Sylvester Stallone on finally playing a mob boss in new series: ‘Better late than never’

Sylvester Stallone is taking on the role of his lifetime.

The actor, 75, shared with Entertainment Tonight at the U.K. premiere of “Tulsa King” that he is excited to take on the role of Dwight “The General” Manfredi.

“I’ve always wanted to play a gangster since… I basically started off my career mugging everyone… but it never happened. I have my thoughts on why, but better late than never,” he said. “Taylor Sheridan wrote an idea, a screenplay that was really good and Terence Winter, who wrote ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ they put it all together and what you have is East meets West.”

He continued: “[My character, Dwight,] comes out of prison after 25 years, expects to be rewarded for keeping his mouth shut and he’s betrayed.” 

He added that his character’s next assignment is to run Tulsa in “a different world, different kind of people, and he starts to become indoctrinated into the Western sort of life. So, it’s a combination of the two. It’s a dark comedy, but also it can get rough.”

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The drama series features Garett Hedlund, Jay Will, Domenick Lombardozzi and Max Casella. It will air this November.

Stallone shared how he was introduced to one of the shows’ writers, Taylor Sheridan.

“My daughters and I were practicing — I play polo a lot; a long time ago people would say, how can you afford it? I played with the worst horse on the planet, but I learned and eventually after I made money, I started to go into… barrel racing. It’s very, very delicate, and I brought my daughters into it and Taylor Sheridan was at the same barn, and he hadn’t made it yet,” Stallone said. 

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“He still acting and I think he was still doing ‘Sicario,’ just on the cusp, and I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to do another ’Rambo’, you want to write it?'”

Stallone continued: “He goes, ‘No, I’m kind of busy on my own thing,’ and then we got into a conversation. He ended up buying my daughter’s horse and then he bought a second one… but they are the earliest inception of his transition into being this megastar.”

The “Rambo” star did not close the door on possible cameos on Sheridan’s Paramount+ shows, including “Yellowstone,” which stars Kevin Costner.

“Absolutely,” he said, before acknowledging that he and Costner have known each other for “centuries.”

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“He’s finally run into a guy who’s like, ‘I’d just like to have a retirement home. Do you mind if I buy your entire ranch? I got an offer you can’t refuse.’ … That’d be great. Good man.”

The Academy Award winner is excited for his fans to see him take on a role he has not played before and see him in a new way.

“You’re probably going to see, for better or worse, who I am,” Stallone said. 

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“A lot of actors go into, who should I morph into? I think if you just say what happens — what would it be like if Sylvester Stallone… just became a gangster? The personality is mine; I’m a gangster but I don’t change the way I talk… You have your personality like the way you are right now… You never see it coming. You don’t automatically become the stereotype gangster. That’s too obvious. You just be yourself.”