Sylvester Stallone‘s career is very much one of ups and downs. He has appeared in a lot of rubbish over the years, and all three of the big franchises he’s headlined – Rocky, Rambo and The Expendables – have been inconsistent, swinging between success and failure consistently.
At the same time, Stallone is legitimately a very good actor when he’s at his best, and his status as the most nominated actor in history at the Golden Raspberry Awards belies his pedigree. Even if his franchises have been inconsistent, Stallone’s ability to headline all those huge movies definitely counts for something. He is one of the wealthiest actors in Hollywood, after all, and he’s also an accomplished screenwriter and direc tor, having taken writing and/or directing duties in many of his own films. In fact, he wrote the screenplay for the original Rocky.
Still, Stallone himself would probably admit that his filmography is a hit-or-miss one, and there are no doubt a fair few regrets on his part. As such, it was very interesting to hear the now 77-year-old actor express his biggest career regret in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter – and it wasn’t necessarily what you’d expect.
His most significant career regret wasn’t allowing The Expendables 3 to have a PG-13 rating, an inexplicable creative choice if there ever was one. It wasn’t some of the bad sequels in the Rocky and Rambo franchises.
It wasn’t even starring in Stop Or My Mum Will Shoot, which Stallone memorably called not only the worst film he’s ever starred in but also “maybe the worst film in the entire Solar System, including alien productions we haven’t seen.”
No, his biggest career regret is not spending enough time with his family. He explained: “Everyone goes, ‘I wish I’d shown love more’ or ‘I wish I’d spent more time with the kids.’ I’m riding that boat. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do the reality show that I’ve been taking a lot of shit for.”
The reality show in question is The Family Stallone, which focuses on the personal lives of Stallone, his wife Jennifer Flavin and his daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlett. Stallone is still working heavily in films but this reality show has no doubt been a great chance for him to spend as much time as possible with his family, perhaps helping him to combat his past regrets to an extent.