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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Stallone less vain than he appears


There are movie stars who are so vain that they refuse to appear alongside better-looking actors, thinking it will make them look shorter, older, weaker, or uglier by comparison.

It would be an easy assumption that the 5' 7" Sylvester Stallone, he of the 'roided up torso, multiple plastic surgeries, and shaved torso, might be just such an actor.

But he is, in fact, the opposite. He consistently picks the handsomest, toughest-looking actors he can find to star against him.

His latest ventures have been The Expendables series, in which he surrounds himself with every macho, good-looking action hero of the past three decades, including Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, plus heavyweight mixed martial artists Randy Couture and the Nogueira twins. All of these men are taller, more muscular, and more imposing than Stallone. Other cast members include Jason Statham, Mel Gibson and Robert Davi.

Bravo for Stallone that he doesn't mind being surrounded by taller, younger, stronger, more athletic, better-looking men.

Of course, you could say that the entire marketing gimmick of The Expendables was its assemblage of all these older action stars in one movie.

But Stallone has always surrounded himself with bigger, younger, better-looking guys. In Rocky V he hired then unknown Dolph Lundgren to be his opponent. Stallone looked like a homely, misshapen dwarf next to Lundgren, but that didn't seem to bother him:


In the more recent Bullet to the Head, he hired the 6' 5" Jason Momoa, possibly the best-looking guy in movies today, to be his nemesis, and that didn't seem to bother him either. Below, Stallone striking his trademark obligatory pose with Momoa:


Again, bravo for Stallone.

Of course, the other interpretation might be that Stallone actually feels he holds his own looks-wise with these other actors. In which case he is the vainest man who ever lived.

8 comments:

Steven said...

You assume he is taller than 5 '7, which makes you assume Dolphin L is a giant.

Stallone is quite tough too, he spars and also takes punches during filming because it looks more realistic.

He also seems to be a very affable guy from paparazzi footage I've seen.

John Craig said...

Steven --
I think I've seen Lundgren listed at 6'5", not sure.

I wouldn't necessarily draw assumptions about anyone's personality from how they act in front of the paparazzi, on the red carpet. I think a lot of stars have a public persona which is very much at odds from their real selves. But Stallone definitely has a sense of humor, which counts for something.

Steven said...

I would have guessed Stallone was six foot.

I've seen footage of him coming out of a restaurant and getting into his car and chatting to people while the pap linger around filming him. Some celebrities and movie stars get angry at the paparazzi or even violent and they get strong commenter support for it on YouTube so he could do that without damaging his reputation I guess. He seems friendly to them and people around him. He seems pretty warm and relaxed. Or maybe he is just a really good actor.....

John Craig said...

Steven --
All that very well could be.

Anonymous said...

If Stallone was an a-hole with a short-fused temper, the steroids would surely amplify his anger and he'd be the cliche "Roid Rage" joke to the whole world.
I don't think public acting can keep that kind of personality defect hidden, especially with today's TMZ/tabloid "journalism", and every idiot with a camera phone hoping for their 15 minutes on youtube.

John Craig said...

Anon --
Good point.

Quartermain said...

OT:

This article ties in with a post you have done earlier in reference to a trolluping sociopathic whore:

http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/08/texas-story-wendy-davis/

John Craig said...

Allan --
Thanks, just read it. Yes, that's reading pretty low.

It's actually worse than that ad that Bush the Elder was lambasted for in which he said that Dukakis was indirectly responsible for a murder in Massachusetts because of his liberal parole system. (Remember Lee Atwater and Willie Horton?) Somehow I think the national media will give this ad a pass since it's being run by a Democrat.