Sylvester Stallone may have given his greatest ever performance in Cop Land, but bizarrely, it ended up hurting his career. Sylvester Stallone’s action movies became his bread and ʙuттer during the 1980s and 1990s, so when misguided attempts at moving into comedy bombed (Rhinestone, Oscar, etc), he could always rely on a Rocky or Rambo sequel to save the day.

That began to change during the 1990s when the types of muscle-bound action vehicles Arnie and Stallone fronted were giving way to VFX-heavy blockbusters like Jurᴀssic Park. Sensing it was time for a change, Stallone retired from action with 1996’s Daylight and went full method for his part in thriller Cop Land.

This James Mangold directed thriller cast him as the half-deaf, overweight sheriff of a small town who has to deal with a gang of corrupt NYC cops. The movie has a stacked supporting cast (including Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel) and features one of Stallone’s strongest acting performances.

Not only did he gain a significant amount of weight to play Sheriff Freddy, he does amazingly subtle dramatic work as the meek but well-meaning lawman. Cop Land received great reviews (standing at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes) and was a financial hit – none of which helped Stallone’s flagging career.

Cop Land Almost Killed Stallone’s Career, Despite Featuring One Of His Best Performances

Cop Land is a true case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”

During the early Rocky movies, Stallone was hailed as the next Marlon Brando or De Niro, and was being touted as the next great dramatic leading man. When most of his Rocky follow-ups failed to land and First Blood became a shock hit in 1982, Stallone made a sharp pivot towards the action genre.

This proved a smart move, considering they provided Stallone with most of his biggest hits. However, he also became typecast in the genre, and any attempt to break out of action was met with scorn. Sensing it was time to put the rocket launcher down and embrace his dramatic roots, Stallone gave his all to Cop Land.

What Sly does as Freddy ranks alongside his work in Rocky, but while critics acknowledged this, his presence in the film was still an issue. Some viewers stayed away because they figured it was another Stallone action vehicle, while his fans didn’t like him playing some out-of-shape loser. Of the movie’s reception, Stallone later told Variety:

I loved the film, but it actually worked in reverse. It was pretty good critically, but the fact that it didn’t do a lot of box office, again it fomented the opinion that I had my moment and was going the way of the dodo bird and the Tasmanian tiger.

Stallone was already coming off the back of box office duds like Judge Dredd and Daylight, so while Cop Land grossed a very respectable $63 million (via The Numbers), it didn’t help Sly’s profile with studios. While he went on to pursue more dramatic parts, he was about to enter a ten-year fallow period.

Cop Land Was Meant To Transition Stallone Out Of The Action Genre

Daylight briefly marked the end of an era

Stallone turned 50 when Daylight arrived in 1996, and having spent over two decades running away from explosions and risking life and limb, he sensed it was time for a career shift. With Stallone’s action fare doing mediocre business and fearing audiences would no longer buy him in those roles, he wanted Cop Land to signal a return to drama.

It’s bizarre to think that Stallone put in such a great performance – which was acknowledged as such – and neither studios nor filmmakers tried to capitalize on it. Producers didn’t want him to stray too far outside of action, even though audiences were beginning to turn away from the types of movies he fronted.

Of course, he would eventually dust off his muscles and machine guns for various Rambo and The Expendables sequels, but when Stallone left the genre behind with Daylight, he meant it at the time. Had Cop Land opened up a new avenue to more dramatic roles, he may have stayed gone from action too.

James Mangold Thinks The Starry Cast Hurt Cop Land’s Chances

Cop Land’s director originally wanted an unknown for the lead

Cop Land was an early project for James Mangold (Logan, A Complete Unknown), which he also wrote. He made the movie with the Weinsteins, with the producers being responsible for populating Cop Land with so famous faces. While Mangold admits to getting caught up in the excitement of working with big names, he thinks it “overscaled” his thriller (via Vulture).

I’m very proud of the movie and the ideas in it, but one of the things that was difficult for me at the time was that I’d imagined the lead being someone you hadn’t heard of before, so that their extension into a hero would be less Hollywood.

Mangold feels the cast gave audiences a false impression of the movie he made; they expected a more traditional “Hollywood” version and were disappointed by what they received. By all accounts, Stallone and Mangold got along great, with the former stating Mangold was the best director he ever worked with.

Still, it’s intriguing to picture a more low-budget, grungier version where an actor like Pruitt Taylor Vince (Mangold’s leading man in his directorial debut Heavy) played Freddy instead of Stallone. Still, had that happened, audiences would have missed out on an incredible Stallone turn.

Stallone’s Career Floundered After Cop Land

Audiences took an extended Stallone D-Tox

Stallone’s Cop Land follow-ups tried to walk the line between character studies and providing some action. Get Carter was a remake of a classic British thriller with Michael Caine, but while Stallone maintains Get Carter is grossly underrated, it’s ultimately a flashy, unfulfilling ride.

The movie bombed, as did his racing blockbuster Driven. Things only got worse for the star from there, as his slasher movie D-Tox (AKA Eye See You) – which sat on the shelf for three years – finally got a limited release in 2002 and did little business.

Stallone’s stock was so low around this point that his action comedy Avenging Angelo ended up going straight to video, bypᴀssing theaters entirely. It was only his hammy villain turn in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over that provided him with a hit during this period. By 2003, it appeared Stallone’s leading man career was done.

Stallone Almost Retired Before Rocky Balboa Saved His Career

Stallone was ready for his final round

Feeling low about his career struggles, Stallone resolved to make one final Rocky movie to make up for the mistakes of Rocky V. He felt he’d made a huge error trying to end that series on a down note, so Stallone wanted to make Rocky Balboa to comment on aging, legacy and the pᴀssage of time.

The issue was that no studio in Hollywood would touch it, feeling both the franchise and Stallone were old news. He even secured a modest budget for the sixth movie and then planned to retire from Hollywood once it was done. Despite grim predictions about its chances, Rocky Balboa was a huge hit.

This gave Stallone a second wind, and feeling Rambo III was a weak note to leave that character on, he decided to resurrect the ex-soldier once more. Nearly 20 years later, Stallone is as busy as ever between movies like Expendables 4 and his Tulsa King series.

Again, it’s odd to think that it took Sylvester Stallone nearly ten years to recover from Cop Land, despite it being one of his best works as an actor. While he didn’t earn an Academy Award nod for it, he did eventually received one for his heartbreaking turn in 2015’s Creed.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Variety, The Numbers, Vulture, Rotten Tomatoes

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  Sylvester Stallone

  Birthdate

  
  July 6, 1946
  

  Notable Projects

  Rocky, The Expendables, The Expendables 2

  
  

  
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