Artists/Creatives

Published on March 28th, 2011 | by Yellow Magpie

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Sylvester Stallone: A Talented Writer Who Was Lost On The Screen

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During the 70’s one  his creations caused a storm. He is noted for his tough-guy roles. For characters, that are mono-syllabic, emotionally suppressed macho-men. But his true talent took place before a camera was ever switched on.

Sylvester Stallone may be famous for his action-hero image  but it is his writing ability that alludes to his true talent. 

The cinema industry, and in particular Hollywood, is turbulent and unpredictable. For a career, film-making is the most chaotic choice imaginable. Stars come and go almost as quickly as they emerge. In this eternally unstable industry even the best blends of hard-work and talent don’t always reap their rewards. Failure is high and many talented people slip through the cracks into unemployment and anonymity.

The Poverty-Trapped Allure Of Hollywood

Sylvester Stallone could have been one of these people. As an actor  who yearned for regular work and stardom in his 20’s, Stallone often found himself penniless and living below the breadline.In 1970 his situation became so dire that he made a soft-core pornographic film.

Six years later he would become forever part of filmic immortality when Rocky hit the silver screen. From there on Stallone’s films became huge box office successes. Throughout the 80’s his movies would go on to be highly popular among the filmgoers.

Despite Stallone’s success at the Box Office the actor’s Thespian skills somewhat pale in comparison to his more obvious, but less showy, talent, writing.

Stallone’s acting ability will never be as good as other highly talented actors as he lacks the  subtleties and intricacies that are needed to adequately portray the sweeping gamut of human emotion.

Natural Writing Skills

However, Stallone does have an innate grasp of what is important to people and a remarkable ability to write simple, uncluttered dialogue. It is his naturalistic writing ability that separates Stallone from being just a good writer to being a highly talented one. No where is this more clear than in his Rocky scripts. His writing ability is put on full display for all to see in the last Rocky film, Rocky Balboa. Crisp, emotionally-charged but without straying into the unforgivable territory of sentimental schmaltz, the film is a lesson in script-writing.

An Under-Utilised Talent

Stallone’s best asset has often remained underutilised. Opting instead to appear in front of the camera for whatever reason has diluted this talent somewhat. But ultimately acting places a much more luminescent spotlight on the person than writing in an enclosed space with no one watching on. And it is probably for this reason that Stallone has chosen to focus most of his efforts in front of the camera. And who could blame him!

About the Author

Yellow Magpie

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