Sylvester Stallone: 'I spent 50 years burying that stuff' | AP interview

Fifty years after Sylvester Stallone pulled off one of Hollywood’s all-time long shots with “Rocky,” the Oscar-winning star still identifies with the character who for many embodies the outsider proving all the naysayers wrong. But he no longer claims to be an underdog. "I am a lucky dog," he says. Stallone, who turned 80 in July, is among the most successful movie stars and filmmakers in history. He sat down in New York with AP entertainment journalist Hillel Italie to promote his memoir "The Steps," discussing fate, insecurity and why he was probably better off for his unhappy childhood. Subscribe @APNewsEntertainment Read more: https://apnews.com/article/sylvester-stallone-rocky-memoir-steps-7b7711ae052a292de560aedc3ddb5c92 #sylvesterstallone #stallone #rocky #rambo #iplayrocky Stallone has generated billions of dollars through such blockbuster franchises as “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “The Expendables” and portrayed some of the most memorable film characters. And he is still working, starring as mobster Dwight “The General” Manfredi in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.” By choice and otherwise, Stallone has been reliving his early years as a struggling actor-writer who somehow convinced United Artists to back his modest story of a journeyman boxer’s shot at the heavyweight championship, and even allow him to play the lead despite having little acting experience. His memoir arrives less than two months before a fictionalized and semi-authorized version of his story, Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky,” arrives in theaters, with Anthony Ippolito in the starring role. (Farrelly spoke about the film with Stallone, who was otherwise uninvolved.)