Sylvester Stallone has learned to prioritise his family over his career
Sylvester Stallone has learned to prioritise his family over his career.
The 76-year-old actor - who has daughters Scarlet, 20, Sistine, 24, and Sophia, 26, with wife Jennifer Flavin but was previously been married to Brigitte Nielsen and has late son Sage and Seargeoh with ex-wife Sasha Czack - explained that in the "last few years", he has stopped trying to "obsess" over who is being cast in blockbusters because family is what "really matters."
He said: "In the past few years when you find yourself obsessing about, oh what’s the next move? How do I compete with this situation or this character or this guy's getting this role, and I said, 'Jesus Christ, what does it matter?' Acting is a second priority for me. Because the things that really matter, the things that are actually your flesh and blood are moving on."
The 'Rocky' star has now taken on the role of New York mafia capo Dwight 'The General' Manfredi in 'Tulsa King' and was surprised that his family did not "walk out" of the cinema after seeing him play a convict released from prison.
He said: "I don’t know if it sounds vain glorious, but [Dwight] is me. That was the hardest thing is to not fall back on this tough guy thing or where you sit and you pose just the thing you know that works. I was talking to my wife, I said, 'This would be great 'cause you’re always accusing me of being irreverent. Why don’t I just try that?' 'Cause every other good gangster portrayal has been done, you know, [Robert] de Niro, [Al] Pacino, everyone. I said, 'Why don’t you just try and be yourself, but you would have a dark side.' The audience hasn’t seen it yet, and it only comes out when something you love incredibly well with all your heart is threatened and then you become actually what any parent would do.
"I couldn’t believe it, my family didn’t walk out! They didn’t criticise me for once. I said, 'Wow, they actually liked it.' They’re very savvy. They’ve grown up in this world, so they don’t hold back!"
