. From Kevin Costner’s role as John Dutton in the game-changing Yellowstone to Zoë Saldaña and Jeremy Renner’s turns in shows from Sheridan that aren’t about the Dutton family, the group of actors he’s gathered for these projects is staggering. 

Kevin Costner - Yellowstone 

Kevin Costner is kind of the man who started it all. At the time, he was the most famous person in the Yellowstone cast, and for five seasons he played the patriarch of the modern Dutton family, John Dutton. While he did leave Taylor Sheridan’s flagship western after the first half of Season 5, there’s no denying how much this character gave to the show and his career. 

Sam Elliott - 1883 

Some of Sam Elliott’s best movies, like Tombstone, are Westerns. And while Elliott has dabbled in television, there’s no doubt 1883 is a standout moment in his career. He joined Sheridan’s show as Shea Brennan, a Union Civil War veteran who agrees to take a group of immigrants West. He leads the group of pioneers on a journey from Texas to Montana, and Elliott gives a standout performance as the no-nonsense yet emotionally complex leader of the caravan. 

Harrison Ford - 1923 

Harrison Ford had never led a TV show until 2022 when he starred in 1923 as Jacob Dutton. While he’s known and beloved for playing Indiana Jones and Han Solo in film franchises, the Yellowstone prequel series was a fantastic turn in his career as he reunited with Helen Mirren, and led the spectacular cast of 1923. 

Zoë Saldaña - Lioness 

There are so many actors on this list who we likely never thought we’d see leading a TV series because they’re big movie stars. Well, if you’ve seen the Avatar movies or the Marvel movies in order, you’re aware that Zoë Saldaña has been busy for years between those and other projects. However, she joined the cast of Lioness in 2023 Joe, a CIA operative. 

Helen Mirren -1923 

Cara Dutton is one of the leaders of the Dutton household, and Helen Mirren plays her perfectly. She’s a confident Irish woman who knows how to run her household, and she and her husband Jacob are a perfect pair. Part of the reason why is Mirren and Harrison Ford are an excellent couple is they came back together for this project after working together on The Mosquito Coast in 1986. 

Tim McGraw - 1883 

When you think of Tim McGraw, country music is likely the first thing that comes to mind. However, he’s also a great actor, and 1883 proved that as he led the series as James Dutton, the man who moved his family from Tennessee to Montana to the ranch that is known today as The Yellowstone. McGraw played the character – alongside his wife Faith Hill who plays Margaret Dutton – for the first time in Yellowstone, and then after that, he signed on to make this miniseries about the Dutton’s big move. 

Kelly Reilly -Yellowstone 

Kelly Reilly was an established character actor before this, but Yellowstone made her a star. Her turn as Beth Dutton is magnificent, and watching her spar with Wes Bentley’s Jamie Dutton and fall in love with Cole Hauser’s Rip Wheeler are two of the reasons why she’s one of the major highlights of Taylor Sheridan’s flagship series. 

Billy Bob Thornton- 1883 

If you want to see the power of Taylor Sheridan and his casts, look no further than the fact that he got Billy Bob Thornton to make a cameo as Marshal Jim Courtright in Episode 2 of 1883. After that, he went on to sign up to lead Sheridan’s show Landman. However, the television journey within this Paramount universe began on the Yellowstone prequel.  

Jeremy Renner - Mayor Of Kingstown 

After starring in Taylor Sheridan’s film Wind River, Jeremy Renner collaborated with him again by joining the cast of his and Hugh Dillon’s show Mayor of Kingstown. The Avengers actor plays the titular Mayor, Mike McLusky, and he helps broker power between law enforcement, the prison and the power players in the town.  

Cole Hauser - Yellowstone 

Rip Wheeler was branded with the Y when he was young, and he’s given it to many ranch hands who live and work on the Yellowstone. While he’s not a Dutton by blood (though he is by law since he married Beth), he’s arguably one of the most loyal members of the family. Cole Hauser is the man behind this beloved character. While he had roles in big movies like Good Will Hunting, Dazed and Confused and 2 Fast 2 Furious, this part is arguably what made him a star.  

Faith Hill - 1883 

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have been married since 1996, and in 1883 they played the married couple Margaret and James Dutton. Hill is best known for her music and she had a few minor acting roles earlier in her career. However, this Yellowstone prequel was her first leading role, and she killed it as the surefire, tough and loving pioneer and mother.  

Tom Hanks - 1883 

You’ll probably do a double take when you see Tom Hanks as General George Meade in Episode 2 of 1883. The iconic actor appeared in a flashback that showed Tim McGraw’s character fighting in the Civil War. While we know him for starring in massive movies like Saving Private Ryan and Sleepless in Seattle, in this Taylor Sheridan show, he played a small yet impactful part in this sweeping story.  

David Oyelowo - Lawmen: Bass Reeves 

From The Butler and Selma, David Oyelowo is a formidable actor known best for his roles in these historic dramas. In 2023, he joined Sheridan’s series Lawmen: Bass Reeves, to play the titular man who was the first Black deputy U.S. Marshall. 

Wes Bentley - Yellowstone 

Jamie Dutton is a fascinating character. He’s not a cowboy like his brothers, and he’s always butting heads with his sister Beth. His story is complex and driven by his confusion about his place in his family. Wes Bentley plays this complex and often villainous character so well, and it’s a great addition to his already impressive career that includes films like American Beauty and The Hunger Games.  

Rita Wilson - 1883 

In Episode 6 of 1883, Rita Wilson appears to play a shop owner named Carol. Both she and her husband Tom Hanks had small cameos in this Yellowstone miniseries, and it goes to show how many incredibly famous and talented actors and singers will show up for these shows, even for a small part. 

Shea Whigham - Lawmen: Bass Reeves 

Colonel George Reeves was the Confederate army leader who cheated Bass Reeves out of his freedom. He’s played by Shea Whigham, a fantastic character actor who is known for his roles in TV shows like Perry Mason, Boardwalk Empire and more. It’s also worth mentioning that Lawmen isn’t the first time he’s worked with Sheridan as he had a role in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which the Yellowstone creator wrote. 

Luke Grimes - Yellowstone 

Much like his on-screen siblings played by Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley, Luke Grimes had a solid career before Yellowstone. However, his turn as Kayce Dutton made him a household name. Also, on top of his successful acting career, which involves this massive modern Western, he’s a country singer, and his music has been featured in Taylor Sheridan’s show.  

Nicole Kidman - Lioness 

Nicole Kidman plays CIA senior supervisor Kaitlyn Meade in Lioness. Before this, she made an impact in the TV space through the HBO hit Big Little Lies. She also starred in the shows The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers before signing on to be part of Taylor Sheridan’s political thriller that airs on Paramount+. 

Sylvester Stallone - Tulsa King 

Other than a few cameos and guest spots here and there, Sylvester Stallone hasn’t really done TV in a big way. However, that changed when he signed on to play Dwight "The General" Manfredi in Taylor Sheridan’s gangster drama Tulsa King. 

Will Patton - Yellowstone 

If you haven’t watched Yellowstone, be warned, there’s a major spoiler ahead! You’ve been warned.

One of the big reveals in Yellowstone came when Jamie found out that John Dutton wasn’t his biological father, and he was adopted. In Seasons 3 and 4, Wes Bentley’s character reconnected with his birth father, Garrett Randall, and he’s played by Will Patton, who is also known for movies like Remember the Titans and Armageddon.  

Morgan Freeman - Lioness 

Of course, Morgan Freeman plays a powerful character in Lioness. The actor with the most illustrious career and seriously iconic voice, joined the Taylor Sheridan show to play Secretary of State Edwin Mullins. 

Dennis Quaid - Lawmen: Bass Reeves 

In Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Dennis Quaid plays Sherrill Lynn. He is one of the series regulars, and like the titular character, he’s a deputy U.S. Marshall. 

Josh Holloway - Yellowstone 

Typically, in a Yellowstone show, one of the Dutton's adversaries is some sort of outsider who is trying to take their land. In Season 3, that guy was named Roarke, and Lost’s Josh Holloway played him. 

Aidan Gillen - Mayor Of Kingstown 

You know and likely love to hate Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger in Game of Thrones. I guarantee you’ll also know and love to hate him as the evil Milo in Mayor of Kingstown too. 

Michael Kelly - Lioness 

Michael Kelly is well known for his roles in action-packed and political thrillers like House of Cards and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. So, his joining Lioness to play the CIA’s deputy director Byron Westfield feels very fitting.  

Donald Sutherland - Lawmen: Bass Reeves 

The late great Donald Sutherland’s final role was as Judge Parker in Lawmen: Bass Reeves. From M*A*S*H to The Hunger Games to Pride and Prejudice, and so much more, his career was truly legendary and he capped it off with this Taylor Sheridan show. 

Josh Lucas - Yellowstone 

When you think of John Dutton, Kevin Costner is understandably probably the first person you think of. However, he’s not the only actor who plays the Yellowstone’s patriarch. In flashbacks, he’s portrayed by Josh Lucas, an actor who is also known for his parts in films like Sweet Home Alabama and Ford v. Ferrari. 

Graham Greene - 1883 

In the finale of 1883, Graham Greene plays Spotted Eagle, a Native American leader who helps guide James Dutton toward what will become his home in Montana. Before this, Greene worked with Sheridan on the film Wind River, and he has a history with other members of the Yellowstone cast as he performed alongside Kevin Costner on Dances with Wolves. 

Jacki Weaver - Yellowstone 

Jacki Weaver – an actress known for her roles in films like Silver Linings Playbook and Animal Kingdom – joined Yellowstone in Season 4 as Caroline Warner. She’s one of the folks who works at Market Equities, and she’s trying to obtain part of the Dutton’s ranch to build an airport.

Jerome Flynn -1923 

Jerome Flynn is best known for playing Bronn – a killer and cynical mercenary – on Game of Thrones. In 1923, he plays Banner Creighton, a rancher who gets into a partnership with a businessman who is trying to take the Dutton’s ranch. 

Andrea Savage - Tulsa King 

You likely know Andrea Savage as a comedic actress because of her roles in shows like I’m Sorry, Episodes and Veep. However, she turned into the dramatic genre and showed off a different side of her range by playing Stacy Beale in Tulsa King. 

Neal McDonough - Yellowstone

You can always count on Neal McDonough to play a really good bad guy. He did it in DC’s Arrowverse as Damien Darhk. He did it in Justified as Robert Quarles. Of course, he did it in Yellowstone too, as he played one of Season 2’s antagonists, Malcolm Beck. 

Overall, the list of performers who have worked on one of Taylor Sheridan’s many shows is overwhelming and growing. From A-listers to legendary character actors, many have said yes to working on these series, and that will likely keep happening as the super producer and writer continues to create. 

Raise your hand if you knew that Garrett Hedlund had a lucrative career as a singer-songwriter. I think because I’ve primarily known the 40-year-old from his roles in Friday Night Lights, Tron: Legacy, Triple Frontier and Pan, I wasn’t paying as close attention as I should have to his musical abilities. But then, Hedlung would appear in Country Strong opposite Gwenyth Paltrow, or Inside Llewyn Davis from Joel and Ethan Coen, and you are reminded that, “Oh yeah, this guy can really sing!”

His talents have been on display in Tulsa King Season 2, which aired its third episode Sunday on the Paramount+ streaming service. The turf war between Dwight Manfretti (Sylvester Stallone), his crew, and some Kansas City gangsters who don’t like the way that Dwight has moved in on their territory. There’s time for action in Tulsa King, still one of the best Paramount+ shows out there. But there’s always time for levity, and culture that reflects the food, music, and community of Oklahoma. This was particularly prevalent when red-hot country artist Jelly Roll appeared to sing a song in Episode 2 of Tulsa King Season 2, so when I spoke with Garrett Hedlund about the cameo, he told CinemaBlend:

Coincidentally, Jelly Roll also happened to be a guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. It has been a busy week for the performer.

As you likely know, from watching Tulsa King Season 2, Garrett Hedlund has been taking to the stage of his bar to sing songs and entertain the patrons. And while Hedlund has mainly played covers, he told me why he doesn’t try to get any of his original songs into the show. At least, for now. Said Hedlund:

The future of Tulsa King looks bright. The show, available with the Paramount+ subscription, has expanded on its core cast to include both Frank Grillo and Neal McDonogh as villains. These character actors are perfectly cast, with Grillo already proving to be a macho foil to Stallone, who is the Top Dawg in every possible way. Dwight, meanwhile, still has plenty to work out with Stacy, the ATF agent who turned him in for bribery. And the drug trade is only getting more complicated in the Midwest.

Keep tuning in to Tulsa King, hopefully to hear more original tunes from Garrett Hedlund, so long as he keeps surviving from episode to episode.

Celebrities owning restaurants is an old tradition in Hollywood. Sometimes, like Mark Wahlberg, it's a simple burger chain, other times, it's a classy hotel where you can have an elegant meal, like Richard Gere. Everything from tacos to sushi to fried chicken and everything in between. 

Just like people love watching scenes in movies about food, people love to rub elbows with the elite in some of these establishments. Here are 32 actors who own restaurants all over the country. 

Mark Wahlberg - Wahlburgers

The first Wahlburgers opened in Hingham, Massachusetts in 2011. The chain has since grown to dozens of stores all over the country and was the subject of a reality show for 10 seasons on A&E. The chain is collectively owned by three Wahlbergs, including Mark and Donnie, along with their chef brother, Paul. 

Ryan Gosling - Tagline

Ryan Gosling has become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and so it makes sense he would open a restaurant in Beverly Hills. Co-owned by the Barbie star and Chef Ben Benameur, the Moroccan joint serves up delicious food in a cozy atmosphere.

Lady Gaga - Joanne Trattoria

Joanne Germanotta was a beloved aunt to Lady Gaga (whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta). Not only did Gaga name a 2016 album after her, but the family has also opened Joanne Trattoria on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. In true Gaga style, the restaurant is not only a great place for Italian food, but it supports local artists, hosts regular drag shows, and has regular performances by local musicians. 

Robert De Niro - Nobu

Robert De Niro first became a regular at chef Nobu Matsuhisa's LA sushi joint Nobu way back in the 1980s. In the mid-90s, De Niro approached Matsuhisa about opening a New York spot. Nobu opened in 1994 in Tribeca and the company has since become a powerhouse in the hospitality industry, with dozens of restaurants and hotels all over the world. 

Michael Imperioli - Scarlet

White Lotus star Michael Imperioli has dabbled in the restaurant industry for a long time. In the mid-'90s Imperioli and his wife opened a speakeasy-style bar called Ciel Rouge, in Tribeca. Almost 30 years later, and 20 after Ciel Rouge closed in 2005, the couple opened Scarlet on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It sticks with the classy, chill speakeasy vibe that made their first venture successful. 

Sandra Bullock - Walton's Fancy & Staple

Walton's Fancy & Staple in Austin, TX, is pretty much exactly what you would expect from Sandra Bullock. It's an upscale neighborhood place with hearty food and a cheery atmosphere. Walton's is the Speed star's second restaurant in her adopted hometown. The first, Bess Bistro, closed in 2016 after a successful 10-year run. Walton's opened in 2009. 

Ludacris - Chicken And Beer

Is there anything better than good fried chicken and great beer to wash it down? If you're in Atlanta and don't check out Ludacris' place, simply named Chicken and Beer, you're missing out on those two wonderful things that pair so well together.

Norman Reedus - Nic & Norman's

Norman Reedus is famous for playing rough-around-the-edges characters like Daryl in The Walking Dead, but his restaurant is not. Nic & Norman's, which has locations across the Southeast is rustic, but it's not rough in any way. The upscale but relaxed gastropubs are sure to satisfy anyone. 

Susan Sarandon - SPiN

When Susan Sarandon and her fellow investors opened SPiN in 2009, there was a surge in the popularity of table tennis (or ping pong). The fad was pretty short-lived, but the table tennis-focused restaurants have remained successful with multiple locations around the country. 

Dan Aykroyd - House Of Blues

One of Dan Aykroyd's most beloved SNL characters, Elwood Blues of The Blues Brothers, has proven to be more than just a role for the actor. On Thanksgiving Day 1992, Aykroyd and his partner Isaac Tigrett (who founded the Hard Rock Cafe), opened the first House of Blues in Cambridge, MA. It has since grown into one of the largest chains of live music venues in the world, and serves some pretty delicious food, too. 

Eva Longoria - Beso

Eva Longoria can do no wrong on the big and small screens, but she didn't have much luck in the restaurant industry. Her steakhouse in LA, Beso, ran into multiple problems in its short run, though none were the fault of the actress. 

Kevin Hart - Hart House

Kevin Hart's LA chain Hart House was ambitious. He wanted to create an affordable vegan chain, and despite rave reviews, it just couldn't make it in the market. The company closed all of its locations in 2024 after initially finding success. 

Issa Rae - Hilltop Coffee And Kitchen

Issa Rae is a true force of nature both in front of and behind the camera. She's also found success in the food industry. Hilltop Coffee And Kitchen brings high-end coffee vibes to historical Black neighborhoods in LA, like Inglewood and View Park. 

Danny Trejo - Trejo's Tacos

Everyone loves tacos and every loves Danny Trejo. So of course a concept like Trejo's Tacos is sure to work and it has succeeded greatly. The chain has multiple locations across LA and has even spawned a second concept: Trejo's Donuts which also opened to rave reviews. 

Channing Tatum - Saints And Sinners

Saints And Sinners, a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans co-owned by Channing Tatum was a wild success... at least for a time. The industry is notoriously fickle and Tatum and his partners learned that the hard way when the bar closed in the summer of 2024 after 12 great years. 

Justin Timberlake - The Twelve Thirty Club

Justin Timberlake first dabbled in the food industry in the early teens when he helped design a Memphis-style BBQ joint in New York City called Southern Hospitality. Though he wasn't an owner, he was involved in the concept phase of the place and was a regular there. More recently, he has teamed up with restauranteur Sam Fox to open The Twelve Thirty Club in Nashville. 

Nicholas Braun - Jac’s On Bond

Cousin Greg may not always get the most respect on Succession, but the actor who plays him, Nicholas Braun, sure gets respect in the hospitality industry. Braun is an investor in multiple restaurants in New York City, including a chill bar and restaurant called Jac's on Bond Street in the trendy NoHo neighborhood. 

Zach Braff - Mermaid Oyster Bar

MacDougal Street in New York's Greenwich Village is home to some great restaurants, like the legendary Caffe Reggio and Mamoun's Falafels. It's also where you can find Zach Braff's more upscale, but still laid-back seafood spot appropriately called Mermaid Oyster Bar. 

Anthony Mackie - NoBar

Like others on this list (and in the world), Anthony Mackie has had mixed results as a bar/restaurant owner. His most famous spot, NoBar, opened in Brooklyn in 2011, followed by a second Booklyn location in 2013. Sadly both closed in 2015. 

Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis - Planet Hollywood

The granddaddy of all actor-owned restaurants has to be Planet Hollywood. The first Planet Hollywood opened in New York City in 1991. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis, among others, were all investors in the concept and, at least at first, the restaurant was a huge success, opening additional locations across the globe. At its peak, there were upwards of 60 locations in the late '90s, but the fun didn't last. Things started to unravel and the stars started to jump shit and most of the locations, other than their most successful ones, closed. 

Richard Gere - Bedford Post Inn

Legendary actor Richard Gere doesn't just own a restaurant, he owns an 8-room bed and breakfast called the Bedford Post Inn in... appropriately, Bedford, NY. The stylish and quaint inn does include a spot to eat, the Bedford Post Tavern, and the inn and the restaurant both draw all kinds of celebrities for a restful stay or a delicious dinner. 

Robert Redford - Zoom

It shouldn't come as any surprise to learn that Robert Redford's former restaurant in Park City, UT was home to a lot of home to a lot powerbrokers during the Sundance Film Festival for many years. Prior to closing in 2016, the hot spot was where the elite met to eat and strike deals during one of the biggest film festivals in the world. 

Hugh Jackman - Laughing Man Coffee

The origin story for Hugh Jackman's Laughing Man Coffee is one of the best on this list. The Aussie actor and his wife took a trip to Ethiopia to learn more about coffee and how the beans were grown. There, according to the coffee shop's website, Jackman met a coffee farmer named Dukale. Dukale gave Jackman a real hands-on experience and after the trip, he and some partners opened Laughing Man Coffee with the goal of working directly with farmers around the world to bring their coffee to New Yorkers. 

Jon Bon Jovi - Soul Kitchen And JBJ's

Jon Bon Jovi may be most famous for being the voice of the band named after him, but he's dabbled a lot in acting, and a little in the hospitality biz. His first venture was started by his foundation and called Soul Kitchen. The restaurant, located in Red Bank, NJ, sells food for whatever hungry customers can afford. Bon Jovi has also opened a spot on the famous Broadway strip in Nashville called JBJ's which features live music and a full menu, in addition to beer and booze, of course.

Piper Perabo - Jack's Wife Freda

Piper Perabo got her big break playing a bartender in Coyote Ugly and while the New York City chain she's an investor in, called Jack's Wife Frida, doesn't feature half-dressed women dancing on the bar, it's got something even better: delicious Mediterranean food. With five locations across the city, you can always find what you're craving, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Jessica Biel - Au Fudge

Au Fudge, which closed its doors in 2018, was something unique in the celebrity restaurant world - a kid's restaurant. As the name implies, Jessica Biel's spot was all about dessert and candy. It also had all the stuff kids love, like chicken fingers, on the menu. The world needs more of these, right parents?

Debi Mazar - The Tuscan Gun

Debi Mazar and her chef husband's love of food was first shown through a cooking show on the Cooking Channel. They spun that into a Tuscany-themed New York restaurant called The Tuscan Gun. Using chef Mazar's husband Gabriele Corcos' recipes, the Italian joint brought the best of Italy to Williamsburg. 

Quentin Tarantino - Do Hwa

For years, Quentin Tarantino's Korean restaurant Do Hwa brought the delicious flavors of East Asia to the West Village in New York. While very few people would call Tarantino "understated," his restaurant was, in all the best ways. It was cozy and delicious before it closed in 2018.

Jerry Ferrara - Fat Sal's

A sandwich joint called Fat Sal's is just perfect for Entourage star Jerry Ferrara. It sounds exactly like something Turtle would open on the show. Fat Sal's has multiple locations around LA and is a great spot if you want traditional deli sandwiches sold by a guy you can be sure loves them as much as you do. 

Justin Theroux - Ray's

Justin Theroux is a jack of all trades. He's an actor, a writer, and an ex-husband to Jennifer Aniston. He's also a bar owner, along with partner Nicolaus Braun with Ray's on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The dive bar is everything you could ever want in an unpretentious local water hole, which is no surprise, coming from Theroux. 

Ashton Kutcher - Dolce Enoteca E Ristorante

Ashton Kutcher has never been afraid to make risky investments. Some have paid off handsomely, like his early investments in Spotify and Uber. Others haven't worked out so well, like his short-lived Italian spot, Dolce Enoteca E Ristorante. The hot spot worked for a while but it closed in 2020, like so many other restaurants. 

Ty Burrell - The Eating Establishment

Modern Family star Ty Burrell took a slightly different route to restaurant ownership than most of the other actors on his list. Instead of starting a new spot, he bought an old one. The Eating Establishment, which dates back to 1970, was purchased by Burrell and other investors in 2016 and they've continued to run the popular Park City, UT restaurant ever since. 

Eminem - Mom's Spaghetti

Mom's Spaghetti is the perfect kind of place for Eminem to own, right? The Detroit, Michigan-based eatery has name that perfectly describes the food you can get there, and it's taken straight from an Eminem lyric in "Lose Yourself."

Jon Huertas - Clutch

Jon Huertas, best known for playing Brad Alcerro in Sabrina The Teenage Witch, is the proud owner of Clutch Roadhouse in Culver City, CA. Clutch is known for its great food and charitable works, both very important to the This Is Us star. 

Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King easily counts as one of my favorite shows on television at the moment, and I’m thrilled to report that Season 2 of the colorful crime thriller picks up right where the last season left off in terms of attitude, humor, danger, and intrigue. Hailing from the powerhouse duo of creator Taylor Sheridan and writer Terence Winter, Tulsa King delivers expertly on its fish-out-of-water premise, casting Sylvester Stallone as a New York crime boss exiled to Oklahoma, where he begins to make more than a name for himself.

So far, Tulsa King has delivered some of the finest acting in Stallone’s career (no exaggeration). But the show flies because of the personality-driven oddballs that have been cast around Stallone’s character of Dwight, including a new character we meet in Season 2 called “Bigfoot.”

I already love the supporting cast in Tulsa King. They are divided up into factions, from the pot-farming Tulsa crew (led by Martin Starr) to the heavy-hitting Mafiosos in New York City. As we saw in the Season 2 premiere, the story picks up right where Season 1 left off, with Dwight in prison because ATF agent Stacy (Andrea Savage) sold him out for what looked like a bribe. He’s not there for long, thanks to his daughter Tina (Tatiana Zappardino) agreeing to post bond. Once back in the bar, Dwight realizes that he needs protection. Mitch (Garrett Hedlund) recommends his cousin, “BIgfoot.”

Ahead of the premiere, I got the chance to speak with Tulsa King regular Jay Will, who has an increased role in Season 2 thanks to Dwight leaning harder on Will’s driver, Tyson. And when I asked Will about “Bigfoot,” he immediately started laughing, and then told me that he and the actor who plays him, Mike “Cash Flo” Walden, work closely as the season progresses. Said Will:

Let’s pause for a moment and acknowledge how awesome it is that the name of the actor playing “Bigfoot” in Tulsa King is Mike “Cash Flo” Walden. As you might have assumed from his stature, Walden is a wrestler. And he made the most out of his time on Tulsa King, sharing this montage on Social media.

I do want to know more about this “passage into darkness” that Jay Will is discussing when it comes to Tyson, his character on the show. When I asked the actor what we can expect from Tyson as Tulsa King Season 2 advances, he explained to me:

Tulsa King Season 2 is underway, and when we got to the end of the season premiere, we saw that Sylvester Stallone will have to deal with both Neal McDonough and Frank Grillo (who’s also a key factor in James Gunn’s DCU). Make sure that you have your Paramount+ subscription up to date, so you can see how the rest of this wild season plays out.

Another week is here and that means a new batch of content arriving on all the best streaming services. There can be so much new on Netflix that it can be difficult to find the best content. New content on Disney+ can actually be few and far between unless you also have a Hulu subscription so it can be difficult to know when it’s worth paying attention. But we’re here with a look at some of the most high-profile new releases that are at least worth a look.

Emily in Paris: Season 4, Part 2 - September 12 (Netflix)

Netflix, the studio that pioneered the binge-watching model has recently been trying a new release structure that involves releasing new seasons of popular shows in two halves. Emily in Paris is the most recent show to go through this, with the first part of Season 4 arriving to all with a Netflix subscription in mid-August. Part Two is finally coming this week for everybody who has been waiting.

LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy September 13 (Disney+)

LEGO isn’t just the source of endless hours of fun with plastic bricks, it’s also the home of some fantastic animated TV and film. LEGO and Star Wars have fit perfectly together since the first video games based on the concepts and a nearly endless series of animated projects have been released over the years. The latest entry, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy sees the galaxy go haywire and get all mixed up after an ancient artifact gets accidentally used by a hapless hero who must now get everything built back correctly.

Tulsa King September 15 (Paramount+)

Sylvester Stallone took on his first leading role on a scripted series for Tulsa King and it appears that most people with a Paramont+ subscription watched it, because it was quickly given a Season 2. Fans have had to wait a while for new episodes, but the first episode of Tulsa King Season 2 finally arrives this week.

 The Money Game Sept 10 (Prime Video)

Billions of dollars are at stake in college sports, but it’s only been in the last few years that the athletes themselves have been able to take advantage of that The Money Game is a new documentary series that takes a look at some of the top college athletes, the financial success they achieved, and the difficulties that sometimes comes with all the money.

 Uglies September 13 (Netflix)

A decade ago it seemed that every YA dystopian novel series was being adapted into a film, but one, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, though the rights were purchased, was never made. Now Netflix is bringing the popular series about a world where everybody gets cosmetic surgery at 16 to be made “pretty” to life. Joey King produces and stars. If this one is a success there are three more books where Uglies came from.

Next week is going to be a big one for anybody with a Disney+ subscription as Agatha All Along debuts. That’s just the beginning of the exciting stuff coming to streaming in the coming weeks.

Glen Powell has been all over the 2024 movies, particularly through his Twisters role. As the actor becomes a bigger name with every role he stars in, the 35-year-old recently reflected on his slow rise into stardom. Apparently one piece of advice from Sylvester Stallone was key to keeping his genuine persona.

Part of Powell’s charm is he is a proud Texan with a pup to his name that goes by Brisket and parents so close to him that they’ve cameoed in his movies multiple times. But it took some time for the actor to be fearless enough to be himself as a movie star. As he shared:

During an interview with Sharp Magazine, Glen Powell said that he was originally told to ditch his Texan twang in order to fit into the mold of Hollywood stars. He remembers finding himself in “a bit of an identity crisis” because he was suddenly being told “what you should be and how you should do it” once he moved to Los Angeles to really pursue his dreams.

At one point, Powell can also recall himself wearing a fedora and skinny jeans and feeling out of place in his skin. However, it was none other than Sylvester Stallone that helped him tune out the noise and get him back to who he really is.

Powell has been working in movies since he was a kid on Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, alongside the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas, before he reunited with them for the amazingly star-studded The Expendables 3 in 2014. Powell’s connection with Stallone in particular came in handy when the Rambo star suggested that he “get back to what feels like you.”

How did Glen Powell get in with Rocky? Well, the actor actually wrote a letter to Stallone and the third Expendables movie director, Patrick Hughes, that ultimately helped him get booked for the incredibly stacked film that would be a huge stepping stone for his career. Years after he was part of the action-filled flick, he even nabbed another important role to him and his roots, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some! by not shying away from being a Texan (the coming-of-age film is set in Texas).

Everybody Wants Some! was a box office bomb, but it allowed Powell to connect with fellow Texan Linklater and later write and star in Hit Man for him. Nowadays, he’s always getting fans thirsty with his movie star quality and even having people argue he’s preferred to friendly Canadian Ryan Gosling! We’ll be interested to see where his cowboy hat takes him next.

Even the biggest and brightest stars of Hollywood have movies that they’d rather not mention being a part of in polite company. And the list you’re about to read has some of the most infamous examples of those types of projects making silver screen history…just not in the way one would have expected.

Tom Hanks - The Bonfire Of The Vanities

While we’ve seen Tom Hanks’ comments on why The Bonfire of the Vanities didn’t work, the movie’s infamy as a box office dud is something he probably doesn’t address all that often. And who could blame him, as the public considered America’s Dad to be the worst casting choice to lead a satire about the amorality of late ‘80s/early ‘90s stockbrokers.

Jamie Lee Curtis - Virus

The film adaptation of Dark Horse Comics’ Virus is uncompromisingly bad, no matter if you’re familiar with the book or not. But the most entertaining thing to come out of it was the fact that star Jamie Lee Curtis has taken every chance to roast this picture with the most cutting of remarks. It’s truly one of the best cases of entertainers who have trashed their own movies.

Michael Caine - Jaws: The Revenge

This is an example of using class and wit to politely stuff a movie like Jaws: The Revenge into the trash bin of life. Actor Michael Caine’s remarks about never seeing the film, but loving its payday, is something that always hits like the best line at a cocktail party celebrating the movies we love to loathe.

Emily Blunt - Gulliver’s Travels

History almost gave us an Iron Man 2 with Emily Blunt playing the role of Black Widow. And then contractual obligations forced Ms. Blunt to pass, in favor of starring in the Jack Black vehicle Gulliver’s Travels. So yeah, maybe it’s best not to mention this one to this star of A Quiet Place, no matter how much you think she might laugh.

Dennis Quaid - Jaws 3-D

All legendary actors have the gigs that make them, and the ones that they took so early in their career that they’d rather not think about them. Dennis Quaid’s role in Jaws 3-D more than likely falls into the latter bucket, as it’s one of the two Jaws sequels that failed to make the cut with even the franchise’s most devoted fans.

Viola Davis - The Help

Academy Award winner Viola Davis scored a nomination for her role in Tate Taylor’s film adaptation of The Help. Despite her performance’s excellence, Davis still maintains her opinion of regretting having taken part in the movie’s production, and the resulting product. 

Bill Murray - Garfield

No cinematic icon is immune to trickery, especially a trickster like Bill Murray. With his infamous Garfield casting story seeing the comedy legend mistake the movie’s writer for one of the Coen Bros, you can kind of see why he’d use his Zombieland cameo in 2009 to poke fun at the film being his only life’s regret.

Mariah Carey - Glitter

Glitter wasn’t enough of a disaster to kill Mariah Carey’s acting career, and to her credit, she went on to deliver some amazing performances in films like Lee Daniels’ Precious. But whoo-boy, does this musical drama still sting to think about from time to time? 

Elijah Wood - North

While there’s an interesting selection of beloved films Roger Ebert absolutely hated, North is one of the flops that the legendary film critic rightfully roasted. Though it definitely wasn’t Elijah Wood’s fault, it’s probably best if you don’t approach him about this one without some sort of care. 

Jennifer Lopez - Gigli

As a legendary turkey in the world of infamously bad movies, even Gigli’s director Martin Brest has pointed thoughts about that epic fail. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s colossal dud of a rom-com has more than earned its place on the bad side of history, and one could bet that even its mere mention would inspire the most withering side eye from J.Lo herself. 

George Clooney - Batman & Robin

If there’s a constant in George Clooney’s career as an entertainer, it’s his regret over Batman and Robin. Stepping in after Val Kilmer bolted on Joel Schumacher’s second Gotham-based tentpole, you can bet the ER heartthrob wishes he could use a time machine to go back and prevent this experience from ever happening. 

Renee Zellweger - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

Out of the Oscar-winning pair of Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, it’s a safe bet that Ms. Zellweger would be the one who’d want to keep Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation off the table of discussion. Then again, she might be a bit more relaxed on the subject since so much time has passed. 

Robert Downey Jr. - The Shaggy Dog

Early on in his mid-Aughts comeback, Robert Downey Jr. diversified his acting portfolio with everything from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to Good Night, and Good Luck. And mixed in with the lot was his role as the antagonist in Tim Allen’s remake of The Shaggy Dog. Downey would probably talk about the movie if asked, but one has to wonder what he’d say? 

Emma Watson - The Circle

For someone like Emma Watson, an actor who chooses their projects with a level of mindfulness and message in mind, The Circle must have seemed like a good choice. But the eventual public reaction to the film may have caused the Harry Potter vet to think twice even before approaching source material with names as storied as author Dave Eggers and director James Ponsoldt attached. 

Eddie Murphy - The Adventures of Pluto Nash

The Adventures of Pluto Naash is a habitual punching bag when folks choose to talk about the most infamous disasters in movie history. And thanks to that distinction, even the very open Eddie Murphy wouldn’t be mistaken for keeping this sci-fi/comedy flameout away from the conversation. 

Lucy Liu - Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is an infamous movie without even taking into account that it somehow managed to snag the star power of Lucy Liu into its clutches. Admittedly, so few people remember this one that it doesn’t feel like she’d have to be on guard for random fans mentioning its existence. 

Matt Damon - The Great Wall

You might think that the “white savior” worries of Matt Damon’s character in The Great Wall are the reason he might not want to talk about this massive box office dud. But the fact of the matter is, he’d probably politely decline any discussion on the matter because it was a thundering failure that didn’t really win him any new fans.

Jennifer Lawrence - Dark Phoenix

How much did Jennifer Lawrence distance herself from the X-Men movies by time she made Dark Phoenix? Well, not only was her time in makeup severely reduced/scaled back in quality, but she died quite early in the final X-Men prequel from the Fox days. Maybe that's part of why the two-part structure was abandoned prior to its release. 

Sylvester Stallone - Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

It’s the movie so bad that Arnold Schwarzenegger tricked Sylvester Stallone into starring in it. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is still a punch line for the Rocky franchise star/director, even decades after the film was released and tanked. One has to wonder how awkward some of those Planet Hollywood openings were, thanks to this awkward piece of history existing.

Lily Collins - Rules Don’t Apply

Actor Lily Collins is a talent that has the old Hollywood look down to a tee and isn’t afraid to show it. That confidence is probably what got her cast in Warren Beatty’s misguided rom-com Rules Don’t Apply, and to be fair, she and co-star Alden Ehrenreich are two of the only bright spots in this mostly forgettable throwback. 

Eddie Redmayne - Jupiter Ascending

If anyone is ready to admit Eddie Redmayne’s Jupiter Ascending performance is bad, it’s the man himself. While some might be inclined to give him more credit for his work in the Wachowski’s far-flung space opera, Redmayne’s criticisms of his role do come with some important caveats. 

Jennifer Hudson - Sandy Wexler

Adam Sandler is a talent who’s able to draw a wide range of actors into his orbit, and his Netflix movie Sandy Wexler was no exception. Playing a talent agent who knows a good client when he sees one, Jennifer Hudson is one of the people he rightfully tries to fast-track to fame. By no means does that proper judgment mean that this movie is something she, or most viewers, would even remember.

Hugh Jackman - Pan

Some flops crash and burn with very little trace of the wreckage. Others, like the Hugh Jackman starring Peter Pan adaptation Pan, collapse under ill-fated ambitions that don’t end up adding up in the end. But at least we got Jackman’s Captain Hook singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” in a totally bonkers musical number.

Pedro Pascal - Wonder Woman 1984

Pedro Pascal is almost universally recognized as one of, if not the best part of Wonder Woman 1984. That still feels like a far cry from something The Mandalorian star would even want to discuss, as its infamy is something that still echoes pretty strongly so close to its initial execution.

Dame Judi Dench - Cats

You can always count on an acting talent as iconic as Dame Judi Dench to tell it like it is. And whether it was reacting to her Razzie award nomination or the final look of her character in 2019’s Cats, she certainly hasn’t left any of her thoughts to the imagination. 

Daisy Ridley - Chaos Walking

One would probably think that Daisy Ridley would merely not want to remember Chaos Walking because of its unsuccessful bid for box office success. However, the protracted production and crazy amounts of reshoots and edits have probably ensured that the Star Wars vet has actually forgotten the ins and outs of this failed YA franchise.

Ben Kingsley - A Sound of Thunder

You don’t get to be an actor as legendary as Ben Kingsley without logging some seriously wild projects like A Sound of Thunder on your resume. This 2005 sci-fi disaster is so ill-regarded that its Game Boy video game adaptation is seen as a more favorable experience. That’s both terribly unique and just plain old terrible. 

Brendan Fraser - Monkeybone

Brendan Fraser is a lovable actor who knows how, and when, to get goofy. It’s just a shame that a project like Monkeybone never understood how to use those skills to its advantage, saddling The Mummy star with a movie that he more than likely hasn’t thought about for some time. 

Scarlett Johansson - Ghost In The Shell

There are some who might defend the live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson. Considering how much the movie has been rejected by even the source anime’s fans, and the kerfluffle that came from her casting as Major Mira Killian being seen as a bit of whitewashing, this project is probably one that the Marvel veteran would reasonably remain silent on.

Keanu Reeves - 47 Ronin

It’s not Keanu Reeves’ fault that 47 Ronin was a stinker for the ages. Although if one were to mention the movie to him in passing, he’d probably just smile and laugh, charmingly admitting defeat in that particular case of cinematic disaster. 

Will Smith - Gemini Man

What’s worse than a movie failing with one Will Smith in the starring role? Apparently, a technologically advanced picture like Gemini Man, which saw Smith playing against a CGI de-aged younger version of himself. Finally, a movie that rivals Wild Wild West for infamy on Mr. Smith’s resume.

Jack Nicholson - How Do You Know?

Jack Nicholson has been comfortably retired ever since making 2010’s How Do You Know? One has to wonder if he’d be equally as comfortable if he were to be prompted to remember the experience and the fallout that came from its release into theaters. 

As you can see, even the most talented of actors have their potential sore spots in conversation. Maybe they're not as shy about discussing these films as we'd think, and you can get a good story out of the deal. In any case, if there was a class of losers that the best and brightest of Hollywood wished they could forget, this is more than a formidable crop of titles that would fit that bill for good reason.

Axel Foley is back. Three decades after a somewhat unceremonious third installment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has debuted for everybody with a Netflix subscription, and the general consensus from critics is that Axel F is pretty damn good. It’s been an overall impressive run for Eddie Murphy, which makes it all the more surprising that there’s an alternate universe somewhere where Beverly Hills Cop stars Sylvester Stallone. 

How exactly did Sylvester Stallone get involved in Beverly Hills Cop, and why did it eventually not work out? A new oral history of Axel Foley on The Ringer sheds more light on the topic. As it turns out you can blame, and thank, Paramount Pictures for both decisions.

How Sylvester Stallone Was Originally Cast In Beverly Hills Cop 

The first Beverly Hills Cop was an early project for the fledgling production team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. The pair helped develop the project, which was a more straightforward cop drama. Perhaps because of that Bruckheimer says Paramount didn’t want to cast Eddie Murphy, who was still most known for becoming a star in the Saturday Night Live cast, despite early successful film roles. Bruckheimer describes the conversation with the studio like this… 

Sylvester Stallone was the bigger star in 1984. Both the Rambo and Rocky movies had already begun, making him a household name. It’s understandable why Paramount might want Sly in a cop movie. However, things didn’t end up working out as expected. 

How Eddie Murphy Came Back Into The Axel Foley Picture

Paramount is the one paying for the movie, so it gets what it wants. Sylvester Stallone was brought in, but the actor, who is also an accomplished writer, recognized that the script as written wasn’t his sort of movie. Sly went back and wrote his own version of Beverly Hills Cop. This would ultimately bring the film back around, as Sly’s version of the movie didn’t work for Paramount either, giving Bruckheimer and Simpson the chance to go after Eddie Murphy again. Bruckheimer continued…

Beverly Hills Cop would still go through some changes. The original movie wasn’t particularly funny, something that changed once Eddie Muphy agreed to do it. Sylvester Stallone’s script wouldn’t be completely wasted. He would take the movie with him when he left and it would eventually become Cobra.

Sylvester Stallone would remain part of the franchise, at least spiritually. In Beverly Hills Cop II, Billy Rosewood has several Stallone posters in his house, including one for Cobra. Even Axel F has a little reference to one of Stallone's iconic roles. It's only fair. From a certain perspective, if it weren’t for Stallone, we wouldn’t have ever seen the Beverly Hills Cop that became a massive hit. 

For as long as there have been famous people, celebrity feuds have fascinated audiences. This includes real grudges, as well as Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's faux feud. Actor Sylvester Stallone recently got candid after the internet brings up an alleged beef between he and Robert De Niro, being quoted saying "I just want to address an absurd rumor about myself and Robert De Niro." Let's break it all down.

Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere might have had a famous feud, but the Rocky icon wants to make it clear that things are just find between he and Robert De Niro. After rumors started circulating on social media, he posted a video on Instagram addressing the chatter directly. In the video he spoke about their relationship, saying:

There you have it. Despite what folks might be saying about about the pair of legendary actors, Stallone is denying that there's any beef between them. And if anyone would know the truth about their relationship, its Sly himself. 

The rumors about De Niro and Stallone feuding came from a social media post by controversial radio host Alex Jones. He claimed that Stallone referred to the Goodfellas actor as a "woke creep" after De Niro took shots at Donald Trump and called the former President a "clown." While the Tulsa King star didn't deny that the two might have differencing political beliefs, he also made it clear that it's not a subject that they talk about. 

Cinephiles will remember that the pair of A-list actors have worked together a number of times throughout the years. This includes 1997's drama Cop Land, as well as the 2013 sports comedy Grudge Match (see our review here). And per Stallone's video, he isn't opposed to collaborating together again on an upcoming movie.

Despite the rumors (and whatever political disagreements the actors have), there are plenty of fans who would like to see De Niro and Stallone back together on the big screen sometime in the future. Both of the actors' careers haven't slowed down much; De Niro is currently attached to six different upcoming projects, spanning both TV and film. The same is true for Sly, and fans are definitely invested in Tulsa King Season 2. For now, check the 2025 movie release dates to plan your trips to the theater next year. 

Sylvester Stallone, is an actor, writer, director and producer and, sometimes, the cigar aficionado even enjoys painting. Amid all of those titles though, there’s one that’s very close to his heart – dad. The A-lister is the father of five kids, including his three daughters, who’ve sought to carve out their paths in the industry in recent years. Those who’ve seen Stallone’s interactions with his daughters surely know that he’s very protective of his not-so-little girls, to their annoyance at times. However, they love him as well and, to mark Father’s Day, two of them shared some sweet throwback photos. 

Paying tribute to the star of the Rocky movies (which we’ve ranked) was 27-year-old Sophia Stallone and 25-year-old Sistine Stallone. The pair of podcasters both took to Instagram to share snapshots of their proud papa, some of which were taken years ago. Sistine took to her stories to share a classic pic of her imposing dad cradling her along with one of her siblings. Take a look at the sweet pic down below: 

Aw, the two kids look absolutely adorable. That level of cuteness also emanates from the photo that Sophia Stallone shared. The media personality opted for a pic that simply shows her Oscar nominee father carrying her while she looks on and smiles. What makes the pic truly perfect, though, is that it’s aptly labeled “Daddy’s Girl.” Check it out:

This certainly is a sweet way to celebrate Father’s Day, and it’s lovely to see the girls celebrating their papa. I imagine that it’s an interesting experience to have been raised by one of the most recognizable people in the world. Then again, if the Stallone family’s reality show conveys anything, it’s that Sly’s kids don’t get too wrapped up in his public persona. They simply see him as their dad. On that note, check out a more recent pic that Sophia posted to signify the holiday:

Sylvester Stallone also has a third daughter in 22-year-old Scarlet Rose, and he shares all three of the girls with wife Jennifer Flavin, who he married in 1997. The First Blood icon also had two kids with his first wife, Sasha Czack. From their union came Sage Moonblood Stallone, who died at 36 in 2012 due to heart disease, and 44-year-old Seargeoh Stallone. Through the years, Sylvester has discussed his kids, with just one example being when he opened up about how his relationship with Sage impacted Rocky V.

His connection with his kids, mainly his trio of daughters, has been on display in their aforementioned show, The Family Stallone. The series, which is available to Paramount+ subscribers, gives viewers an intimate look into the home life of Sylvester, Jennifer Mavin and their family. Since the show premiered in 2023, many of the episodes have focused on humorous hijinks, but at the heart of the production is the love that the family shares. That same affection is also conveyed through the Father’s Day posts above.

One would hope that the 77-year-old actor is taking the day to relax and enjoy some downtime. Realistically though, considering how active he still is these days, it’s likely that he’s not just kicking back. But, whatever he’s doing today, let’s hope that he’s spending the day with his kids, the people who make him a dad. 

If you’re a cinephile and are looking to spend a low-key day with your dad, you can seek out and stream Sylvester Stallone’s best movies. Those who love action and sports movies should be particularly happy with those offerings.

Acting and directing are two very different skills, and for someone to be able to do both is a mark of a hard-working and talented person. It doesn't always work out for actors, but it's remarkable how often it does. Here are 32 such examples of great actors who became great directors as well. 

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood's career has lasted an unbelievable eight decades. He started humbling with small roles in the '50s and as the decades have gone on, he's only gotten bigger and bigger. After directing his first movie, 1971's Play Misty for Me, he's gone on to helm a remarkable 39 more and has won 2 Best Director Oscars, for 1993's Unforgiven and 2005's Million Dollar Baby.

Ron Howard

Ron Howard has been in the lives and living rooms of Americans since he was just a kid as an actor on The Andy Griffith Show. He went on to star in Happy Days in the 1970s before directing his first low-budget film, Grand Theft Auto, in 1977. He's since gone on to direct such classics as Splash, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and many others. 

Bradley Cooper

If the start of Bradley Cooper's directing career is any indication, you can expect huge things. So far, the actor-turned-director has only helmed two movies, A Star Is Born and Maestro and both have been nominated for Best Picture Oscars. Not a shabby record. 

Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall got her first big break on the sitcom The Odd Couple but became a household name as Lavern in Lavern & Shirley. She didn't stay in TV though, instead, she started directing and made two of the most beloved Gen X movies of all time, Big and A League of Their Own. 

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck might not have been the first actor you picked to become a director, but his stellar career as an actor is matched by his work as a director. In fact, though he's never won an acting Oscar (something that should be remedied), he did win Best Director for Argo. 

Robert Redford

By the time Robert Redford directed his first movie, Ordinary People, in 1980, he was already one of the most legendary film stars ever. The second half of his career is as known for his directing as it is for his acting, with movies like Quiz Show and A River Runs Through It.

Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau's acting career started humbling with supporting roles in movies like Rudy and PCU. After he wrote and starred in Swingers, his star shined a little brighter. That was only the beginning though. Favreau has the honor of directing the movie that launched the most successful film franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Iron Man and its sequel. He's since moved on to Disney live-action remakes with The Lion King and The Jungle Book. Oh, and he also directed one of the most beloved holiday movies ever with. Elf.

Mel Gibson

The controversial career of Mel Gibson began with a small movie that made huge waves in his native Australia. Mad Max made him famous and by the late late-'80s, he was one of the biggest stars in the world. He then moved into directing and reached his pinnacle early with Braveheart for which he won Best Director. 

Richard Attenborough

As an actor, Richard Attenborough starred in massive hits across generations with movies like The Great Escape and Jurassic Park. As a director, he helmed some of the best biopics of all time, like Gandhi, A Cry Freedom, and Chaplin as well a the legendary war flick, A Bridge Too Far. 

Regina King

Regina King's directorial career is only getting started, but judging by her first movie, One Night In Miami, the future is bright. So far, the Academy Award-winning actress has mostly directed TV shows, but you can be sure more films will be coming her way.

Denzel Washington

What can we say about Denzel Washington that hasn't already been said? He's a living legend at this point, as a multiple Oscar winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He's also one heck of a director with movies like Fences and The Great Debaters.

John Krasinski

John Krasinski became part of our collective family as Jim on The Office. Who would have thought from that role, his career in Hollywood would reach the point that he is a major power player? Now that he's moved into directing, the sky is truly the limit. The first movie Krasinski directed, The Hollars, made for a humble beginning, but his second, A Quiet Place established him as a force to reckon with and it's since become a franchise.

Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks might not have been an actor you'd have guessed would go into directing, like others on this list, but she has in a big way. She has shown she can direct blockbusters like Pitch Perfect 2 and indie darlings like that one about the bear who indulges in some, uh, white powder he finds, and goes on a rampage.

Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig is quickly becoming a voice of a generation. Her direction and writing of Barbie has been praised far and wide for its snappy dialog and heartfelt message. Gerwig's acting career started in the mid-'00s when she was mostly in smaller, supporting roles. Since moving into directing, she's become a huge star.

Jordan Peele

Key & Peele was a huge hit for Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, and made them both stars. No one expected Peele to turn to directing horror movies, but that's exactly what he did and we should all be grateful for it. With massive hits like Get Out, Nope, and Us, the future is bright for Peele and for all of us too, who will get to watch his work.

Rob Reiner

Though he had a leg up coming from a Hollywood family, Rob Reiner has staked out a claim all his own in the entertainment business. First as an actor on the hit show All in the Family, then as the director of some of the most loved movies of all time. Starting with his first movie, This is Spinal Tap, and running through the '80s and early '90s, he had an unbelievable run that included The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and Misery. Wow!

George Clooney

Not only is George Clooney one of the most bankable movie stars ever, he's also a fantastic director. His acting career is legendary and his directing career, while not quite at the level of his acting, is still fantastic. He's directed TV (Catch-22) and movies (The Boys In The Boat, The Midnight Sky, Good Night, and Good Luck, among others) and you can be sure there will be more from him.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie's directing career hasn't always gotten the best reviews, but I'd say her movies are very underrated. The talented actress has an eye for behind the camera as well, and movies like Unbroken and First They Killed My Father are powerful movies.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton's acting career came on as a slow burn to fame, but his directing career started with a band. His first film was a masterpiece called Sling Blade. he followed that up with the underrated All The Pretty Horse and a few others, though his pace has slowed over the last couple of decades. Let's hope he finds that directing bug again. 

Ben Stiller

There was a time in the '90s and '00s when it seemed like Ben Stiller was in every movie released. Not only was he working hard in front of the camera, he was killing it behind the camera as well. Starting really with Reality Bites, and moving on to great movies like the controversial but hilarious Tropic Thunder, and the Zoolander movies. 

Jodie Foster

The great Jodie Foster has been an acclaimed actor and star since her teenage years and of course, that talent has translated to directing. Though lately she's done mostly TV work like directing episodes of Black Mirror and Orange is the New Black, she's done a few movies too, like Little Man Tate and Money Monster.

Kevin Costner

In addition to being one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Kevin Costner has never shied away from making epic films. Though he's only directed four movies in his career, they have all been big films. Starting with Dances With Wolves in 1990, he's since directed The Postman, Open Range, and 2024's Horizon: An American Saga.

Tim Robbins

The directing bug caught Tim Robbins in the early '90s and he directed a couple of great movies with Bob Roberts and Dead Man Walking. He's directed a smattering of movies and TV shows more recently, but he's mostly stuck to acting over the last few years. 

Sean Penn

Since the early 1980s, Sean Penn has been wowing moviegoers with his impressive acting chops and diversity. In the '90s he dipped his toe into directing with his first film, The Indian Runner and has directed a good handful of movies since, with his best being Into The Wild in 2007. 

Zach Braff

Acting-wise Zach Braff's big break came as a regular cast member of the hit sitcom Scrubs. As a directed, he burst onto the scene with his very first movie, Garden State in 2004. He's continued directing here and there over the last 20 years, including the great movie about getting older, Going In Style, and a few others, in addition to some TV work. 

Warren Beatty

In the 1970s, there was no bigger movie star than Warren Beatty. By the end of the decade, he had moved into directing as well, starting with 1978's Heaven Can Wait and continuing the '80s and '90s with acclaimed movies like Red and maybe his most remembered, Dick Tracy in 1990.

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton is a force of nature. For decades she's been one of the best and most popular actresses in Hollywood, and though she's only dipped her toes into directing, mostly in TV, she's on this list for one important reason. Keaton directed the music video for "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" by Belinda Carlisle and that is a stone-cold Gen X classic. 

Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh might be as well known for his directing as he is for his acting, and that's really saying something. Not only has he directed some of the best Shakespeare adaptions for the silver screen, but more recently he's been killing it with his Agatha Christie adaptations. 

Leonard Nimoy

Appropriately, Leonard Nimoy's first foray into feature film direction came in the Star Trek franchise when he directed both Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Outside of the iconic franchise he helped make famous he also directed the beloved Three Men and a Baby. 

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone has always been a self-starter. His work to get the original Rocky made is legendary and after it made him a huge star, he wasted no time getting into directing, starting with Rocky II and adding Rocky III, Rocky IV, and 2006's Rocky Balboa as well. Of course, he's also directed in two other franchises he was at the center of with 2008's Rambo and the first Expendable movie. 

Helen Hunt

This one might surprise you, but Helen Hunt has had an impressive career as a director. Most of her work has been on television on shows varying from her own Mad About You and This Is Us. She also has two feature films under her belt with 2007's Then She Found Me and 2014's Ride. 

Joel Edgerton

Joel Edgerton is seemingly everywhere these days, popping up in all kinds of movies and TV shows from Star Wars stuff to Dark Matter. He's also started directing, but his output is limited, with 2015's underrated The Gift and 2018 Boy Erased. Let's hope he finds more time to direct in his busy schedule. 

Sylvester Stallone has said he’s done playing Rocky, but that doesn’t mean that Rocky is entirely done with him. Stallone recently posted a video of himself with an original set of his Rocky boxing gloves, which coincidently came out alongside news that we’re actually going to be getting another Rocky movie of sorts, a film that focuses on the story of how the original film was made.

While many may know the story of how Rocky came to be, and how it came to make Sylvester Stallone a star, it's likely unknown to a lot of movie fans. It may be just as inspiring as the story that was told on screen.

Green Book’s Director Will Helm I Am Rocky 

The story of the making of Rocky is something of an underdog story, not unlike the plot of the film itself, which is likely why somebody thought it would make for a good movie. Variety reports that Peter Farrelly, the director of controversial Oscar-winner Green Book is set to helm the movie, as well as coproduce alongside Toby Emmerich. Peter Gamble has written the screenplay.

The film will focus on a young Stallone who, not finding the success he is looking for in Hollywood, decides to write his own movie in which to star. He pens Rocky, and the script is very well received, but studios are less interested in casting the unknown actor to star.

Stallone was famously offered a lot of money to simply sell the screenplay. Instead, Stallone agreed to take a far lesser sum in order to play the lead role. The rest is history. Rocky became a critical and commercial success, winning the Oscar for Best Picture and spawning a franchise that, thanks to the Michael B. Jordan Creed films, is still going today, even if the best Rocky movie is still the original. A Drago spinoff is reportedly also in development.

What Sylvester Stallone Said About The Rocky Boxing Gloves

The same day the news about I Am Rocky dropped, Sylvester Stallone talked about Rocky as well. In an Instagram post, he showed off a pair of boxing gloves that he wore as Rocky Balboa, a pair which are apparently no longer the design used by professional boxers because they’re not considered safe enough. Check out the post below.

Stallone has had a tumultuous relationship with the Rocky franchise to date. As part of the deal that he made to star in the original movie, he also signed away most of his rights to the franchise, so he hasn’t profited as much as some due to the success the series has seen. Stallone has indicated his decision not to return for Creed III had more to do with not being able to come to a deal on the rights, rather than any desire to hang up the gloves. It's unclear what if any, direct involvement Stallone will have with the new film.

Years before modern entertainment rivalries like Dwayne Johnson vs. Vin Diesel or Taylor Swift vs. Kanye and Kim Kardashian, action juggernauts Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger comprised the biggest battle of Hollywood heavyweights. Their “out of control” feud, which fueled increasing cinematic body counts in the 1980s and ‘90s, dissipated years ago as they became good friends. But the actors reflected on their years of tension for the first time in a new TV special in which the Terminator franchise vet spoke candidly about the pettiness of his youth, and why he never stopped watching Stallone’s biggest hits.

Stallone and Schwarzenegger shared the screen for TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons, where host Harry Levin got the duo to speak pretty freely about their pasts and crossing career paths. It was more or less agreed that the seeds of their feud were planted during the night of the 34th annual Golden Globes in 1977, where Schwazenegger won New Star of the Year early on for Stay Hungry. Later, when Rocky was announced as Best Drama winner, an admittedly jealous Stallone celebrated by throwing handfuls of flowers up into the air during which Stallone celebrated Rocky’s Best Drama win by taking the flowers from the table display and throwing them into the air in Schwarzenegger’s direction.

Though the Total Recall star didn’t have any outward reactions to share on the night of the ceremony, he said that inspired him to keep Sly Stallone in his crosshairs going forward as his star power grew. According to Schwarzenegger:

For what it's worth, Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't have picked a better up-and-coming talent to aim for, considering Stallone's run from Rocky through the early 1990s is filled with far more blockbuster box office successes than failures. (The Twins co-star definitely talked about his epic Stop or My Mom Will Shoot! sabotage scheme as well, speaking of failures.)

But despite his inherently competitive nature, Arnold Schwarzenegger said he never actively avoided watching Sly Stallone's biggest franchise releases. As he put it:

The Predator actor spoke to the idea that he demanded to be shown with bigger guns in that movie and others so that he could look that much more badass than John Rambo, with Stallone also upping the ante for each successive action movie that he starred in. That said, the latter has admitted in recent years that Schwarzenegger was the "superior" action star in comparison, pointing to the idea that the Austrian actor's reign was such that his characters rarely got beat down or suffered injuries, while Stallone's characters were constantly getting whupped up on.

In retrospect, Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed with Harry Levin in thinking that Stallone was as instrumental to his career as anything else, even if the motivations came from a combative place. As he put it:

There’s no two ways about that. He was very helpful in my career because I had something that I could chase, and that I could kind of like [say], ‘Oh, I have to be able to do this kind of work.’

The actors made a certain kind of history in 2013 when they co-starred in the action romp Escape Plan, though it wasn't the instant classic that action movie fans were hoping for. Schwarzenegger bowed out of co-starring in the sequels, and while they were also both a part of Expendables 3, I know I'm not the only person who wishes they could work on something epic and timeless together before their respective retirements.

We can only hope that TMZ figures out ways to bring more of these high-profile interviews to Fox in the future. Anyone who missed the special can check it out with a Hulu subscription the day after airing. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what else is hitting the small screen soon.

When it comes to the best sports movies and the characters that drive their stories, it’s hard to think of a more inspirational quasi-hero than Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa. Thankfully, the Oscar-nominated actor and screenwriter shares some Rocky franchise lore in his first big sit-down interview opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger for Fox. In particular, he talks about the terrible-sounding pectoral tear he suffered that nearly derailed the production on Rocky II, which taps into fan speculation that the Predator and Terminator star may have been involved in some way.

For context, the TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly: Rival, Friends, Icons interview also directly addresses Schwarzenegger previously confessing to tricking Stallone into starring in the stinker Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!, which was arguably around the peak of their “out of control” feud in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. (Which Stallone had a sweet comeback for some years ago.) So there’s precedent for the former Mr. Olympia meddling maliciously with the other’s career path.

Before Sylvester Stallone gets into his own anecdote in the clip from TMZ, Schwarzenegger specifically points out that his training partner, the record-breaking strongman Franco Columbu, was Stallone’s trainer for Rambo, which led to their continued work together ahead of Rocky II. In his words:

Now on the one hand, this could have been a naturally occurring incident, with Columbu known to be someone who regularly challenged others to feats of strength and endurance. But given the timing and the trainer’s close connections with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it’s at least understandable why fans would be somewhat suspicious about whether or not the Last Action Hero vet was implicit in having Columbu overwork Stallone, even if there’s no way he could have intentionally planned for a detached pectoral muscle.

It’d be one thing if Stallone’s story pointed out that Franco Columbu immediately called an ambulance or a physical therapist in that could offer immediate assistance, but he only says that the trainer jammed his fingers into the muscles, which doesn’t seem like the smartest move regardless of what injury might have happened. So even if he wasn’t meaning to injure Stallone, the actor’s story doesn’t imply much help was offered, either.

Stallone continued, explaining how he turned his personal injury into a character decision that, in hindsight, did little to make the plot more plausible.

Stated in such a way, Sylvester Stallone makes it sound like there was pressure, and perhaps expectations, for him to put Rocky II on hold. Which sounds like just the kind of outcome that a rival actor would be hopeful for. But still, until Schwarzenegger speaks up and admits that he talked Franco Columbu into setting up that bench-press challenge, we'll just have to keep assuming it was all accidental and circumstantial.

Of course, the fact that Stallone is such a workhorse makes it seem like any attempt to keep him from making Rocky II would have been 100% in vain. As he concluded his tale:

They don't quit, indeed. While Rocky II may not land so high in our ranked list of Rocky franchise movies, his persistence in bringing it together set the course for the next three films, as well as the Creed spinoffs, so I think we can all appreciate the actor's dedication and ability to work through such a painful injury.

TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly: Rival, Friends, Icons airs Tuesday night on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Taylor Sheridan is one of the most prolific TV producers in the industry, facing one brutal production schedule after another to turn the Yellowstone universe and more into reality, but several cracks have formed in the foundation of his small-screen kingdom. Ahead of Tulsa King Season 2, the Sylvester Stallone drama is the latest to face behind-the-scenes drama, in this case tied to allegedly rude comments from Stallone that influenced a staffer to quite the show. Only the show’s director and executive producer says it’s all B.S. Let’s unpack.

A Tulsa King Casting Director Exited The Series Over Alleged Rude Comments

On Monday, April 8, the Atlanta-based casting agency Rose Locke Casting shared a message on Facebook that pubicized the company distancing itself from Tulsa King for its second season after having worked on the first. The boilerplate post read as:

While nothing in that message necessarily comes across as suspect, posts of a more malicious variety were shared to a private Facebook page dedicated to Atlanta-set background performers. There, accusations were laid out claiming that Stallone and an unnamed director referred to some of the newly cast extras as “tub of lard,” “fat guy with cane,” and “ugly,” with other rude comments supposedly made about people’s weight and disabilities.

Another allegation stated that Sylvester Stallone voiced a potential fix for the issue by requesting the casting directors hire “pretty young girls” to surround him. In response, the casting agency’s boss Rose Locke reportedly sent out a private message to employees (via TV writer Julie Benson’s X post) asking them to come forward with stories if they happened to see or hear anything in that same capacity.

Tulsa King Director And EP Diputes The Claims

Understandably, the posts and comments made by Rose Locke and her company weren’t taken lightly by those who read them, with many background actors commenting with messages of support. However, director and executive producer Craig Zisk stepped in to say that the accusations made against Stallone and others were false, and that the casting director quit over being told she didn’t handle her job correctly.

Zisk told TMZ that Rose Locke wasn’t on the set at the time when the alleged comments were made, and that no such disparaging language was used when discussing the on-set extras. According to his take, the casting company was tasked with sending over actors in the 25-35 age range to populate a scene set in a trendy bar, but instead sent a much older group of performers.

No issue was taken with the actors themselves, Zisk says, and he claims they were “polite” and handled their duties accordingly. But the EP then alleges that when he confronted Rose Locke about it, stating that she was required to submit extras’ headshots to make sure the appropriately fitting actors get cast, Locke reportedly agreed, but then suddenly quit an hour later.

As far as the supposed “pretty girls” request goes, Craig Zisk claims that Sylvester Stallone’s reality TV co-star and wife Jennifer Flavin was nearby during filming, and says the actor never made any such suggestions.

Either way it goes, something unfortunate happened behind the scenes of Tulsa King, and feelings were hurt, which is never great for any kind of creative project. Here’s hoping everything smoothes over into the best-case scenario, before it all turns into chaos as it went in early 2023 with Yellowstone, which saw star Kevin Costner exiting his role as John Dutton ahead of filming the final Season 5 episodes. (Though recent reports say he wants back in.)

Tulsa King’s first season is available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription, so stay tuned for more info on where Season 2 is headed.

As much as we like to see Hollywood as a dream factory, some projects can be total nightmares. Maybe people realize that fact during production, or maybe it’s a big case of hindsight providing 20/20 vision; but eventually there comes a time when an entertainer decides that their own movie is the enemy. For one reason or another, the list we’re about to share with you is a bunch of cases where that sort of takedown was warranted by the talent that had to endure making them in the first place. 

Jamie Lee Curtis - Virus

No matter how many times the 1999 sci-fi horror movie Virus comes up, it seems that Jamie Lee Curtis has a colorful variety of responses that detail just how flat-out horrible the finished product was. And depending on which interview you read, the language can get just as cheeky, so reader discretion is definitely advised. 

Michael Caine - Jaws: The Revenge

If you ever want a lesson in destroying a cinematic turkey with great wit and class, look up Michael Caine’s remarks on Jaws: The Revenge. Simultaneously admitting he’d never watched the film, but loved the personal enrichment that came from it, it’s one of the best moments of Sir Michael’s legendary charm at work.

Charlize Theron - Reindeer Games

How bad is the perennial punchline Reindeer Games? Well, if you ask Charlize Theron like Esquire did back in 2008, the Ben Affleck co-starring film is "a bad, bad, bad movie." So that question's pretty much asked and answered. 

George Clooney - Batman and Robin

George Clooney’s continued Batman regrets will never stop being entertaining. Playing that very DC hero in 1997’s Batman & Robin, the infamously campy Joel Schumacher picture holds a very special place in the ER veteran’s heart; and it’s one of intensely self-deprecating comedy. 

Katherine Heigl - Knocked Up

The story about Katherine Heigl and her apparent lack of love for Knocked Up is one that’s circulated pretty much since Judd Apatow’s 2008 comedy mega-hit landed. However, it seems that years after the star seemed to slam her own movie, Heigl’s 2016 comments on the matter painted a different picture.

Christopher Plummer - The Sound of Music

How an actor like the late great Christopher Plummer could grow to despise a musical like The Sound of Music is still a mystery. Well, it’s puzzling in the sense that his apparent criticism of its sentimental and emotional nature feels a bit rough. Despite his misgivings, the Rodgers and Hammerstein adaptation remains one of Christopher Plummer’s best roles. 

Sally Field - The Amazing Spider-Man

Comic book movies aren’t for everyone, and The Amazing Spider-Man’s Sally Field admitted just that when talking about her role as Andrew Garfield’s Aunt May. Field’s reason for taking the role as a favor to her friend, late producer Laura Ziskin, is still sweet. But digging into Sally’s comments about the Marvel role, it would seem that there isn’t enough money in the Multiverse to bring the Academy Award winner back for any hypothetical follow-ups.

Edward Norton - The Italian Job

One of the most infamous stories of modern movie feuds, Edward Norton’s reluctance to play the villain in The Italian Job remake came down to two words: contractual obligations. As Observer covered in the lead-up to the movie’s production, Norton fulfilled his duties; but did so while taking every chance to put the project down. 

Jessica Alba - Fantastic Four

When your director tells you that CGI tears are better than the actual waterworks you’re providing on set, to say things are problematic is a bit of an understatement. That’s the scenario that Jessica Alba faced on Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which she revealed to Elle Magazine (via Today) as the reason she almost quit acting. 

Bill Murray - Garfield: The Movie

Confusion is something that even a legendary comedian like Bill Murray can admit to falling into from time to time. It just so happens that one of those times saw the legacy cast member of Ghostbusters accidentally assume one of The Coen Bros. wrote Garfield: The Movie. Thankfully for Murray, he only had to make one sequel before the franchise shifted gears to another iteration.

Jennifer Lawrence - Passengers

When Adele tells you to skip a movie like Passengers, that’s a sign you should take to heart. Unfortunately, Jennifer Lawrence ignored this advice, and what resulted was a movie that is as questionable as it is baffling. On the plus side, hearing Ms. Lawrence trash that movie means that the project is technically a valuable source of entertainment.

Channing Tatum - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

We’ve all kind of known that Channing Tatum despises G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra; and rightfully so. But just how horrible was the man’s opinion of this past franchise starter? Well, not only did he pass on this project seven times, but when G.I. Joe: Retaliation came about, Tatum requested to be killed off in that very sequel. 

Viola Davis - The Help

Despite the contemporary hoopla that saw The Help become an Academy Awards darling at 2012’s Oscars, Viola Davis’ opinion on the movie is far from golden. Indeed, the project has become more and more scrutinized as time goes on, and Davis’ upset with the movie has only developed more nuance over time. 

Ryan Reynolds - Green Lantern

Even if you knew nothing about Ryan Reynolds starring in the much-maligned Green Lantern adaptation, his dislike for the picture is legendary. Especially when part of Deadpool 2’s wild time travel-correcting ending saw the Marvel anti-hero icing his reality-bound actor before even getting to make the film. 

Halle Berry - Catwoman

The downside to Halle Berry being in Catwoman is that she, unfortunately, had to actually make the movie. However, the upside to this painful experience is that Berry’s quips and jabs at her unfortunate DC Comics entry continue to show her impeccable sense of humor. 

Oscar Isaac - X-Men: Apocalypse

While Oscar Isaac doesn’t outright disown his X-Men movie, he does express serious regret for taking on the titular role in X-Men: Apocalypse. Though if you were cast to act up against James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, only to have your abilities hampered by an abundance of prosthetics, you’d probably be pretty steamed too. 

Dame Judi Dench - Cats

Not many actors would consider a Razzie nomination entertaining, or even valid. But then again, Cats' Dame Judi Dench isn't "most actors." Proud to have not seen the film, or read its reviews, the famed performer laughed off her own nomination, and even compared her character's final look to a bunch of foxes engaged in some not-so-family-friendly activity. 

Matt Damon - The Bourne Ultimatum

For as much cultural cache as the Jason Bourne movies still have in the world, it’s kind of astounding that the subpar reaction to some of the sequels doesn’t seem to have dampened that pedigree. That’s an especially good question after Matt Damon’s trashing of The Bourne Ultimatum script somehow didn’t prevent the worst sin that franchise has committed, 2016’s Jason Bourne. 

Megan Fox - Transformers

Megan Fox’s relationship with the Transformers franchise saw her putting the Hasbro toy franchise on blast after the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. More specifically, her comments comparing Michael Bay to Hitler allegedly helped distance her even further from the series that she apparently has no particular love for. 

Matthew Goode - Leap Year

In remarks to The Telegraph about his role in the rom-com Leap Year, Matthew Goode fully admitted that the Amy Adams starring vehicle wasn’t exactly ideal for his tastes. Taking a page out of Michael Caine’s proverbial book on silver linings, Goode did admit that one of the reasons he did enjoy being part of the project was the fact that he could go home easily on the weekends. 

Kate Winslet - Titanic

While the world fell in love with Kate Winslet after her role in Titanic, the actor herself didn’t exactly love watching herself put in, what she feels, was a performance full of errors. Even in a legacy interview with CNN, Winslet criticized everything, even her American accent.  

Mark Wahlberg - Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights was a star making performance for Mark Wahlberg, and to this day it’s a role that’s aged well on his resume. And yet, Wahlberg has asked God to forgive him for making the Paul Thomas Anderson masterpiece, regarding it the biggest mistake of his career. 

Michelle Pfeiffer - Grease 2

Allegedly, Michelle Pfeiffer was cited to have chalked up her experience with Grease 2 as a case of being young and not knowing how to pick a good script. While those stories persist, Pfieffer has apparently started to set the record straight, attributing her supposed Grease sequel bashing to misreported remarks that grew a life of their own.

Sir Alec Guinness - Star Wars

While Sir Alec Guinness’ reaction to watching Star Wars was one of being refreshed, his outlook on taking the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn’t as rosy. Actually making George Lucas’ sci-fi opus was a different story, with Guinness’ on-set feelings seeing the legendary actor less than pleased in the middle of production.

Miriam Margolyes - The Harry Potter Series

Harry Potter fans have been a frequent source of discussion for actor Miriam Margolyes. The performer who brought Madame Sprout to live in the film adaptation of the series not only has no personal connection with the franchise but she’s also shared some thoughts on adult Potter fans that have kicked up more dirt than one of her Herbology classes.

Sylvester Stallone - Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!

The widely reported story of how Sylvester Stallone became the action lead in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! is thanks to his feud with action star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Apparently, Arnie tricked him into thinking he wanted the movie, which led Stallone to lobby for the part, and win it. His enduring torment can still be heard to this day, and Sly has even suggested the film as a form of interrogation enhancement. Yikes.

Dakota Johnson - Madame Web

Madame Web seems to be an experience that barely anyone enjoyed, even the actors who starred in the movie. Dakota Johnson’s skewering of the finished product, while extremely erudite and empathetic towards herself and the rest of the cast, cuts to the core problems that some feel superhero movies have possessed since day one. 

Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Out of all the Harry Potter movies Daniel Radcliffe has fronted, the one that comes in as his least favorite is the sixth entry, The Half Blood Prince. Radcliffe called his own performance “one-note,” especially when compared to his own personal favorite: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Jennifer Aniston - Leprechaun

Jennifer Aniston’s performance in Leprechaun makes her cringe to this day. So much so that in a 2019 interview on The Howard Stern Show, she mentioned that she tried and failed to stop her then-boyfriend Justin Theroux from watching the film; much to her dismay. 

Brad Pitt - The Devil’s Own

“20 pages of dog…” You can fill that phrase in for yourself, but Brad Pitt’s Newsweek interview about 1997’s The Devil’s Own said all that needed to be said about the actor’s feelings for the Harrison Ford co-starring drama. 

Sandra Bullock - Speed 2: Cruise Control

Some experience will stick with you, no matter how hard you try. Sandra Bullock’s no-sequel rule was an echo of such a trauma, thanks to her displeasure with Speed 2: Cruise Control. Admittedly, her concerns about a large cruise ship not being as perceptively speedy as a city bus were part of the equation as well, and can you blame her? 

Robert Pattinson - Twilight

Robert Pattinson’s hate affair with the Twilight Saga is as well-documented as the memes that have committed the franchise’s dialogue to memory. Thankfully, the man didn’t develop an aversion to bats, otherwise The Batman wouldn’t have happened; which is probably one of the best things that actually came out of Twilight when you think about it.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this trip in the trenches with stars who had to tell it like it is. Judging by some of the movies mentioned here, it might be safe to say that for the most part, these reactions were spot on. But if you’re ever wondering why a movie you're fond of might be slammed by an actor or entertainer involved, keep these tales of woe in mind, and try not to take it too personally.

Anyone who has seen Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation must wonder for at least a second if there is truth in Bill Murray’s character of a famous American actor in Japan to film a commercial. Well, there definitely is. Huge American and European stars have been hawking products in Japanese commercials for decades. 

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood, some of whom you’d never expect to be selling cars and shampoo in the States, are happy to do it in Japan. While there was a time those stars may have been labeled as “sell-outs” in the U.S. for doing commercials, it was very lucrative to appear in ads in Japan, without the baggage. Here are just a few of the celebrities who have made those Japanese ads. 

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman is known in the U.S. for her Miss Dior perfume commercials, but in Japan, she’s better known for selling Lux shampoo. The commercial we found is a pretty standard shampoo commercial, very similar to one you’d see in the States with long, flowing locks being flung to and fro. 

Jodie Foster

Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster is one of those actors you’d least expect to see in a commercial, but in the ‘90s, Foster starred in a campaign for Honda Civics. The commercials are pretty bland, with lots of shots of a smiling Foster standing near the Hondas she was selling. 

George Clooney

He may be one of the biggest movie stars of all time, but George Clooney isn’t above slinging coffee in Europe or doing extensive voice-over work on American commercials. In Japan, he’s the face of Kirin Beer in at least a couple of commercials, co-starring with some CGI songbirds. 

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves has developed a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. It makes sense that a product would be interested in having him as a spokesman. In the United States, he occasionally does a commercial or two, most notably for Squarespace. In Japan, he’s also popular. Like a lot of Western celebs, he’s been hired by the whiskey maker Suntory to do commercials. As always, he looks cool doing it. 

Madonna

At the height of Madonna’s fame in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it would’ve been very rare to see her endorse a product on TV in the United States, but in Japan, she was part of a big campaign for Takara, a whiskey made by Blanton’s for the Japanese market. The commercials don’t look like they took up much of the Material Girl’s time, however, as they are just cuts from her music videos spliced with buzzwords and shots of the bourbon. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Lately, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been showing up in more and more commercials. At the 2024 Super Bowl, he was in a State Farm ad, for example. It seems the former Governator likes the idea of picking up a nice paycheck for a minimal amount of work, and who can blame him? It’s something he’s been doing in Japan for decades, going back to the pinnacle of his fame in the ‘90s when he endorsed an energy drink called Alinamin V. These might be the strangest of all the commercials too, featuring Schwarzenegger’s giant head popping out the bottle and other over-the-top images. 

Miles Davis

No one defines “cool” quite like Miles Davis did. The late jazz legend had a reputation for being prickly, but fans still wanted to be him. His sound on trumpet was unique, as was his style, and it all oozes authenticity. Endorsing products in the U.S. might have branded him a “sell-out” to his fans, but in the ‘80s, he could go to Japan, where he was also a big star, and shoot commercials for Honda Scooters, and no one would be the wiser in North America. 

Britney Spears

Britney Spears might be the least surprising person on this list. At the height of her fame in the late ‘90s, she’s exactly the kind of celebrity that would be huge in Japan. Spears took advantage of that fame, starring in a series of commercials for Go Go Tea. The pop star also appeared in an ad for Mikakuto Gummy Candies as well. 

Harrison Ford

Back in 1996, Entertainment Weekly reported that Hollywood stars could make anywhere from $500K to $2 million for a couple of days’ work on a Japanese commercial. It explains why actors like Harrison Ford, who no one would have expected to see in an ad in the ‘90s in America, would spend a few days in Japan shooting commercials for Kirin beer. We don’t know how much he made, but it’s safe to assume the Star Wars star made enough to pay Jabba back and then some. 

Cameron Diaz

SoftBank is one of the largest holding companies in Japan and it loves to bring over American stars to promote its services. One such star was Cameron Diaz, who in the mid-’00s starred in commercials and print ads all over Tokyo for the cell phone giant. No doubt such a campaign made it possible for the actress to semi-retire in 2014. 

Brad Pitt

Coffee, specifically canned coffee, seems to be one of the more lucrative areas of advertising for Western stars in Japan. None other than Brad Pitt even showed up in one in the ‘90s. Pitt stars as an office worker getting more work done after drinking a can of Roots Coffee. 

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is big in Japan. He’s been spotted selling everything from cars to financial services. Daihatsu and SoftBank have both hired the Die Hard legend to hawk their wares. He even learned a phrase or two in Japanese for the spots. 

Sharon Stone

Just as in America and Europe, Japanese beauty brands love to hire a famous actress to taut their product’s ability to make everyone as beautiful as they are. Sharon Stone was a major spokeswoman for Vernal soaps, for example. Stone also appeared in commercials for jewelry and other luxury wares. 

Ben Stiller

When you watch the Kirin ad Ben Stiller did back in the late ‘90s, it makes you wonder if it was the main inspiration for Zoolander. It feels like an outtake from the movie about a male model, it’s so goofy. Don’t get it wrong, it’s supposed to be over-the-top and funny, so it fits the character of Derek Zoolander perfectly, even if Stiller wasn’t actually playing the role. It’s also better than Zoolander 2.

Francis Ford Coppola

Of course, the most famous example in the West of a star doing Japanese commercials is the fictional Bob Harris (Bill Murray) doing Suntory ads in Lost In Translation. The inspiration for the film, or part of it, had to be Sofia Coppola’s father, Francis Ford Coppola doing ads in Japan in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Including one for Fuji Cassettes, and yes, Suntory whiskey. 

Sylvester Stallone

Rocky star Sylvester Stallone got on the Japanese advertising train back in the mid-’90s, including doing some very strange commercials for Bayern Sausages. An Italian-American doing ads for German sausages in Japan. It’s the UN of commercials! 

Brooke Shields

Back in the ‘80s, Brooke Shields was huge. For much of the decade, she found a lot of work in Japan in ads for everything from tissues to coffee to stereos. No doubt that helped her pay for her Princeton education, where she studied during a break from her career in the mid-’80s. 

Richard Gere

In 2009, Japanese company Suntory bought Orangina, the sparking orange beverage from France. Almost immediately, Suntory did what they had done so often in the past, they hired an American actor for an ad campaign. Richard Gere starred in a few commercials for the brand at the dawn of the 2010s, playing a classic Japanese comedy character from the ‘60s and ‘70s named Tora-san.  

Audrey Hepburn

By the early 1970s, Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn had already semi-retired from acting, starring only sporadically in a few movies in the ‘70s before bowing out completely. Still, she did work in Japan occasionally in commercials, including one for wigs from 1970, which seems pretty odd, but hey, it’s Audrey Hepburn, so who are we to question it?

Leonardo DiCaprio

Even the great Leonardo DiCaprio has gotten in on the Japanese ad business, hawking credit cards in the ‘90s and Jim Beam more recently. You might expect the latter, but definitely not the former, in the United States. 

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway is another glamorous actress who has been known to pop up in luxury and beauty ads in Japan. One product, Lux Shampoo, is well known for using American stars in its ads for its products. The rom-com star pitched for the company a few times in the mid-’00s. 

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Suntory Whiskey definitely takes the win for grabbing some of the biggest stars from the U.S. to sell its products. Even way back in the ‘70s, it was paying Sammy Davis, Jr. to do commercials for them. They even got him to scat for one of them, and it’s a gem. 

Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones has been a regular in Japanese commercials for a long time, and watching some of the more bizarre ones, he’s clearly having a lot of fun. It definitely references his role in the Men in Black series, but beyond that, it’s hard to pin what they are about, exactly, except that he’s selling coffee. 

Nicolas Cage

It’s no surprise to find Nicolas Cage on this list, now is it? Going back a couple of decades, the actor did a series of commercials for Pachinko games, which are Japanese slot machines and pinball machines.

Kyle MacLachlan

In what might be the absolute best and most bizarre entry on this list, Kyle MacLachlan starred in a whole series of commercials for Georgia Coffee as Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. The commercials played out like a bizarre mystery, just like the show, and also featured other characters from the show, and the famous intro. It’s truly awesome… and weird… and awesome.

Sean Connery

If you want someone elegant and cool to advertise your whiskey, why not hire James Bond himself, Sean Connery? That’s exactly what Suntory did in the early ‘90s and he’s everything you want him to be in the ad. 

Hugh Jackman

When you have the talents of a true song-and-dance man like Hugh Jackman, it’s smart to take advantage of that. It’s what Lipton Ice Tea did in 2010 to amazing results with the Deadpool & Wolverine star dancing around a Japanese hotel. 

Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford was the most famous model in the world in the ‘80s and ‘90s, so it’s no surprise she’d been seen on Japanese TV selling lots of stuff, as she was virtually everywhere else in the world. For example, in Japan, she hawked a sports drink called Pocari Sweat. Sweat seems like an odd thing to name your drink, but Crawford could sell anything in those days. 

John Travolta

Canned drinks are huge in Japan and the competition for customers is intense, which has led to a lot of American stars getting lucrative gigs. John Travolta is one such star, who was hired to appear in an ad for Tokyo Drink. Naturally, he danced his way through it. 

Hulk Hogan

Professional wrestling has long been hugely popular in Japan. American wrestling stars like Hulk Hogan have been traveling to Japan to work for decades. With that fame, came commercials for the Hulkster, like one in the early ‘90s hawking Hitachi Air Conditioners. 

Quentin Tarantino

It’s not always just actors either. Quentin Tarantino, whose Kill Bill movies are a tribute to Japanese culture, popped up in an ad for SoftBank’s cell phone service. The director looks like he had a blast making the spots, too. 

Kiefer Sutherland

When 24 debuted, it instantly became one of the biggest hits on TV, and that success translated to Japanese TV as well. So much so, that Kiefer Sutherland was hired by the energy drink Calorie Mate to star in a series of commercials in the style of the spy show. 

There was a time when “selling out” was a real concern for artists and their fans. It’s far more common today to see big stars in commercials. Before it became okay to be seen selling stuff on TV, those big names could head to Japan for a nice paycheck, without retribution from hardcore fans. Until the internet, it was rare for an American or European to even know the stars had done it. Now with the internet, we get to see all these great commercials they were doing. 

It seems to be a generally accepted belief that when an actor can perform their own stunts for a film, that it is better for the movie if they do so. Tom Cruise has certainly taken this idea to heart, insisting on doing all of his stunts, even when it involves jumping off cliffs on motorcycles. But another major action star, Sylvester Stallone, is advocating against actors doing their own stunts, as he’s dealing with lifelong physical issues because of it.

Speaking with TMZ, Stallone described an incident on the set of the first Expendables movie where he and Stone Cold Steve Austin were doing a fight scene together. As the director, Stallone was the one in charge of the scene, and he put himself on the line in the sequence, which resulted in an injury severe enough to require multiple surgeries over the next several years. Stallone explained…

One can only imagine what it was like for Stallone as he got slammed by Stone Cold only to feel something in his back give out. Stallone says he’s needed seven different surgeries since the incident in 2010, and he has a metal plate in his neck. 

And the Expendables injury isn't the only one the actor has had to deal with over the years. The actor has discussed breaking toes during Rocky Balboa, and has said the last Rambo movie did "damage" to him.

Sylvester Stallone has made his share of action movies over the years, and he likely did a lot of the action himself, but at some point, the years catch up to you. And to be fair Sylvester Stallone is more than 15 years older than Tom Cruise, but Cruise himself is 61, so one has to wonder how long it will take for Cruise to be at this point. Tom Cruise did break an ankle filming a Mission: Impossible movie, but to our knowledge, it hasn’t impacted him long-term the way Stallone’s injury did.

Getting seriously injured is, of course, the main reason that stuntmen exist. And big stars are generally dissuaded from doing dangerous stunts. If a movie is delayed due to a star’s injury it costs money, so insurance companies generally frown on letting the headliners do stuff that could get them hurt. Of course, Tom Cruise fires insurance companies that don’t want him climbing buildings. 

There will always be those actors who insist on doing their own stunts, but credit should also be given to the incredible stunt teams who do their part. Maybe Stallone has a point that actors should take more care and avoid “stupid stuff.” Stuntpeople are trained professionals who know how to take these bumps better than most actors. 

Sylvester Stallone is an icon with many legendary films like the Rocky saga, the First Blood series, and Demolition Man. He's known for taking on a lot of physically demanding roles, as he's flexed his muscles through playing some of our greatest action heroes. He apparently almost took on another iconic role, as one of the Kens in Barbie. Stallone recently opened up about his near-cameo in the summer’s biggest movie, his hilarious connection to Ryan Gosling and why he thinks the La La Land actor would make a great Rambo. 

The 77-year-old actor sat down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show (as shared on YouTube) to talk about his family's reality show, The Family Stallone, which is now streaming for Paramount+ subscribers. Of course, the talk show host brought up his famous movie roles as well as his unintentional contributions to the Barbie movie. Apparently, Stallone was almost in the 2023 blockbuster, but scheduling conflicts prevented him from doing so. As for playing Ken himself, Sly said that he thinks he should leave the Kenergy to Ryan Gosling. He said: 

While Ryan Gosling may have been perfect for Ken, the Expendables star shouldn’t sell himself short. Plus, his on-screen persona is actually a big part of the movie and ends up becoming a major aspect of Ken’s reinvented persona in Barbie. During the film, Ken sees several images of Stallone via Rocky and Rambo posters, which help inform his views of masculinity and the patriarchy. Ken's look in the later scenes is also inspired by Stallone, as the bandana is a signature accessory of John Rambo. Also, the white mink coat was famously worn by the actor in the '80s. Stallone may not think he would make a good Ken, but the character wouldn’t be what he was without Stallone. 

The action star later revealed that while sharing dinner with Ryan Gosling, the Notebook actor opened up about his love of Rambo as a character and how much the character played a role during his formative years. As described, Gosling had an intense love for the character and showed it in some wild ways when he was a kid. Though Sylvester Stallone seems impressed:

On the surface, Ryan Gosling may feel like unconventional casting for Rambo but, now that Stallone has signed off on it, I’m starting to see it. Gosling worked out big time for his roles in Barbie and in Crazy, Stupid, Love, and I could totally see him bulking up again to play such an iconic role. He’s also brought back franchises before, as Harrison Ford metaphorically passed the torch to Gosling when he played the lead in Blade Runner 2049. So maybe with Stallone’s blessing he’d be up to take on this other role. This is all just fun speculation, of course, but fingers crossed that this evolves into something real. 

In the meantime you can see Ryan Gosling channel Sylvester Stallone into his Kenergy in Barbie, which is now streaming with a Max subscription. Fans can also revisit Stallone’s decade-defining performance as Rambo in First Blood, which is available to rent on Amazon.