Stallone tositeeveeseen nyrkkeilijöitä sparraamaan!

[pexxi]

"RENEWED HOPE FOR 'ROCKY 6'

By Liz Smith, Page Six

Fri Mar 19, 3:19 AM ET

Sean Gallup/Getty Images SYLVESTER STALLONE He's still a "Contender."

'I dwell in possibility," said Emily Dickinson.

JEALOUSY, ENVY, hurt pride, hurt feelings - sounds like the recipe for a soap opera or a love affair, doesn't it? But, no, it's big business. Big movie business.

For years, Sylvester Stallone has been trying to talk his original "Rocky" producer, Irwin Winkler, and the owners of the "Rocky" franchise, MGM, into another film about the indefatigable boxing hero. Sly sat down on more than one occasion and wrote an unpaid-for original screenplay for what would be the sixth round of the Philadelphia-based classic. The last one he titled "Puncher's Chance," giving himself a role in it as a boxing veteran. Visit for more:

So, some months ago, I ran into the gifted Winkler at the theater and, during the intermission, put my two cents in that the world will always be ready to welcome another "Rocky" movie, and why didn't he get moving? (The original won the Best Picture Oscar back in 1976; its theme music became a classic, and there have already been four sequels, all of them successful. The "Rocky" franchise has earned at least $1.5 billion.)

While I didn't give myself credit for actually pushing Winkler, it began to look as if he and MGM would finally move on the project. Little did I realize that behind the scenes, MGM's head man, Alex Yemenidjian, who had been saying the "Rocky" idea was passé, suddenly decided that MGM would distribute such a movie, only if the money was raised elsewhere to make it. This reluctance and lack of faith seemed a bit odd since "Rocky" is MGM's second-largest asset after the James Bond movies.

In the meantime, Stallone, who has waited and waited while MGM and Winkler dragged their feet, was convinced by "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett and DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg to star in their coming reality TV show about aspiring young boxers. "The Contender" could bow as early as November and will show us youngsters getting to live out their boxing dreams. Stallone will play a kind of Donald Trump figure; he'll be the one to say "You're down for the count" or "Count 10; you're out!" Stallone will not only star, he'll be executive producer, and he owns this show with Katzenberg and Burnett for NBC.

Since "The Contender" announcement, MGM and Winkler have both been galvanized and have exploded in fury at their old friend Stallone. Yemenidjian is quoted as saying that, as a result of the planned television series, "Now we, MGM, will do the real Rocky!" Stallone, who created his fame and movie career when he wrote and starred in the original against all odds, is reported saying, with some justification in my view - "They are looking for the real Rocky; he'll be on NBC in 'The Contender.' "

Thinking on all of this and the unfortunate circumstance of the severing of the Stallone-Winkler friendship, a thought occurs to me. If "The Contender" is a big hit, as everyone expects, since it sold for one of the highest prices ever in tube history, doesn't this make another "Rocky" feature a hotter idea than ever? Just asking! Of course, I can't imagine a "Rocky" sequel without Stallone in some guise or other. So everybody ought to kiss and make up."

http://www.musclemayhem.com/forum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=15;t=11629;

 

[pexxi]

Syltyn uusi magazine:
http://www.getbig.com/magazine/sly/sly.htm

Ja Contender-sarja alkaa aivan lähiaikoina!

 

[AG+]

MARTIAL ARTS SHOW PICKS FIGHT WITH 'CONTENDER'
By DON KAPLAN

January 6, 2005 -- THE rabble-rousing pres ident of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is slapping boxing aficionado Sylvester Stallone across the face with a $5 million challenge.

Dana White, who oversees the mixed martial arts fighting league and its new Spike TV reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," wants the winner of his series to fight the winner of Stallone's boxing show, "The Contender."

"Boxing is in shambles," White told The Post yesterday. "Back in the day, whoever the heavyweight champ was, was considered the baddest man on the planet, and that's just not the case anymore — not by a long shot — and we're willing to put our money where our mouth is."

The proposed match would be televised on cable or pay-per-view or held privately. "However they want it," White said.

NBC officials, Stallone and "Contender" creator Mark Burnett declined to comment yesterday.

On "Ultimate Fighter," debuting Jan. 17, 16 contestants will be split into teams. They will live and train together, and ultimately fight in a Las Vegas bout live on Spike.

Fighters will be ejected until only two fighters in separate weight classes remain — and they'll be offered six-figure contracts with the UFC.

On "The Contender" — a new NBC series from reality show guru Burnett, "Rocky" star Stallone, Jeffrey Katzenberg and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard — 16 boxers square off each week in the ring. Losers face elimination.

The two finalists square off in the finale for a $1 million prize.

The show is slated to debut Feb. 21.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/37858.htm

 

[pexxi]

http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=23907.0

"Contestant on NBC Reality Show Commits Suicide

By BILL CARTER, February 15, 2005

A contestant in "The Contender" a new NBC reality series about boxing scheduled to start next month, committed suicide yesterday in Philadelphia, network executives said last night.

NBC executives said that the show would go on as planned, starting March 7.

The contestant, Najai Turpin, 23, a middleweight boxer from Philadelphia who was known as Nitro, took his life, NBC executives said.

They offered no other details about the suicide, though they said they thought it had nothing to do with events on the television show.

"The Contender" chronicles not only the boxers' efforts to win the television tournament, which carries a prize of $1 million, but follows their personal lives, including their relationships with spouses and children. Mr. Turpin's girlfriend also appears in the series, NBC said.

Mr. Turpin, who entered the series as a well-regarded young fighter with a 13-1 record, had a 2-year-old daughter with his girlfriend.

Except for a planned live championship, set to take place in May, all the bouts in the "The Contender" have been completed and are on tape. Because the show, like all other reality shows, depends on the suspense of not knowing the outcome of each week's episode, no results of the bouts have been released.

NBC executives said they were saddened by the news and were setting up a fund to help Mr. Turpin's family. But they said they were convinced the network would be able to broadcast the show as planned.

Mark Burnett, the show's executive producer, said: "Nothing changes. I'm not even going to make any edits because it's real." Mr. Burnett said that at some point, the series will make a mention of Mr. Turpin's death, probably in an onscreen message at the end of an episode.

Still, the suicide presents NBC and the show's producers with the quandary of how to deal with Mr. Turpin's death without disrupting the show. Each week two boxers are selected to fight and become the central characters in that week's episode. Mr. Turpin would thus be a principal character in at least one show and if he won his first fight and continued on the series, he would be an even more significant factor.

NBC has more invested in "The Contender" than any previous reality series, having made a commitment to spend more than $2 million an episode for the 13-episode series. "The Contender" is produced by Mr. Burnett, the most accomplished producer in the reality genre. A principal in the DreamWorks studio, Jeffrey Katzenberg, is also a producer on the series.

The two men conceived the series as a way to help resurrect the sport of boxing. They have made deals with all 16 boxers involved to promote their careers. The fighters agreed not to pursue any other matches until the series was completed this spring, and the show is paying them $1,500 a week to stay in training in the interim, Mr. Burnett said.

Mr. Turpin's suicide recalled an incident that almost derailed "Survivor," Mr. Burnett's first hit reality show and the one that ignited the reality trend in American television. A contestant in the first version of the show, which was made for Swedish television and was not produced by Mr. Burnett, committed suicide after he was the first person voted off the island.

The incident stirred concerns about the risks of reality television, and led Mr. Burnett to conduct extensive psychological tests on his contestants.

Mr. Burnett said that the boxers on the show had undergone psychological testing.

A biography of Mr. Turpin on the show's Web site said he had been a restaurant employee who worked cleaning seafood when he was not training for his matches.

The biography described him as determined to use his boxing career to create a better life for himself and his family."

 

[Armas]

Stallone on nimellään ja lärvillään varmasti hyvää mainosta laskusuhdanteesta kärsivälle ammattinyrkkeilylle. Siinä ne yhtymäkohdat Stallonen ja nyrkkeilyn välillä sitten olikin :jahas: