Stallone Vs. Gere; or, How Sly Did Not Start the Rumor About the Gerbil in Richard’s Butt
posted by December 14 at 9:27 AM
onAin’t It Cool News has a long, morbidly fascinating interview with Sylvester Stallone, who answers a request to “share an anecdote or two about the filming of The Lords of Flatbush” with a freaky story featuring Richard Gere’s method acting, Sly’s mustard-soaked thigh, and the alleged origin of those pesky gerbil rumors:
The original part of Chico, which was played by Perry King, was originally supposed to be played by Richard Gere, but we never hit it off…One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with. Then we were rehearsing at Coney Island and it was lunchtime, so we decided to take a break, and the only place that was warm was in the backseat of a Toyota. I was eating a hotdog and he climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper. I said, “That thing is going to drip all over the place.” He said, “Don’t worry about it.” I said, “If it gets on my pants you’re gonna know about it.” He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car. The director had to make a choice: one of us had to go, one of us had to stay. Richard was given his walking papers and to this day seriously dislikes me. He even thinks I’m the individual responsible for the gerbil rumor. Not true… but that’s the rumor.
Read the whole thing here. (And thanks to Towleroad for the heads-up.)
Comments
Why won't Sylvester Stallone just retire already? Rocky, what is this 6? 7? Another Rambo? (Which is laughable). If you can't find new work and characters that suit your advanced age, it's time to go. Go! Gracefully, dwell in obscurity until you die.
Man, Sly is looking good. Mmmm.
DewSterling, If you are tired of watching the Rocky/Rambo movies, I suggest you revisit Sly's best work:
Over the Top.
I am willing to wager a large sum of money that it is the world's best arm-wrestling/truck-driving movie.
Tango & Cash
In my opinion, Sylvester's best movie is- BY FAR- Death Race 2000. Pretty much awesome.
But this is coming from someone who has only seen one Rocky and none of the Rambos...
Ooohh, and Cliffhanger- who could forget that one?
Hello??!? what about "Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot"??!?!
OMFG, Slog linking to Harry Knowles' cinema-geek fest.
That's it: this web site has just officially "jumped the shark".
Oh dear. I glanced briefly at the headline and thought it said “Stalin vs. Gore,” and feared the blog had been taken over by right wing jihadis eager to prove that An Inconvenient Truth was worse than the anything Papa Joe ever did…
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