What is it with movie stars – specifically action movie stars from the Eighties – and the lure of political power? First, Arnold Schwarzenegger went from the ‘Terminator’ to the ‘Governator’ when he was successfully elected as the Governor of California, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011. And now Schwarzenegger’s old action movie buddy Sylvester Stallone has revealed that he briefly flirted with the idea of a political career as well.
In an interview with Variety, Stallone recalls a meeting with the mayor of Philadelphia during the filming of 2006’s Rocky Balboa, who told him he believed Stallone could be elected. Rather than brush the remarks aside, Stallone asked his wife for her input, and Mrs Stallone brought her hubby back down to earth with a bump. “Are you crazy?” she asked, before giving him a reality check to remember: “He’s just being nice. You’re not going to be elected. You don’t have that insatiable need to be embraced by people”.
I’d say that actors do often have an insatiable need to be embraced by people too, so Stallone was already halfway there to being a political powerhouse. But politics loss is Hollywood’s gain, so look out for Stallone in the Rocky-spin off Creed, when it’s released in the UK on January 15.
#Peace.Love.SylvesterStallone
