Sylvester Stallone says he regrets doing his own stunts
Topics: Sylvester Stallone, Celebrity
Claire Reid
Featured Image Credit: Credit: PA Images / Alamy / TriStar Pictures
Topics: Sylvester Stallone, Celebrity
Sylvester Stallone has admitted that he regrets doing his own stunts after picking up multiple injuries over the years.
The Rocky and Rambo star had to undergo five operations on his back as well neck fusion and shoulder repair from performing his own stunts.
The actor says action movies ‘changed radically when it became possible to Velcro your muscles on’.
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Speaking to The Times, Stallone said: “Don’t do your own stunts, that’s the moral of that. But the special effects became more important than the person. Life is a matter of managing your ass-whipping.
“That’s why I’ve always been a fan of defeated fighters. The undefeated boxer? I’m not interested.”
As well as doing his own stunts, Stallone has previously revealed that one fight scene in Rocky IV could have killed him after things got a bit too real during filming.
Fans of the franchise may remember that Rocky IV saw the boxer take on steroid-using Russian Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren).
In the movie, the bout had serious repercussions for Rocky who ended up being forced into retiring - and in real life things were just as scary.
Speaking last November, ahead of a re-cut release of the 1985 film, Stallone said: "In the first round, where he knocked me down, that is for real.
"He pulverised me and I did not feel it at that moment but later that night my heart started to swell.
"He had bruised the perio cardio sac, which is when the heart hits the chest - like in a car accident when your chest hits the steering wheel.
"My blood pressure went up to 260. They thought I was going to be talking to angels."
Thankfully, Stallone was fine and went on to star in Rocky V, Rocky Balboa, Creed and Creed II.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Lundgren explained: “We shot those 15 rounds over two or three weeks, eight or 12 hours a day, so you're throwing thousands of punches.
"If you don't connect, it looks a bit fake, but it doesn't mean you want to hurt the other guy. But there were no hard feelings.”
Despite the damage he’s done to himself through doing his own stunts, the 76-year-old still regularly works out and is in better condition than most blokes half his age - he regularly shares himself taking part in gruelling workout sessions at the gym.