Sylvester Stallone has been in show business for several decades. His entertainment career started in the 1960s with very small roles — we’re talking uncredited extra work here. More parts followed over the years, and then finally, in 1976, came “Rocky.” The film, which Stallone both starred in and wrote, helped turn the actor into a mega-star. During the ’80s and ’90s, he was a blockbuster actor, appearing in big franchise films and growing his brand in the process. You’d think decades of work would’ve prepared Stallone for his first TV show, the Taylor Sheridan-created series “Tulsa King.”
In the series, Stallone plays Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a mobster who relocates from New York to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and begins to set up a new criminal empire. Here’s the official synopsis:
Tulsa King follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi, (Stallone) as he’s released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet.
Stallone has played mobsters before, but according to Stallone himself, TV is a much different beast than filmmaking. And the schedule behind making “Tulsa King” turned out to be challenging for the actor.
‘It’s brual’
I’ll admit I wasn’t very taken with “Tulsa King” when I reviewed it for /Film. I enjoyed what Stallone was doing on the show, but everything around him was rather dull. As I wrote in my review: “The real draw here is Stallone, in his first starring role on TV. The actor, with his beefy frame and mumbly voice, is amusing and entertaining as Dwight, even if I started to get sick of watching him punch everyone. Stallone brings just the right amount of humor to the part while also leaning into a certain melancholy.”
But who cares about my opinion? It’s clear audiences tuned in to watch the show because it’s already been given a second season. And hopefully, Stallone is ready for that season, because making season one turned out to be difficult for the well-established actor. “It’s beyond tough,” he told Variety, adding:
“I can’t believe some people have done this for four, five or six seasons. It’s brutal, compared to filmmaking. I’ll never say, ‘This is a hard shoot’ again on a feature. It’s a vacation compared to this! It really is.”
This makes a certain amount of sense: with a film, you’re working with enough material for something akin to two hours. TV, on the other hand, requires hours and hours of footage to create a multi-episode, season-length run. Stallone has never led a TV series until now, so it’s likely he was unprepared for the grueling differences in shooting. Or he’s just having a bit of fun. In any case, Stallone will be back for more whenever “Tulsa King” returns for its second season on Parramount+.