See The First-Look Photos Of Sylvester Stallone On The ‘This Is Us’ Set: ‘He’s A Walking Acting Class’
This Is Us‘ stars may have learned a thing or two about their craft, thanks to the wisdom of one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. NBC posted the first on-set photos of Sylvester Stallone’s highly-anticipated guest spot on the hit drama series, showing the legendary action star working on scenes for the fictional Ron Howard war movie he’s starring in with Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley).
In a series of first-look photos from the upcoming episode “Déjà Vu,” Sylvester Stallone is pictured greeting Kevin on the set of Ron Howard film as well as chatting with his sister Kate (Chrissy Metz) who’s visiting the set of the big-budget WWII movie.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Justin Hartley said he is ecstatic to be working with Stallone, who guest-stars as himself on This Is Us. Sylvester Stallone, who previously worked with This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia in the movie Rocky Balboa, will play a father figure to Kevin’s character in the fictional war film.
“There is not a bigger action star in the history of film than Sylvester Stallone,” Hartley told EW. “He comes in and immediately puts you at ease, and you feel like you’re just talking to a guy.”
Hartley described the movie icon as surprisingly down to earth when he was on the This Is Us set.
“He takes Sylvester Stallone, the myth, the legend, completely out of the room, and he becomes this amazing actor and you forget that you’re working with Rocky and Rambo,” Hartley said.
“He’s gripping. He’s a walking acting class. He’s a walk-in clinic, and then he makes everyone laugh, and he very graciously thanks everyone, and he gives us a few words of wisdom, and he leaves.”
As part of Sylvester Stallone’s cameo on the show, This Is Us fans will soon learn that Stallone was the favorite movie star of Kevin’s late father, Jack (Ventimiglia) and that he would watch the Rocky and Rambo star’s movies with the Big Three when they were kids. A preview trailer for the ‘Déjà vu” episode shows Sylvester Stallone telling Kevin, “Let’s do one for your father.”
Speaking of Kevin’s father, the man who plays him had a big part in getting Stallone to agree to a cameo on This Is Us in the first place. Milo Ventimiglia recently told Jimmy Kimmel Live that This Is Us producers called upon him to help score his former Rocky Balboa co-star for the guest spot. Milo revealed that when he pitched the role to Sly he told him that while they wouldn’t share scenes together (because Jack is dead in the present day), his involvement would be “a very big part of [Jack’s] character’s storyline.”
Take a look at the promo for the “Déjà Vu” episode of This is Us below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZvEmCH3Q9M
This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
[Featured Image by Ron Batzdorff/NBC]
