Stallone at 80 reflects on 'Rocky' 50 years later: 'I am a lucky dog'
[September 30, 2026]
By HILLEL ITALIE
NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years after Sylvester Stallone pulled off one of
Hollywood's all-time long shots with “Rocky,” the Oscar-winning star
still identifies with the character who for many embodies the outsider
proving all the naysayers wrong.
But he no longer claims to be an underdog.
“It would be so disingenuous to say you’re an underdog, ‘as he said from
his penthouse,’" Stallone said during a recent interview, on a high
floor of a luxury Manhattan hotel. "Yeah. Come on. I am a lucky dog.”
Stallone, who turned 80 in July, is among the most successful movie
stars and filmmakers in history. He has generated billions of dollars
through such blockbuster franchises as “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “The
Expendables” and portrayed some of the most memorable film characters.
And he is still working, starring as mobster Dwight “The General"
Manfredi in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.”
By choice and otherwise, Stallone has been reliving his early years as a
struggling actor-writer who somehow convinced United Artists to back his
modest story of a journeyman boxer's shot at the heavyweight
championship, and even allow him to play the lead despite having little
acting experience. His memoir “Steps,” published Tuesday, arrives less
than two months before a fictionalized and semi-authorized version of
his story, Peter Farrelly's “I Play Rocky," arrives in theaters, with
Anthony Ippolito in the starring role. (Farrelly spoke about the film
with Stallone, who was otherwise uninvolved.)
“Rocky," which beat out “Taxi Driver” and “All the President Men's”
among others to win the best picture Oscar, is one of those classic
movies that only seem to benefit from the back story; Stallone's own
journey from the streets of Philadelphia to the Oscars stage echoes so
well his character's improbable rise.
As he writes in “Steps,” he was a hard-luck case, an unplanned and
unwanted child who seemed to face endless discouragement right through
the production of “Rocky," when he feared every day on the set might be
his last.
Stallone was in Manhattan to promote his book, but spends much of his
time at the Palm Beach, Florida estate he shares with his wife, Jennifer
Flavin. Even when — especially when — he's talking about his rare
fortune, Stallone speaks in a warm, rumbly, offhand manner, a kind of
private street talk that suggests he doesn't believe it all.
Last year, he was a Kennedy Center honoree, his award presented to him
by President Donald Trump, who had previously named Stallone, Jon Voight
and Mel Gibson his “ambassadors” from an otherwise liberal Hollywood.
Stallone has called Trump “the second George Washington,” but he has
contributed to both Republicans and Democrats and broken with
conservatives by calling for stronger gun control laws. He also condemns
war, including the Iran War, as a story of sending people into a "meat
grinder while the military complex is making zillions of dollars."
“I do believe that you have to defend yourself. But to go on the
offensive?” he says, adding that he would prefer not to be known as a
”political figure."
“I love the common architecture of trying to just survive. That’s
noble," he says. "To be a politician, that’s a different animal.”
During his interview, he also talked about fate, insecurity and why he
was probably better off for his unhappy childhood.
Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: Why write this book?
STALLONE: I was approached a few times (over the years) and the one
thing I didn’t want to write about is my life. It’s this ambivalent
roller coaster ride. It's not always the most pleasurable ride. And I
thought, ‘What am I known for?’ Pulling off this minor miracle in 1976,
which falls under the heading of inspiration. That’s what I want to do.
Because the character was an inspiration, I wanted to tell the people
how it all came to be.
AP: How hard was it to relive some of those early memories?
STALLONE: It was very hard because I spent 50 years burying that stuff.
And it’s like you come across a lost city, and you start to become your
own spiritual archaeologist, digging down. And it’s not pretty. But I
didn’t want this to be, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ Everyone has issues and a lot
worse than me. I just wanted to touch on the essence because I still
have this conundrum. If everything was really nice, maybe I wouldn’t be
here, you know what I mean? If I didn’t have that insecurity which
drives us. You know, insecurity is a great motivator.
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Actor Sylvester Stallone discusses his memoir "The Steps" at The
92nd Street Y on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in New York. (Photo by CJ
Rivera/Invision/AP)
 AP: For people at your level of
success, do you find they all have that sense of insecurity, that
drive?
STALLONE: I think so — especially the ones that are desperate to do
better and constantly pushing it. For example, I don’t have to do my
dialogue for another month before we start “Tulsa King.” I'm up
every morning at 5:00 o'clock, studying until literally it’s like
breathing. Now, that’s probably insecurity, but that’s the way I
approach it.
AP: When was the last time you actually watched
“Rocky” in its entirety? Did you look at it while working on the
book?
STALLONE: No, I didn't. You know what I see. You're sitting there
and going through messages and somebody who's 18 has put it on the
internet or on TikTok. And how would this person relate to an
80-year-old guy? They're not, though. They're not relating to me.
It's that character.
AP: Young people know about Rocky.
STALLONE: In retrospect, that to me is the greatest gift. You know,
you write something — I’m just trying to get some footage on myself.
I'm just trying to write something really simple. I didn’t ever
expect it to be in more than one or two theaters. So all this is a
tsunami of good luck. It ('Rocky') tapped into something that I
cannot take credit for.
AP: Writers talk a lot about how they learn how they think through
the act of writing. Did you experience some of that while working on
this book?
STALLONE: A lot of it, yeah.
AP: Like what?
STALLONE: I was thinking while I was working (on the book). “You
were really at the end of your rope.” Nothing was working. I was 29
years old. And I had this epiphany, like in the backyard, pounding
the soil, asking for spiritual help. I had always avoided it. And I
had thought, you know, “To each his own.” I don’t want to rely upon
some idol, god, symbol, anything. But maybe we need something that
makes us believe in the invisible — faith. I had no faith. I was
agnostic, and then it came literally back that night.
And that's why I pay homage in the “Rocky” movie. The first scene
is, you know, at “The Resurrection” (gym). It's amazing we found
that place. A boxing club called "The Resurrection."
AP: You've described how the priests in Catholic school said it was
necessary to suffer for your faith, and how you turned away from
that. But look at what you put yourself through to make a movie.
STALLONE: It's the way I’m built, I think. There are no free
lunches. I’ve had back operations, neck surgeries, both shoulders,
heart — you name it. And it’s all because ... you do it yourself.
There was a necessity to feel it. You’re not going to be like the
other guys. You’re going to do it, which is completely wrong
(laughs).
AP: And now you have a movie about you, “I Play Rocky,” coming out.
STALLONE: How strange is this? A movie about me being in a movie.
AP: What did you think of it?
STALLONE: It’s fantastic. And the kid (Ippolito) did a great job.
This is so odd. They usually do this when you’re dead and gone. It's
50 years almost to the day when it came out and if he gets nominated
... It’s so surreal. I have to give Peter Farrelly, the director
(credit). I never in a million years had any confidence this would
work. But he said that to the everyday person, this is kind of a
fantastic journey. Rocky is fiction, this is real. And that's what
people are holding on to.
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