The Movie Stunts That Sylvester Stallone 'Never Recovered' From
In 1989's "Road House," lifelong nightclub cooler/bouncer/warrior John Dalton (Patrick Swayze) shrugs off his various injuries with a sly phrase: "Pain don't hurt." Yet his lady love, Dr. Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch), warns him that while he may shrug away pain right now, years later his injuries will catch up to him and pain will start to hurt very, very much. That's a truth which many athletes, servicepeople, and actors find themselves facing in their middle age and up, one which younger versions of themselves would do well to heed.
One such actor facing that reality is Sylvester Stallone, a star whose career off-screen greatly mirrors his typical journey on-screen. Just like the character closest to his real self, Rocky Balboa, Stallone does his best work when he's got something to prove, whether to himself, to Hollywood, the public, or some combination thereof. It's a huge motivator but it can and has also led him down dangerous paths, especially in his youth, where it's easier to shrug off physical hardships which can compound over time.
At the age of 77, Stallone is still struggling to overcome injuries he sustained while making the first "Expendables" movie in 2010. Even though he was the not-so-young age of 63 at the time, the making of "The Expendables" saw Stallone back in "something to prove" mode, as he both starred in, co-wrote, and directed the film. The experience led to such enormous pressures on the filmmaker both mentally and physically that he performed stunts in the movie from which he still has yet to recover.
Stallone's seven surgeries
During the new season of "The Family Stallone" (as Variety reported), the actor revealed that he's undergone seven surgical procedures to address an injury he received while shooting "The Expendables." The stunt in question was a body slam that Stallone's character, the mercenary Barney Ross, is on the receiving end of while fighting a character literally named Paine (played by Steve Austin, of WWE fame). While in many cases actors will be protected on set by other crew members providing the checks and balances they need, this was an instance where Stallone the actor was being pressured by Stallone the director, meaning that the actor didn't back down at the point he should have. As he explained:
"I did stupid stuff. I was directing 'Expendables' and, like an idiot, I'm doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam and I could actually feel one bang."
As this footage from the making of "The Expendables" shows, Stallone knew, deep down, that he was hurting himself, but also pushed himself hard for the posterity of the work. In other featurettes found on the Blu-Ray and 4K releases of the film, it's revealed how Stallone had to step away from filming for a short time during shooting because of these injuries that were piling up, forcing him to go back into clinics where specialists would try and temporarily patch him up just so he could get back to filming. Despite it being a rough shoot, "The Expendables" got finished and released, but it was a pyrrhic victory; while the film did decently well (enough to spawn three sequels, the latest of which was released just last year), it took a toll on the filmmaker, leading to those several surgeries along with his not having directed anything since. As he put it:
"I never recovered from '[Expendables].' After that film, it was never physically the same."
Keep punching, but smarter, not harder
Fortunately, Stallone's career wasn't hit nearly as hard as his body was post-"Expendables." In addition to appearing in that film's sequels, he's also appeared in the first two installments of the hugely successful "Rocky" spin-off series "Creed," given winningly comedic performances in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "The Suicide Squad" superhero films, and even found time to make another (and final, perhaps) "Rambo" movie, all while starring on TV in the popular shows "Tulsa King" and his own "The Family Stallone." As the actor and his character of Rocky loves to say, you always have to "keep punching."
But that adage means to do so smarter, not harder, as Stallone has learned. As his wife, Jennifer Flavin, describes, the actor generally likes to keep his struggles private: "He doesn't like people to know he's had so many back surgeries," she confessed. Now, it seems Stallone is trying to impart some wisdom, Rocky and Barney Ross-like, on his younger peers: "So I warn people, 'Don't do your own stunts.'"
In the end, it's the same old story: an older, wiser mentor tells someone younger not to do as they did, only for the young to make the same mistakes all over again. While no one, not even Stallone, can fully change stubborn young minds (or stubborn old minds, for that matter), everyone whose livelihood revolves around physicality would do well to remember that pain, in fact, does hurt.