'SLY' The Documentary (Exclusive Interview) |Ep. 102| Unwaxed Podcast

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 can you talk zxy w v u TSR q p o m NL k j i c to do c a cuz no one else can okay I'll learn it one day we have four pages of things we want to ask you I want you to ask me anything that that you thought perhaps was um maybe half explained on the documentary anything that you think people might be curious about cuz obviously you know me so well I think you're going to be very interested in the questions we ask we

Get very now yeah we are if you guys haven't already guessed by his iconic voice we wrote a little introduction for you so did you really we did okay today we have an extremely special episode for you guys not only are we bringing back a highly requested guest but this guest is also giving us an exclusive in-depth interview about his new Netflix documentary that came out on November 3rd if you haven't already guessed it sitting here with us today is none other Than our dad Sylvester Stallone studio audience and the studio audience is just Jennifer

Stallone sitting in the background is she flapping around she's flppy she is Floppy Bird right now my good luck charm this is just so surreal by the way thank you so much for doing this and coming on our show I know that sounds kind of cheesy but you know of course girl apprciate I think I find this to be quite interesting Because the documentary turned out to be somewhat of a surprise yeah because I cannot take credit for anything other than just answering the questions that the director asked right and as honestly as I could

and what was so interesting is you know you're going to do an interview and I've certainly have done a lot you sort of prepare yourself but what was so unique is that be walking down the hall and he start asking questions and there's no makeup no hair Anything you're just going to get a coffee and like what anyone would normally do you start talking and you become completely unselfconscious because you're like this you're like this as opposed to oh my God I have to sit in the chair and I have to look this way and

the questions are more formal he was very brilliant Tom his name was Tom is zimy and I gave him all the credit he did an incredible job I Mean s and I've watched it a couple times and even now we still are affected by it and we did read the headlines and it was alternatively Illuminating and evasive another called it reflective and vulnerable and I feel like a lot of times in your career with a lot of the things you put out there the reviews are very polarizing it can either go one way or the

other way so how did it feel hearing such positive reviews back on something that is very personal to you Well obviously is somewhat of a shock because it's not often I get gratifying reviews and I think it was also a little frustrating because I thought God you would think after 50 years people would know you and then I realized perhaps I really haven't shown a lot of myself in cinema of who I really am well to their point Sophia and I watched the documentary several times and to be quite honest there was a lot of

things in this documentary that we Were shocked to find out about you and I've known you for about 25 years so I thought I knew everything about you but it really did show a great insight into your brain of why you do the things you do why you wrote the lines you wrote what your feelings were in certain scenes and that's what I think people weren't understanding before and I guess kind of the big question is why now why make a documentary now people people already Know your rags to richest stories how you started where

you became so why now at your age did you feel the need I actually want to share this with people that's a good question because I didn't feel this overwhelming impulse matter of fact it was something that I I shied away from because I thought everyone does know pretty much if they don't know me by now I must have done a thousand television interviews but the I said the one thing I haven't done and a lot of actors don't is why you are the way you areh why do I gravitate towards a certain character as

opposed to that other one that would perhaps be more popular what Dark Side pulls you in and then what other side the bright side which is the rocky side so it was kind of an exploration that I didn't want to take because I sort of knew the answer and it all starts when you're very young when you're a child And and I I think I said it in the documentary that people don't realize how impressionable and vulnerable when you're young you are like I said soft clay mhm and I grew up in a really bad

household it it it was tough I I don't want to sit there and cause you know throw aspersions and this and that but it was not a household everyone was extremely unhappy with who they were right I mean and my mother and Father they certainly weren't parents no words they they said oh I can't wait to raise a happy normal family when both of them were completely discontent with who they were and you think okay is this what it's really like because girls I believe it or not I spent spent the first 4 and a

half 5 years in a boarding house mhm in Jackson Heights and for a lot of people that don't know what a boarding house is it's basically a couple of bedrooms and and run by an Older woman and it's a not a flop house but it's transient salesman coming in stewardesses people that are on the move and I'd sit at this table with adults and I'm four years old and no one talked to me and I just look around and I'm going I have no one to really relate to and then the next day they'd be

gone and it'd be another stranger and another stranger and I think it truly affected the way I interacted with people I was kind of a a Loner because of that reason well there was a very interesting point that you made in your documentary that I don't think a lot of people picked up on but I did you had said that your mom was nervous to have you she didn't want you right and I thought to myself you quite literally came into the world unwanted and your first experience of life was you felt this negative energy

I don't want this kid he you know your dad wasn't excited your mom wasn't excited Did you ever as a child feel that at any moment when you cognizant enough to understand oh wow I I actually don't feel loved feel anything it's odd because the ear s are there I I'm I'm a little hesitant but too incredibly uh repetitive because it was told to me so many times my mother would say the only reason you're here is because the hanger didn't work or bouncing down those steps didn't cause you to get Lost and she said

that you know truthfully Sylvester and believe it or not they called me Binky because there was a hairbrush called the binky brush and for some reason said Binky you know if there was really something wrong with your brain I would have definitely open up the window and put you on the window so and let you freeze because I'd be doing you a favor it you know your brain is too young to computer I almost thought she Was joking yeah of course yeah I mean what type of mother says that to their child I mean that's

actually something I've we've been questioning when we were watching the documentaries between us we all know you know the the abuse you went through with your mother but you and we definitely want to dive into your father's psyche and like the why he did the things he did to you and how it affected your you know creative process and your future but what was the Decision of leaving your mother out when she had just as much impact on your upbringing as he he did I thought it would be too much for the audience I thought

that they would say ah he's making this up or perhaps he's looking for sympathy because it was it it's you know when you're young you're kind of naive and foolish go maybe everyone's mother is like this right I never really hung out with other people so I didn't know What a happy home was I thought this is normal you know modus operandi right but as I got older I realized there was uh some critically bad behavior going on and then as I got older I realized perhaps they are just um a product of their yeah

which wasn't necessarily so but I kept thinking oh maybe they're but my mother was um h she was A she was a troubled person she was uh put into an orphanage you know and um a very cruel orphanage because her father had remarried and the new stepmother hated her MH and I think my mother was also kind of rebellious so she was put into a an orphanage that it's unlike the ones they have today it was you know you're tied to the bed you're whipped and you're she was terribly molested wow and I think her

ability to ever show love Was short circuited she literally couldn't stand to be touched or touch at all I mean not even hug so as a child though yeah touches the most important thing you can give a kid so how did her lack of touch towards you skin on skin contact affect you long term I mean did it affect the way that you view meaningful relationships or developing even friendships with people how did their lack of being available to you carry with you long term I I um well I could tell you could ask my

wife I didn't like being touched I I couldn't handle it I you know any sort of affection touch like this it was so alien that it made me incredibly uncomfortable and I've just literally come to terms with with of course your mother which I love now but she'll tell you for years right um I just thought that was normal yeah you remember just holidays alone how uncomfortable growing up it made you I mean you had to truly Relearn how to have a healthy relationship ship when Mom came into the picture and having a family because

you weren't used to you know yeah do you remember I didn't like Christmas I like board games actually in Rocky that's what I wrote one of the lines where Adrian comes out he goes what is a special day it's Thanksgiving I said to you to me it's Thursday right and that's the way that's true true well I to me what I Think a lot of people loved throughout this documentary is how many hidden messages you explained that were in your dialogue for example one of my favorite ones and I had no idea okay was when

Mickey comes to your door yeah and you did a take and then you did another take and that second take was really what you wanted to say to your dad right but you never did no why didn't you I didn't have the guts I I don't I I was afraid of them And I don't think I was articulate enough and um when I wrote the screenplay that didn't exist and then I said there's something I I got to do something to to explain the frustration of wanting to say this but you can't say it but

you can say it to a door but when the man's face is in front of you just frze up and cuz I was I was afraid of them course there was no joke there was no joke and I thought my God this is so great that I got a chance to do this in Rocky I what I couldn't do in reality that was pretty much a very a biographical moment so when all of this was going on and a lot of people I think can experience you know they've had situations with their parents where abuse

was happening growing up what kind of survival tactics did you do to kind of you know survive the day I feel like when you're alone survival yeah I didn't it wasn't as though I had okay here's plan a plan B I was so caught up in Unreality non-reality fiction I I never went to school and I would always uh kind of identify with cartoon figures mythical Superman Batman this man you name it it got to the point that I actually would sometimes make these horrible costumes out of a Barber's cape and pair of bathing suit

and go to school Under the clo I would be I'd feel like I'm the real character they don't know that oh yeah I know all right until I got busted and Then it was pretty embarrassing like oh we have a special guest here today oh super boy would you like to step up and I take off my shirt and my bony legs and oh my God would you like to fly around the room for us I go then they back then they had a thing called the dunce cap oh gosh oh yeah it actually existed

I know we SE in cartoons I you know you have the D oh yeah as super boy oh no my God but that that completely makes sense for your childhood to be doing things like That you're you're longing so hard for an idol or a role model or someone to look up to so but you wanted to be that so you oh my God because I'm sorry my nose is running um what I wanted to do is just find something that would make me heroic for some reason I always wanted to Garner some sympathy or

something and and because I wasn't getting it at home and I then I became sort of a thief right because I would whatever I could find for example in my Father's pocket to be like five or six bucks believe it or not it was kind of dangerous I would take the money let it be five ones or quarters or whatever and go to school and give it to people like you want to be my friend stop that sounds like something s us to do growing up what pay for friendship well used to give people goldfish

didn't pay people for friend she used to give people goldfish friendship for sale friend well it seems it seems like a lot of the Things that went it from your parents abuse than the way that they treated you growing up well it garnered a lot of attention and seeking that and then also do you think a lot of the deep wounds that you got from them created this creative obsessionist that you developed now like you were always looking at Movies always writing always trying to be the hero you know as an escapism oh for sure

there was a I spent hours that sounds so sick but there was a really Cheap in my mother's bedroom three-way kind of mirror you know you get it in you can see all sides and if you get in there you see like 2500 figures in so MH I would spend hours in that thing because you're moving around go look how many friends I have and look at like and you constantly entertain yourself for hours as opposed to playing sports or this and that yeah and it and it now I look at it that's that wasn't

a very healthy thing but Truthfully I also look at it as this is a preface it or a a prelog to where I was going to go I felt so comfortable in this kind of fake World imitating s s and this and that that that was my reality and stepping outside that mirror it was D I don't I don't feel comfortable at all cuz I didn't hang out with people I didn't play sports really I didn't uh I was a troublemaker I got into a lot of altercations because I was so odd but I I

never had a like a team let's go play baseball and whatever and no never but that mirror in that area that kind of fantasy world provided unlimited entertainment for me and escapism well that makes sense because you're not getting attention from anywhere else makes sense I think it's crazy no but understanding how you grew up and what you went through you just wanted entertainment you wanted attention and so who was going to give it to you no One you make it for yourself and I that makes sense to why you got kicked out of 14

Schools while you getting fight don't get carried away so sorry you guys 13 my mistake or while into fights with people because it really was just this longing for attention and that definitely showed throughout the documentary when you were explaining how you know you wanted attention from the public so you'd go to the theaters you look up at the screen and all these people are watching that One guy and you wanted to be that guy I don't know if I was that early on though I knew that growing to films I was looking for definitely

a male role model right yeah 100% and those role models were never really what I call good actors they would be not even Cowboys it would be always mythical figures Hercules the seventh Voyage of sined Jason in the organized you know what I mean fantasy dealing with creatures so mythology has been my go-to fantasy my Whole life matter of fact I I believe that my entire career is based on that mhm was Rambo was mythological so Rambo is kind of like what what a kind of weird hero but he he he was almost a superhero

in times because how could he survive these battles he has no skill he's a terrible fighter he's this and that but there was just something that propelled him and that's my fantasy like people always Rising above their abilities right well that's actually Funny cuz sine and I we equally agreed on this and we said you said that we we were like there's this type of and this is not a take to take offense to it but you had this delusion that you were going to be that hero you are that hero or you watched those

guys as as they were like the who was it Chris Reeves that Steve re Steve Reeves that you saw as the iconic throws the breaks the chains gets out is the hero everything but the delusion was so strong that you Came from nothing you had no support no money no education but yet you still said there will be nothing that will stand in my way of being that guy on the screen being the star how did you even continue that delusion because you know eventually some people are saying well that's a dream it's going to

die it's not going to be because we're talking about the fact that you went to New York and you you know were knocking on every single door people were rejecting you You would try to go on stage and maybe you get a role in something but bar anything you would create all these films but you you would keep writing and and you would just get no no no no but a lot of people most people end it there but you didn't no then what was it that's a very that's that's real conundrum because I didn't

I just thought it was impossible for me to do anything that would be just Considered regular normal I just didn't think I had the brain for it or the discipline oh and I and I had such a kind of fixation on doing something heroic or special like I thought oh I want to be a great coach I got to be I never played a sport in my life so it's like that and then I thought oh I'm I'd like to be a great horse trainer I didn't have any horses but I always looked I so

I cannot do anything normal and it bothered me it Really bothered me I I would be so add and so consumed with daydreaming okay and I mean bad daydreaming L where I would be sitting there and in the class and I don't know I don't remember I went to three and a half years of college I don't remember one day well neither do I no I'm serious I I went to the ring theater and tried to do some acting and they go you really don't have it but why don't you learn to work backstage like

moving furniture and I did it was it but I I'll tell you girls I found those those important rejections and failures to be the best thing that ever happened because it forces you to either quit or say you know maybe they're right I want to try another Direction maybe I'm not that good an actor and perhaps I wasn't but I want to be in the business who I'll try to write yeah right and I was terrible terrible right I don't think I ever passed an English course in my life ever Ever but I kind of

had a feeling of what people would like in stories which is like hope right happiness overcoming it's kind of a a mythological thing it's like the hero comes through and right and I thought that I can relate to as opposed to Too Much realism I hated realism I hated because the reality is realism is said yeah I I want to get in I really want to get into your writing but what we're talking about right now there's a big Trend going Around and it's sounding like you originated this trend it's called what is it main

character of your life basically this is going around with our generation and people are saying you want to be the main character of your life so everything you do you do with confidence you do it nothing can stop you no one's going to stand in your way and you basically were the OG of owning your own destiny and and believing it and I think you know your goal and where You ended up is incredible story but for the average person being a Hollywood star is somewhat unobtainable so what advice would you give to that person

that doesn't feel like they can do it isn't confident enough to finish it or just something to help them not quit um I don't I I couldn't believe I said why would I this person who doesn't know me is telling me I'm a failure right yeah who's he right this person doesn't know me you've met Me for five minutes you know what you're not right for this part and it triggered something that what makes you know me better than I know myself I and that kind of rejection mhm it you have it's fight or flight

girls you either say you're a liar or I'm a liar and I'm going to prove perhaps you're lying but the truth was I wasn't right they were right at times but I never quite gave into it the whole time or if I failed I'll tell you I remember I went Out for this part uh it was the only play that Picasso wrote called desire caught by the tail it was very bizarre it was all all his char characters and the part that I was supposed to play was the halfman half B so you were supposed

to be a big muscular guy right okay the guy they hired was this big muscular guy I mean he was perfect twice my size and I said to the director I think I can do this differently than him yeah he goes We need a big muscular guy I said I I'm going to pretend I'm a big muscular guy I'm going to act oh my gosh I got the part what I got the part because ins it there was a certain ferocity yeah and that came from my father is that that I was just about to

ask this question I finally understood wow I've got something going on in there that I don't have a lot of control over but I know it's different and that's what I was going to ask I was going to say was this Inherited or was this learned and I feel like a lot of this actions that you've made in the beginning was learned but it was also inherited he this rage in him and that he he didn't want to get rejected I mean his whole life he was and so he said I'm not going to take

this anymore from not my father from anybody at this point but then it also was learned I mean you you have to have this type of you know mentality to constantly tell yourself that I'm going To be able to do it I'm going to make it I'm going to make it so I was going to ask you if you thought it was inherited or learned but it seems like it's pretty much both for you it is both yeah I think you you have personality then you have character personality is what you you know you copy

your father you copy your mother she speaks a certain way oh you have the same accent that's personality right character is like looking into a a play pen of 10 dogs Each one is different it's the same litter right but there's 10 different personalities and that's called character and I'm telling you I never I never doubted for a second that I didn't fit in in other words I knew I was different not counted or whatever but I said I'm I was always I don't know if I ever told you but I was shot once in

the arm huh yeah I was shot once it was weird I went to a mom mom did you know he was shot she said no hold on this is Breaking news on the unwax podcast small little scar there what no her eyes are wide what is going on well I don't tell you everything honey I mean it's only 36 years we got I got to keep some Secrets now so what happened is I went to a church dance I didn't know anyone there okay but I just saw a dance and I went in and this

is the Story of My Life in a nutshell for some reason there's a group of guys over there tough looking guys I'm alone I don't know anyone in this Dance maybe there's 500 people of all the 500 people they zero in on me no of course guy walks over to me a big a dying guy you're like hey get out of here and we're going to smack you in the face qu I'm looking around I didn't do anything he hits me hard and I went whoa and I'm telling you I went around I'm looking around

for help there's no one there and I put my tail between my legs like a abject coward and I started walking away and I was probably three or Four blocks away going past this parking lot and I stopped I said I can't I I can't live with is I I cannot live the rest of my life knowing that some stranger came up and hit me hard for nothing so you got to do something and what go back in go back in so I turned around oh go I go back in into the church there's the

dance the music is going I see this guy he's standing was like he's laugh mocking like oh yeah I Smacked this guy I hope you smacked him I hope you did I turn around bang I crack him oh he go oh shoot but he was so big it barely hurt him and he comes roaring at me so a priest gets in the way he hits the priest what oh yeah and then they all start chasing after me and I'm jumping over fences they're jumping over fences they were from actually from Rocky's neighborhood it was called

kening Full Circle Moment full circle they were badasses go so I finally made It to my house yeah and they knew where I lived and they were waiting and waiting they we called the cops cops said well they're not doing they're every time we come they drive away and then one night I slipped out and they followed me and I went going to this bowling alley and I started running and pow and I they shot me through the tricep oh my gosh how old were you 16 and I and I kept going and going and

going and finally after the shot yeah Then the police came and then I said it's these maniacs and of course they were gone but they never came back because they were scared away but can you imagine so I I real I always had these moments where for some reason I was the guy that got into trouble you know that guy it just non-stop in school yeah he's the Troublemaker he's that so you know you sort of stand out that was the moment a way did you ever get annoyed That maybe because of your childhood upbringing

now you have this rage you sort of became a street Thug guy and then you started getting cast as only that role did that ever bother you yeah it it did because I saw myself as a funnier person kind humorous I do jokes I wasn't super social I mean I I lived in New York for 4 years and never left my room I never went to a bar a restaurant a dance New Year's Eve was that anxiety or was that just no I just Never felt compelled to do it I don't know why I would

write and I would sit there and watch I this black and white TV but I just didn't feel like I fit in like what do I walk into a bar with a bunch of strangers I know what's going to happen right cuz it happened again later on it's another story oh my God in the 70s it was a bad one of course but you know what I mean so yeah I um um I want to talk about Lords of Flatbush because why because that is Your ultimate cool ass role honestly I thought you were so

cool and seeing you back then all baby face and a leather jacket I feel like I can now put a picture to all of the stories that you've been telling us over the years yeah but what I found was so interesting about the documentar is that was your first introduction into writing anything when you began to rewrite your lines and rewrite them better right do you think that if you had never spoken up in that Moment and said to the director hey I'm going to improvise I'm going to rewrite my lines there ever would be

a rocky because you wouldn't have know because honestly what if what if you said nothing and then you wouldn't have had that confidence to go write a script I think it was that confidence you're absolutely right no seriously that because um it was a very it was an okay play yeah but my character was just kind of like a dumbbell right and I thought He's got to have some sensitivity on the outside and that's what the way I was portrayed in real life I'm not really that way I look it but I also have a

very sensitive side and I thought if I have this girlfriend and she needs to be married and I don't want to get married and then she gets impregnant and I buy her ring the audience is going to say yeah he is a bum and a thug but kind is's he's really nice to the girl there was something there and I've always Believed that then I realized at that point that was my goal in life and if I had never done that to play those kind of characters I know I was never going to be like

the huge Jackman or this I'm never going to play the the boyfriend the lover the I'm always that guy I remember Woody Allen goes through a Crowd Goes God who it looks like he looks like a thug and I was picked out of like a hundred people to chase Woody down and beat him up same thing with Jack Lemon I was always the guy no matter how much I tried so when I wrote Rocky I want to write don't judge a book by her cover leather hat gloves whatever but inside he's like a sof Fe

but he didn't start out that way and that was so interesting is when you mentioned in the the documentary how someone read it and they CED cuz they said Rocky is a thug and that's how you viewed yourself because if Rocky is you you thought you were the thug you thought that that's What people saw you as and then the moment that someone caught it and said Hey where's the heart that's when Rocky was born truly okay I'll tell you what happened is the typist said I hate it crying he's such a bully he's this

and that and I don't care what people say you are the product of what come what came before you in other words influences this podcast oh there was the person who did that I like to borrow a little from that then went so you're Always taking things like Picassa said you find your own style no one's born with like oh this genius style they are the product of many influences yeah good or bad so this so with the rocky character I went God you know I'm you know what I was copying dairo in Mean Streets

who was very mean okay it was kind of soulless tough guy well it was probably that was his character see what I mean right and I went why don't I just that's really not me I was trying to be Overly New Yorker actory right yeah I want to be this guy and I I mean I had I was so nuts I wanted Rocky to look like all beat up I actually glued my nose D on my life I went out and bought coloss bag glue you know what colomy bag is no stop well stop why

would we know that okay well some people have trouble pooping because they haven't intestinal problems that's great and they put a bag here oh and They I know I didn't know what that was called okay very powerful glue so I glued my nose cuz it's crooked anyway it's been broken something like this and I look so I audition like this and you're wondering why they were like this is not going to work I look like such a Monster killer take the glue off and perhaps maybe be a little nice you have a dog goldfish but

no I was like hey I look terrifying oh gosh my no straight here You go that's crazy oh I never told you that yeah no I never knew that no no one I'm sorry I told everyone and you're full of M colos face right right right one of the things I really loved um about the documentary and it's something Sophia and I can heavily relate to Growing Up is your tape recorder and you recorded everything and as Sophia had mentioned before forth when you were describing Rocky as you were listening back to your digital diary

we'll call it You weren't able to admit that it is a love story because maybe at the time you didn't understand or couldn't grasp what what love was no I didn't was there ever a moment when you were filming Rocky one with Adrien and at that point when you're in that scene you're not Sly you're Rocky and she's truly Adrian do you think that was maybe your first experience of love the show today is sponsored by better help I have recently been on my own therapy Journey and I cannot express how much it has changed

my life especially with the holidays coming up it's the end of the year lots of family gatherings it can be a really overwhelming time yeah and I've been in therapy and I totally understand where C's coming from I'm really proud of her for sharing this and I think it's important to know that you know it's okay to ask for help and so that is why we are so excited to be working with betterhelp because better help is a Super convenient fast affordable way all online to find a therapist so you take a test and then

they pair you up with a licensed therapist and the best part is is if you're not compatible with your therapist free of charge they can switch you up and find one that's more suited for you so if you want in on this amazing deal we are giving you guys visit betterhelp.com unwaxed for 10% off your first month that is better Hp.com unwaxed for 10% off find the brightness in your holiday season ho ho ho I I can't honestly say that I ever went into it as a love story okay I thought he loved this woman

but I still saw it as kind of like a fight film a boxer tough guy masculine movie that's what I was making and then this thing happened right which is after it came out I went oh my God you fool that's what made this is her right not the boxing the love yeah and that's Actually what I was going to ask was like who reation yeah like who was she to you because if you didn't if you didn't have any love you created a love story unintentionally what was Adrien like representing in your life she

was just what she represented to me was another Outcast mhm she was an outcast I an outcast I related to her originally I wrote it with not Adrien in mind it was a different tougher person much harder Individual right almost like a female me and all those actresses bailed out like met Sher and B Midler Sher was supposed to be in Rocky number one choice really yeah and then P Midler had done the rose and she was like I thought this' be kind of interesting she could be Street and tough and they turn me down

too which I don't blame them I was nobody and finally then suan Randon turn it down MH a lot but she I think she was like too attractive to play the part back then And then in walks Talia Shire and the ceiling almost fell on my head what what was I thinking mhm this is a combination of everything right and that's what what are you looking at me like that for no you know what that's really interesting that you just said that because you're the type of person where your instinct is so good and spoton

whenever we do anything artistic or creative that you just know so what you just said about when she walked into the room and the Ceiling almost fell down yeah that's literally how you described mom when she walked into the room for the first time when you just know say the Earth shakes she ran out of here she's too nervous it's true no but that's what it is you just but your your gut is so accurate which is crazy because because I sometimes trust my gut I'm saying well fooled me again that's not correct because you

haven't hit the you haven't hit the bullseye yet when you hit the Bullseye your body is just going to shake and it it's l it's it's hard to describe it almost takes your breath away this person is so unique I didn't even ask her to audition not that I deserve to ask anybody to audition because she was just perfect right I said I can't do any better and luckily it was all the cast was just perfect I just find it crazy I just thought about this how you wrote it in 3 days I just it's

so shocking to me that something's So massive was WR it's not that hard because how do you not think it's hard because I'm not a perfectionist a lot of it was sloppy and useless but I knew I would get it the second third fourth fifth 10th time around I think the most important thing in anything we do not just writing anybody is just get to the end zone I don't care how and then you can fix it second time around so I knew writing as I'm going just get to the ending get to the final

scene get to the Point where you say I love you I love you and the scene is over done movie then you can start to fix it but I find the majority of people myself included that you're looking for procrastination you're looking for distraction and it takes 10 months to write a screen plate a year sometimes you never finish and I've been that that person too so I tell people I don't care how bad it is right 10 pages are garbage but it's 10 pages you actually sat down And a Cy what would you tell

someone that is really just lagging and they're taking a while and they're procrastinating cuz you were the type of person that went to to the extreme and blocked out his windows and didn't leave for 3 days in a row now how do you find that almost fire in your belly to not stop and get it done you really want to know yes I would call it kind of like Um miror psychoanalysis mirror psychoanalysis I'm going to sound like such a maniac here we can cut it if you don't like it no I I would find

myself just sitting there procrastinating and then I would get up in the mirror and I'd look at myself I said you know what you are you're a lazy piece of [ __ ] you're [ __ ] useless I hate your guts you'd rather sit there and do nothing you know why cuz you're a [ __ ] coward and I would tear like I'm Literally fighting myself challenging humiliating myself interesting I say sit down I'm going to slap you so hard crush your face you goddamn coward and it it became it's like me and my father

talking I was to and I would intimidate myself I say sit down I don't feel like it I'll break every bone in your face go and sit on that goddamn chair and do what you could do I don't give it [ __ ] if it's bad get on the table wow and I mean I was really violent yeah I'm not Joking and this kind of weird analysis of just intimidation yeah it's kind of sometimes when you see a coach go berserk on a player because he knows that player has it in him but he's just

not digging deep enough and he humiliates his guy and then he breaks him and I'm sorry just it's funny that's what I would do you know no it's funny because in our generation a lot of people go into the daily affirmations I'm I'm I'm a victim To that but where you talk to yourself positively and you say all the good things and it's funny because honestly it's so true because sometimes when you get told be gentle on your no you can't be gentle you got to I'm telling you I'm a product of intimidation I felt

in my whole I know what intimidation is and I know what it can do yeah right it'll get you off your ass trust me you don't want to hurt yourself you don't want to be hurt and then you actually are so Embarrassed that you're not performing I'm let me put it this way I shame myself into performing interesting but it gets harder when you get older because now you start getting successful you don't feel like beating yourself so but I still do it at times I still today oh yeah like if I'm doing a scene

and before Tulsa king or whatever and I have to really get it up I I mean I get in there and I just rip myself to pieces And I'm when I come out that that set i'm I look calm but I'm I'm bloating inside when you are having that conversation with yourself in the mirror yeah do you hear your voice speaking to you or your dad's voice uh oh welcome to therapy it's not me it's not you well okay let's let's fast forward a little bit because we're on this I shouldn't say it it's my

adult me is I I can't give total owness or blame someone else because I've heard that I'm going to blame him sorry well he put He put the rage in you so it's not like that's a surprising thing for you to say it's him but I have mixed feelings about that too okay I mean we had some I used to say to him I wish we were the same age for 5 minutes he go why he's probably 65 I said I just would like to pound your head through a wall like you did me he

goes my wait do it I'm right here God He's so manipulative he no but he was so tough then I started laughing like God damn that didn't work he just really could not be intimidated no he he's he's Stone this guy is Stone so he's the real deal Rocky's a success you're at the top of the mountain it's fantastic Rambo comes into the picture and I always looked at it like Rocky was your emotional Rocky is one of the saddest days in my life why when he came out because Here we go I should put

this in some book someday I was here a year before I was destitute I had nothing I was broke and it came out and a miracle happened and I'm with some of the best films in Hollywood I'm like God I'm in the same category as best picture and these guys are great writers and great scor just great people and they gave me a front row seat and I invited my mother and she goes I'm like you want me To go with you I go I'm up for an Oscar yesterday I I was a bum a

year ago he goes all right but you have to invite Vivian I go who's Vivian she go my hairdresser I don't have a seat for your hairdresser it's you and me front row the ask go my gosh if you don't invite Vivian I'm not coming I go you haven't seen Vivian in 10 years she lives in Washington DC he says I want to see Vivian with me and then I'll Go well she didn't go so us went alone M I think I invited my brother or another guy but yeah that was so I have when

people go ah you must have loved the Oscars they go not so not really there ever one time and I'm not even going to say rocky in your entirety of your acting career that they ever acknowledged how proud they were of you no not once you mean them yeah no but didn't that kill you cuz I Think as Sophia and I are going through this right now where we feel our responsibility as your daughter yeah is to make our parents proud and that one day when they're all gone they'll leave this earth knowing that they

raised incredible kids that did something well and something that you can look back on and be happy about and now you are quite literally flipping what your world was coming into it and making something Incredible didn't that kill you for them to not acknowledge this is a one in a billion you are what you're doing right now I I yeah that that was evident to me but the difference is girls you were raised so much differently such a loving mother my skin was like scar tissue and other words after a while it it rolls off

your back you know now what did I expect you know it's you I knew that was coming you know what I mean you become Imperious immune to it you expected it it would be shocking if she said she said proud absolutely I know it's just the opposite so you get to the top I was going to ask you what your moment that you recall that you knew your life was going to change completely I don't know if there was like a specific moment but we can go past that but you get to the top and

now almost now you're trying to find the validation or whatever it is through the Critics through the reviews through the audience and you see that the mountain cuz you said some sort of of um you said some sort of I don't know what it was but analogy about the mountain being high but it sucks up there or the air is Lonely at the Top so how was that pressure you know when you get to the top you're doing all these films you do Rocky you do Rambo and you're at the top and now they're expecting

more more more and then you get fist turns into junk And stop where my mom will shoot and all of these other films that kind of Oscar that were kind of flops how did you you know maneuver that because now you have things to lose you know it's a different type of scenario than it was before uh I think a lot of it I maybe brought it on myself I didn't think about the project enough or perhaps I was a bit beligerant and I think I overcorrected when Rocky hit it was like See I knew

I told you I told you I told you I proved it is that kind of a thing yeah which turned a lot of people off and I get that but it never I I don't it never brought me like real happiness like yeah right I I didn't actually to this day I it's very hard to Revel in success I swear to you if a if a movie like oh yeah first blood came out it's a big hit appreciate it and never think about It again yeah I I know I just it's like uh are you

obsessed with continuing to push the Box do more bigger cast bigger explosion more surgery more pain More Money More reviews more audience like was was that ever happening because you know it yeah it is it is but it's in a different um format for example you say more injuries during the filming of this thing you know we're talking about back injuries I had five during the filming I had two more so I Have seven from literally just in the making of Sly but truthfully I I I don't seek out any more Grandeur self grandis what

I really want to do is be I guess a mentor I I would love to have a production company where I can bring in young mes or other people that that were perhaps slighted and say you know your story is foolish and go it's not foolish maybe you need to do this and maybe and I can use all This hard com by knowledge yeah to build something and I could say oh carry on thank you very much I mean I seek that for you girls I I I seek it for all young artists I I

don't have anything to prove really you know I think think I do I mean there's some but vacancies in there but I want to do something that's not say oh about me I said here's what I've learned and I I want you to take it yeah and use it I can help you with this I can guide I could be there I say it Parental right I I have to say that's really refreshing to hear it's true because I know and I believe you I swear to you I I believe everything you're saying there was

um there was a time I want to say in about 2003 and up up until before this you are the biggest celebrity in the world everyone knows your name you have millions of fans worldwide stop okay no I'm not going to blow smoke up your butt anymore but you were what and you have it all you marry Mom yeah you have three daughters you have a home you have it influx of love that is coming at you from every angle and there was a period around I want to say 20 2003 or 4 where you

didn't work and you couldn't book a job I think maybe around eight 7 8 years nothing and what I found so interesting about your documentary is the amount of parallels and this particular parallel is one that the audience doesn't know because we lived it with you so this is private Knowledge but it's not bad it's I thought it was fascinating Jennifer no listen I thought it was fascinating because it made me understand why you did what you did MH so for those 8 years when we were growing up and you weren't working that killed you

yeah and what you did was you'd go into the movie theater lock yourself in there MH for 10 12 maybe more hours a day and just watch film and when you explained in the beginning of your documentary how when You were lost you didn't know who you were you wanted something or someone to look for some guidance you'd go to the the movie theater and you'd stay there all day right and I just thought that was such an interesting comparison I said maybe you were doing the same thing you reverted back to the way you

were when you were a child looking for an answer yeah I guess you go back we're half you so no may you go back to that womb that's what I'm saying I think you Were subconsciously trying to find yourself again it's the only Solace I could find I felt so useless really useless you know you've been to the top and wow that was a rough time so I can I you in one way people say I'm glad it happened no I'm not glad it happen but it made me a much better performer right and and

much more sensitive because I realized this is what life is this is what people they don't have this You know happy Hollywood ending right and it kills me because that's why I like up endings because life usually doesn't end that way so why do you have to go out and spend money and see it and feel bad because I feel bad enough walking in here I don't need you to make it worse that's my simple philosophy it doesn't exactly go along with true art but I never said I was going to make true art yeah

and it's ironic that with that period of not working and being in The you know the movie theater for so many hours you came back by writing Rocky baloa right which was basically the thing that started you in the first place so you went back to the first thing that you got you to the top and when you're at the bottom again you brought Rocky back into the picture and you said it was your most proud work by far because uh nobody wanted to do it I I felt so worthless and I was so embarrassed

to be Your father tell you the truth because you didn't even know what I did basically for a living we saw your Spy Kids Toy Maker what does my father do for a living just wanders around looking depressed and I realized you you people that you thought were your friends and not your friends when the good times go away that's when you find out your family is so important cuz I'm telling you the ship sailed on me it was pretty bad it was pretty bad but I took all That in and I thought you know

if this is if I'm done and I thought I was it was definitely done phone wasn't ringing it was done and I was so embarrassed because people did not understand Rocky 5 Rocky five was about one of the more real situations that you're so desperate to not be a failure for your family that Rocky basically gave up his family because he wanted to get Glory again even if it was through another man that he for you know His son he gave up wife he was this and that and I wasn't I was not smart enough

to realize that's not what people wanted to see because that's what happens right you know that's a little too real right and I said if I can just go back and do one more because I never thought I'd ever do another movie again but in my fantasy I want to do Rocky B Bo which is about loss about grief which is is the hardest thing in the world to live with girls I swear to you oh [ __ ] it it's It's hard I think anyway yeah I don't know why all of a sudden get

traumatic like that you know some [ __ ] just comes up and you I said how can I write a story that I portray that kind of sad you know what I mean and but in the end it's you purge yourself of it and that's what Rocky Balo is about he loses his wife he loses everything and people have they you know they they that's what they experience but in the end he purges Himself with what he says I want to get rid of this old pain and put in some new pain I don't want

that those memories anymore and it worked it really worked well and uh that's my proudest moment because nobody wanted to do it and they actually said you're done Ro's done I'm going these are people that represented me that were like I paid lots of money to and I went wow you really are yeah on your own and I want your girls to know That your best friend has got to be you I'm serious it's great to have best friends and parents or whatever but you then I got and I did that thing I told you

about in the mirror and I sh you come back you fight you get off your knees you stop feeling sorry for yourself and you write the best words you've ever written and I think it is by far Rocky one I think has the element of surprise but Rocky 6 is the best I I I I can't do any better as I could yeah and I thought and then it was kind of like oh that's just another rock God she guys no I mean I think the way that you wrote it maybe they did didn't see

it the same because no they didn't that's that's how you express your emotions is through storytelling is through writing I mean you wanted to address something to Mom you wrote her a love letter like everything you did was not conventional but it was through a story right but I also feel like there was something I Wrote down and I really wanted to ask you this question because I've seen a lot of the documentary what you've mentioned a few times was the word regret a lot of times in the first first scene of your documentary you

basically mention how you know regrets even when you were broke people you know offered you money you almost took it but you didn't want to regret not having that opportunity I mean when you were not Working for 8 years you didn't want to regret not putting in the effort to create this new is regret the driving force without a doubt it's fear cuz regret breeds fear or it's like oh my God I I if I don't do this I'm going to regret for the rest of my life and I'm so afraid of that feeling because

I know what it's like cuz you can't fix it you can't fix yes today you can only fix tomorrow and so it's one of my that and Redemption I would say sadly Redemption Is it comes along very infrequently yeah you have forms of redemption you're but it's never you're never whole it's like I wish I had listened to my elders cuz your parents my parents but some parents would give you all the keys to life like we would tell you don't do that right and you go H it's different Our Generation and it's like and

I truly believe that's Nature's Way of you learning unfortunately you have to learn your way you can't take my experience Yeah and live through it right it's a different experience a different year different time different music but we want for our kids go don't stick your hand in the fire it's going to burn goes oh come on dad ouch God he was right right well you can take that and magnify it a thousand times and that's regret that you didn't pay attention yeah do you think you were able to purge a lot of that regret

when you finished Rock E6 or do you think you still hold on to A lot of the trauma and it it comes and goes it it comes and waves you know you think everything is fine that's why uh you never really purge yourself of memories you can sort of you know play music loud and be surrounded by hundreds of friends but then the music goes and you're living in a quiet room and you have that but you just got to go that's part of life regrets sadness discipline depression it's all part of life they didn't

give You a handbook they should have told you if I told you at 10 years old you're G going to be miserable someday you're going to be like God damn and then you're going to be so happy you won't even know why right wake up in the morning some sometimes you wake up in the morning you had a nice sleep and you're in a bad mood yeah why right it's I'm telling you it's so complex this thing yeah yeah that you can only sort of play games with it and and and manage It go okay

I'm never going to be happy all the time deal with it right I'm going to be jealous I'm going to be envious it happens I always thought it so interesting when you see the dead seven deadly sins or the Ten Commandments like don't do this and don't do that it's because our natural instinct is to do those things right yeah it's like it's that's why they even the wise men wrote it back then we have this propensity to Do not such healthy things yeah yeah and you go but that's the that's the character of the

brain that's why it's so great to have a dog or whatever CU they don't have those thoughts right truly they're not that complex right where did that conversation go well I want to sort of tying into that you always taught us growing up you always said time is our greatest currency y it is it is and um that's something I think Sophia and I live by tremendously just Because of course cuz that's that's the essence of survival if you blow your currency can't get it back it isn't like oh I could take a loan do

I get an extra 10 years no well I'm going to follow that with a very loaded question that's going to be extremely difficult to answer okay okay if if possible looking back on your entire career as a whole where do you think you wasted the most time where does that regret lie um That's not complicated oh when I started to re to rely upon other people's works or suggestions from certain advisors this is good for your career this is that try this and try that and you're trusting their instincts and that's where you make your

mistakes because if if you don't feel it like like I told you like you know when I saw your mother or something was like boom if you don't have it committed say I love this this I would do this for Free and and I recommend every actor to do this and every artist please learn every aspect of your business first of all the business of business uh be a hyp in it learn to direct try to learn to produce if you don't even do it learn how to do it because if you're just just a

solitary performer then you're always going to be at someone's behest they'll tell you what to do yeah back call oh I got something For you it or otherwise you just sit there and you wait like like this yeah please and and I found that to be the the most important lesson is trying to learn every aspect of this business don't be so complacent think oh I'm just going to be a one thing fer piano player I want to be a 10 finger piano player yeah it makes you stronger and it makes you also more of

a weapon and I know that cinee and I we've definitely learned that coming through the business That we from you guys from you and Mom that knowing all angles knowing every single Corner F too it's interesting but that also holds true for Life yeah yeah I there was a poem written and I think this it really sums up my life by Robert Frost it goes we all dance around in a ring and suppose but only the answer sits in the middle of nose you're never going to get to it you're going to go what is

life Dancing around I suppose I think you think you have a philos you have a philos everyone has a different thing but no one has what is life because there's 8 billion people there's 8 billion different interpretations of what life is MHM right I mean am I depressing no no I just I have I have one final question and again no and I'm so sorry I think honestly this interviewer is terrible no no it's the opposite I was going to say I wish we had three more hours to keep going well no and I have

to say no but I have to say which which and this is something that I think people were the most shocked by watching this documentary cuz I know cinee got this from people I got this from people is the fact that speaking of trying on hats and knowing every single angle of your industry is that you did it all you've written you've you've directed you acted they people really didn't understand That you were a part of every single you know angle of your work you didn't just give it to someone you created it and you

are the Creator it is it's remarkable and it's rare and I think that that was something that we were so proud to hear from people was that they were crying cuz they didn't realize you're you just very unexpected they wer they weren't expecting you to be so smart and so wise and so going off of what you just mentioned About lessons you're learning in life to wrap up this incredible interview what's one lesson that you can leave your daughters today oh my God just A Life Lesson from all your years of learning I don't know

it's like the lesson lies in learning and then by teaching people what you know you also be taught because they'll tell you things so the lesson lies in learning and by teaching you'll Be taught I know that's very ambiguous but it's that's what it's all about not thinking you know everything cuz how boring would that life be you don't be the smartest person saying that he who said says he knows right mhm doesn't doesn't know and he who says he doesn't know knows that's so important I think I know everything and I realize you know

nothing you know back to the drawing boy that's why you know you see me always looking for it like odd useless facts But I find it fascinating yeah that I don't know all these things don't lose your curiosity yeah yeah Dad I said never lose your curiosity said the cat you truly are curious the cat we we love you this is this totally exceeded our expectations are you serious we're so but also we're so proud of you this documentary is beautiful is there anything else you want us to ask you before we wrap up is

there anything that in the documentary that was missing that You want to discuss is there because we can still we can do another five minutes if there's something you want to specifically be asked and we can add it in I I just um I felt in the documentary the pillows poking up oh the pillow move your pillow a little bit that way yeah perfect it's fine how's that is that okay it's better no it's it's all right so yeah is there anything that specifically you want um us to ask you And we can input it

I I wanted I I didn't know all the things I thought I knew about myself so watching the documentary I think people have got to realize that they're not alone that life is incredibly complex and a terrible mystery it's the thing that can take you The highest like love love is the only emotion that can take you to the highest Pinnacles and drop you to Hell the only emotion mhm in in the world and I found that the more love you try to give to other people and stop being so hellbent on persecuting yourself and

feeling Loveless it just makes you feel God lighter better so I want you all to kiss yourself tonight and be gentle on That sweet pillow oh thank oh go we definitely will but I hope you know you are so loved I would die for you girls we would die for you and thank thank you thank you for coming on our show today this is an incredible opportunity and we were're not Beyond we we wrote four how many pages four five six pages of s I got the exclusive from slly what okay well thank you guys

for tuning in we will see you next Tuesday and check out Sly his Documentary on Netflix oh thank you girls I love you so much and you too my be bye bye guys