Sylvester Stallone talks to Yahoo about Tulsa King, retirement and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. (Photo illustration: Liliana Penagos for Yahoo News; photo: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)You'd think that at 79, Sylvester Stallone may be ready to call it quits. But bring up retirement with the actor, and it's clear there's still plenty of fight left in him."Forget it," he tells Yahoo. "Because I don't know the concept of retiring. I thought I did. Wouldn't it be great to mow your lawn every day and chase bees off the roses or whatever you do? And I go, 'No.' I'm just not- I'm built for war. You know what I mean? Creative war."Nearly an octogenarian, Stallone is still notching career milestones, including on Tulsa King, which is his first-ever leading role in a scripted TV series. Now entering its third season on Sunday, the hit show blends mob drama with offbeat humor and gives Stallone a chance to showcase his signature blend of grit and charm. But for the actor, it's the role's unexpected vulnerability that keeps him coming back.
Stallone, reimaginedIn Tulsa King, part of Taylor Sheridan's sprawling slate on Paramount+, Stallone plays Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a New York mob capo who, after spending 25 years in prison, is unceremoniously sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to establish new territory for the family.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"The series has been very inventive," he says. "I said, look, these other gangster [stories] - [The] Sopranos, Goodfellas - they've done it perfectly. But no one has really had this dark humor, this oddball kind of twist, but also a guy who can be pathological when he has to."Dwight is old-school and unpredictable. He's a man capable of violence, yet driven by loyalty. He's rebuilding his empire while trying to reconnect with a daughter who barely knows him. And perhaps most interesting of all, he's a character Stallone says is the closest version of himself he's ever played."Truthfully, it's who I am," he says, explaining he wanted to "experiment" with this series. "Why don't I just pretend I woke up one morning and I'm not an actor, I'm not a writer - I'm now a full-blooded gangster. You still have your personality, but you're a gangster. You don't write screenplays. You blow people away if necessary, that's it."Stallone, being Stallone, brings levity even to the darkest corners of Dwight's world.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I'm always fooling around. It's very hard for me to be serious [for] more than ten minutes," he says. "That's why I was thrown out of 12 schools in 13 years. I'm like the village dunce. But finally, it paid off."It's in the emotional moments, particularly when Dwight taps into his softer side as father or grandfather, where Tulsa King really lands. "Oh, God, yeah," Stallone says, when I ask if those scenes hit differently as a father in real life. "Because that's when the audience relates. They say, 'Ah, I got that going on right on the couch next to me. I understand that problem. I understand that sense of joy.'"The family thread is more than just acting for Stallone.
Sistine Stallone, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, Sylvester Stallone, Sophia Stallone and Scarlet Rose Stallone attend amfAR Las Vegas at Wynn Las Vegas on November 22, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: David Becker/Getty Images)"I pay very, very close attention to my family now - my wife [especially]," he says. Stallone and wife Jennifer Flavin have been together more than 30 years, despite a brief hiatus in 2022. They share daughters Sophia, 29, Sistine, 27 and Scarlet, 23. "So when [our family's] working together, it's a kind of a very happy, generative emotion, because you're with your people...
It just energizes the hell out of me."What mentors?That sense of presence - of valuing who and what's in front of him - is something he's also tried to pass along to the Tulsa King cast, many of whom have called him a mentor. It's a title he wears proudly, especially since no one filled that role for him when he was starting out.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Who were my mentors? Nobody," he says bluntly. "Nobody wanted to talk to me. I had no mentors. I was just the guy in the audience. I was like a professional extra."What he lacked in guidance then, he makes up for in wisdom now."I tell the younger cast: 'Be prepared,' like the Boy Scout motto. Learn your lines - and then throw them away," he says. "I use what I call the single arrow syndrome. When you're younger, you're like, 'Oh, I got the job, I'm on the phone, I gotta buy some shoes...' And then when it's time to act, you're not focused. So you miss it. Arrow two - you miss it again. Now you're on arrow six and you're starting to lose confidence."The point is to act like you only have one shot.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"If you went hunting and you were starving, and you had one arrow - do you realize how strong your concentration wou