Movie Poster
Sly
Meet the man behind the hero.
His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.
  • Released on 09/16/2023 (Movie)
  • 7.247 out of 10 (162 votes on TMDB)
  • Documentary
  • Cast
  • Crew
Where to Watch
Image of Content Provider
Image of Content Provider

Headshot of Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 07/06/1946
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
Sylvester Stallone (born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush. He subsequently found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor and screenwriter, starting in 1976 with his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–present), for which he also wrote the screenplays. In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice. In 1977, he was the third actor in cinema to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. His film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry, and had its props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. His use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky placed permanently near the museum, and he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Up until 1982, his films were not big box office successes unless they were Rocky sequels, and none received the critical acclaim achieved with the first Rocky. This changed with the successful action film First Blood in which he portrayed the PTSD-plagued soldier John Rambo. Originally an adaptation of the eponymous novel by David Morell, First Blood’s script was significantly altered by Stallone during the film’s production. He would play the role in a total of five Rambo films (1982–2019). From the mid-1980s through to the late 1990s, he would go on to become one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors of that era by appearing in a slew of commercially successful action films which were however generally panned by critics. These include Cobra, Tango and Cash, Cliffhanger, the better received Demolition Man, and The Specialist. He declined in popularity in the early 2000s but rebounded back to prominence in 2006 with a sixth installment in the Rocky series and 2008 with a fourth in the Rambo series. In the 2010s, he launched The Expendables films series (2010–2014), in which he played the lead as the mercenary Barney Ross. In 2013, he starred in the successful Escape Plan, and acted in its sequels. In 2015, he returned to the Rocky series with Creed, that serve as spin-off films focusing on Adonis "Donnie" Creed played by Michael B. Jordan, the son of the ill-fated boxer Apollo Creed, to whom the long-retired Rocky is a mentor. Reprising the role brought him praise, and his first Golden Globe award for the first Creed, as well as a third Oscar nomination, having been first nominated for the same role 40 years prior.

Headshot of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 03/27/1963
Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Biography:
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s he was an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and aestheticization of violence. His films have earned him a variety of Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Palme d'Or Awards and he has been nominated for Emmy and Grammy Awards. In 2007, Total Film named him the 12th-greatest director of all time. Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Connie McHugh Tarantino Zastoupil, a health care executive and nurse born in Knoxville, and Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician born in Queens, New York. Tarantino's mother allowed him to quit school at age 17, to attend an acting class full time. Tarantino gave up acting while attending the acting school, saying that he admired directors more than actors. Tarantino also worked in a video rental store before becoming a filmmaker, paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent, and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career. Description above from the Wikipedia article Quentin Tarantino, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Frank Stallone Jr.
Frank Stallone Jr.

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 07/30/1950
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
Frank Stallone Jr. is an American actor and musician. He is the younger brother of actor Sylvester Stallone and has written music for Sylvester's movies. His song "Far from Over" appeared in the 1983 film Staying Alive and was included on the film's soundtrack album.

Headshot of Talia Shire
Talia Shire

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 04/25/1946
Birthplace: Lake Success, New York, USA
Biography:
Talia Shire, born on April 25, 1946, in Lake Success, New York, is an American actress. She gained widespread recognition for her role as Adrian Pennino, the wife of Rocky Balboa, in the iconic "Rocky" film series. Shire's portrayal of the timid but resilient Adrian earned her acclaim and a place in cinematic history. Beyond "Rocky," she also starred as Connie Corleone in "The Godfather" films, further establishing her as a versatile and talented actress. With a career spanning several decades, Shire's contributions to film have solidified her as a respected figure in Hollywood.

Headshot of Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 10/30/1945
Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer, and author. Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz," a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended.

Headshot of John Herzfeld
John Herzfeld

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 04/15/1947
Birthplace: New Jersey, USA
Biography:
​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   John Herzfeld is an American motion picture and television director, screenwriter, actor and producer. His feature film directing credits include Two of a Kind (1983), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), 15 Minutes (2001) and The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007). He has also directed numerous made-for-television movies, including The Ryan White Story (1989), The Preppie Murder (1989), Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993) and Don King: Only in America (1997) for which he was nominated for an Emmy and won the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for directing the 1980 ABC Afterschool Special titled Stoned. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Herzfeld, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 09/16/2024
Biography:
Wesley Morris (born 1975) is an American film critic and podcast host. He is currently critic-at-large for The New York Times, as well as co-host, with Jenna Wortham, of the New York Times podcast Still Processing.

Headshot of Jennifer Flavin Stallone
Jennifer Flavin Stallone

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 08/14/1968
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Biography:
Jennifer Flavin was born on 14 August 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Rocky V (1990), The No Name Gang and Stallone: Frank, That Is (2021). She has been married to Sylvester Stallone since 17 May 1997. They have three children.

Headshot of Sophia Rose Stallone
Sophia Rose Stallone

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 08/27/1996
Birthplace: Miami, Florida, USA
Biography:
Daughter of Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin.

Headshot of Scarlet Rose Stallone
Scarlet Rose Stallone

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 05/20/2002
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography:
Scarlet Rose Stallone was born on May 25, 2002 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Reach Me (2014), Tulsa King (2022) and The Family Stallone (2023).

Headshot of Sistine Rose Stallone
Sistine Rose Stallone

Character's name: "Self"
Birthday: 06/27/1998
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography:
She is an second daughter of famous actor Sylvester Stallone.

Headshot of Sage Stallone
Sage Stallone

Character's name: "Self (archive footage)"
Birthday: 05/05/1976
Date of Death: 07/13/2012
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography:
Sage Moonblood Stallone (May 5, 1976 – July 13, 2012) was an American actor, director, producer and writer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sage Stallone, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Frank Stallone Sr.
Frank Stallone Sr.

Character's name: "Self (archive footage)"
Birthday: 09/12/1919
Date of Death: 07/11/2011
Birthplace: Gioia del Colle, Puglia, Italy

Headshot of Woody Allen
Woody Allen

Character's name: "Self (archive footage) (uncredited)"
Birthday: 11/30/1935
Birthplace: The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, comedian, writer, musician, and playwright. Allen's distinctive films, which run the gamut from dramas to screwball sex comedies, have made him a notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of work. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest. Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a celebrated jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper, and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man Blues.

Headshot of Steve Austin
Steve Austin

Character's name: "Self (archive footage) (uncredited)"
Birthday: 12/18/1964
Birthplace: Victoria, Texas, USA
Biography:
Steven James Anderson, formerly Steven James Williams, better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. Billed as "The Most Popular Superstar in WWE History", he gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied his boss, Vince McMahon. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping off McMahon and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move. McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Austin held nineteen championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is recognized by WWE as a six-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship on six occasions, and the fifth Triple Crown Champion. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles. He was forced to retire from in ring competition in early 2003 due to a series of knee and neck injuries sustained throughout his career. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager and "Sheriff" of Raw. Since 2005, he has continued to make occasional appearances. In 2011, Steve Austin returned to WWE to host the reality series Tough Enough. On August 14, 2002, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pleaded no contest on November 25, 2002, and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service.] Marshall told Fox News that Austin beat her three times and that the 2002 incident was the result of roid rage. She also stated that WWE knew of the abuse, working to conceal the bruises on her face, and kept her from revealing that Austin hit her, as it would cost the company millions of dollars. During his early years as a wrestler, Austin was a technical wrestler. However, after his neck injury against Owen Hart in 1997, he changed his style from technical to brawler. His most famous finishing move is the Stone Cold Stunner, or simply Stunner. During his time as The Ringmaster he used the Million Dollar Dream as finisher, since it was Ted DiBiase's finisher. During his time in WCW, Austin used the Stun Gun as finisher One of Austin's taunts during the Attitude Era was to show the middle finger. In August 2001, Austin cut a promo, debuting his catchphrase "What?", which is used today by fans when they want to mock wrestlers during promos


Headshot of Thom Zimny
Thom Zimny
Director

Headshot of Sean M. Stuart
Sean M. Stuart
Producer

Headshot of Braden Aftergood
Braden Aftergood
Executive Producer

Default Image
Bill Zanker
Executive Producer

Default Image
Sam Delcanto
Executive Producer

Default Image
Jon Beyer
Executive Producer

Headshot of Tom Forman
Tom Forman
Executive Producer

Default Image
Jenny Daly
Executive Producer

Headshot of Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Executive Producer

Production Companies


Balboa Productions logo