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Sylvester Stallone On Why He’s Attending The Oscars Anyway

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 02:37 PST, Feb 15, 2016

Sylvester Stallone recently spoke with the New York Times about what it has been like being an action movie hero for so many years.

It seems that Sylvester Stallone has suffered for his choice of entertainment genre, both physically and personally. His physical suffering has subjected him to two surgeries on his shoulder, four surgeries on his back, and most recently, a spinal fusion following a fracture to his neck suffered whilst filming The Expendables. And, as for the personal consequences to his various action hero personas, Sylvester Stallone confessed to the New York Times that he stopped playing basketball or golf with anyone – even his friends – after expectations of his strength and athletic capabilities were blown completely out of proportion.

In addition, Sylvester Stallone received a Razzie award in 2000 for being the “worst actor of the century,” and he admitted that by that time he found himself agreeing with even his harshest critics.

“You become synonymous with blunt force trauma you’re not really leaving anyone with thought-provoking after-shocks of your performance.”

Sylvester Stallone was nominated for an Oscar more than 40 years ago for playing the title role of the first Rocky film, but given his extensive film history since then, he has been almost embarrassingly short of awards or even nominations. Perhaps this is why Sylvester Stallone is so proud and grateful for his current Oscars nomination for his performance in Creed, which is the seventh film in the Rocky franchise.

“It’s the pinnacle of my life, professionally. It’s so miraculous.”

It was only weeks ago that Sylvester Stallone won a Golden Globe for Creed, and he says that he was so dumbfounded by his win that he didn’t notice the crowd giving him a standing ovation. What’s worse, though, is that his extreme surprise at winning the award caused him to make a huge gaffe when it came to his acceptance speech.

Not only did Sylvester Stallone forget to thank his co-star Michael B. Jordan in his acceptance speech, but he failed to even mention Ryan Coogler, the director and writer of the film. Many people were quick to take to Twitter to admonish Sylvester Stallone’s glaring omissions during his acceptance speech, including Samuel L. Jackson.

And it seems that it was Samuel L. Jackson’s comment in particular that really struck home to Sylvester Stallone. Fortunately, Sylvester Stallone was quick to clarify that it had been a terrible oversight on his part, and certainly had not been intentional.

“When Sam Jackson called me out on it, I totally agreed. Forgetting to thank the director? Believe me. That’s the last thing I would’ve done.”

Luckily for Sylvester Stallone, both injured parties immediately chose to believe him and didn’t hold a grudge. Michael B. Jordan was questioned at a Golden Globes after party about the incident, and his answer was short and to the point.

“I love the guy!”

The love and admiration between these three men was even more evident recently when Sylvester Stallone needed advice on how to handle his Oscars nomination in light of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

Fox News reports that Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are both African-American, and Sylvester Stallone was the only person from Creed to be nominated for an Oscar. Speaking at the Oscar Nominee Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton last Monday, Sylvester Stallone described how he considered boycotting the Oscars due to the controversy.

“Michael Jordan, every time I looked in his eyes as an actor, I said, he was making me better. I think he should’ve been given a lot more respect and attention.”

It was only after a conversation with Ryan Coogler that Sylvester Stallone agreed to attend the Oscars anyway.

“I remember I spoke with Ryan Coogler when this happened, and I said, ‘How do you want to handle this? Because I feel like you are responsible for me being here’.”

Coogler convince Sylvester Stallone to attend the awards ceremony anyway, confident that the situation would change in the future.

“[Coogler] goes, ‘Sly, just go there, try to represent the film, and we feel you deserve it. Eventually things will change.’ “

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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