The Tulsa King Character Whose Scenes Stallone Has To Rewrite Himself

Taylor Sheridan's Paramount+ crime drama "Tulsa King" sends Sylvester Stallone's aging mob man Dwight Manfredi in the decidedly non-traditional mafia region of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ostensibly, he's put there so he's out of the way of the Invernizzi crime family, but he remains determined to build a name for himself in his peculiar new home. Before long, Dwight has a new, unconventional crime syndicate, and starts to become a major force in the area. 

It's a fun premise that allows for a truly ragtag cast of characters, far beyond what some other major Sheridan projects, such as "Yellowstone" with its neo-Western confines, have the narrative flexibility for. In fact, some of these characters and their actors were so surprising that Stallone – an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, courtesy of "Rocky" – has found himself tweaking the script to better fit one particular person. Said character is Jay Will's Tyson Mitchell, and Stallone described the rewriting process to The New York Times like this:

"He has a certain rhythm, so when other writers will write for him, I go, 'You're not getting his essence.' And I'll go back and I rewrite and I overwrite."

Jay Will's Tyson enters the show as Dwight's driver and the first full-on member of his new syndicate. As such, Will and Stallone share many scenes together, showing a chemistry that belieavably translates to a familial mentor-mentee relationship — especially in "Tulsa King" season 3, where both explore new heights (and lows). As Stallone said in The New York Times interview, Will stood out to him right away: 

"Ten other guys, you put them in the spot and they're all the same. But him, you become riveted to. And I find that with very few actors. They just have it. They don't have to work at it. You can't teach it. They didn't get it from Juilliard. It's just part of their birthright, their character."

In all fairness, there's a chance that the reason Stallone became so affixed to Will is the fact that the younger actor, who also attended the interview, actively researched some of Stallone's best movies to get a handle on the superstar's style before the audition. On the other hand, when they actually met, both Will and Stallone noticed an incredible chemistry that almost made it seem like they were related. Their easy rapport continued on set, where they've spent time talking shop and figuring out various small ways to improve their scenes. As Stallone described their working relationship:  

"We talk a lot about acting and theory. For example, how can we get more out of this scene? How do we add? Perhaps, literally in the middle of the sentence, stop speaking for three seconds, four seconds, let the body speak. We're always changing the rhythm, and he likes to do that a great deal."

"Tulsa King" season 3 is streaming on Paramount+.