How Sylvester Stallone Faced His Fears for ‘Creed’

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — There are downsides to being a longtime action-movie hero, as Sylvester Stallone has found out: He’s had four back operations, two shoulder surgeries and a spinal fusion, that one after he fractured his neck filming “The Expendables.” Over the years, expectations of his assumed athletic prowess grew so high that he stopped wanting to play golf or basketball with anyone. When opinions about his acting abilities hit their nadir, around the time he won a Razzie for worst actor of the century in 2000, he half-agreed with his harshest detractors.

“When you become synonymous with blunt-force trauma,” Mr. Stallone, 69, said in an interview here, his basso profundo voice sounding like it was rising from the earth’s core, “you’re not really leaving anyone with thought-provoking aftershocks of your performance.”

All of which made an unexpected upside of devoting a career to playing he-men especially sweet. Mr. Stallone’s Oscar nomination, for his supporting performance in “Creed” — the seventh film in the “Rocky” franchise, which won him his last Oscar nominations four decades ago — has left him, by all outward showings, enormously grateful and glowingly proud, if slightly befuddled.

“For somewhat of a borderline misanthrope, this is incredible,” Mr. Stallone said. “It’s the pinnacle of my life, professionally. It’s so miraculous.”

Three and a half weeks earlier, he had collected a Golden Globe for his performance in “Creed,” a win that left him so dumbfounded that he failed to notice the standing ovation of the crowd. He had also failed, to his lasting dismay, to thank the film’s writer and director, Ryan Coogler, or his co-star Michael B. Jordan, which had prompted tut-tutting from Samuel L. Jackson, among many others, on Twitter.

“When Sam Jackson called me out on it, I totally agreed,” Mr. Stallone said. “Forgetting to thank the director? Believe me. That’s the last thing I would’ve done.”

If Mr. Coogler and Mr. Jordan were miffed, they hid it well. “I love the guy!” Mr. Jordan exclaimed at an after-party that night. Then he, Mr. Coogler and Mr. Coogler’s fiancée headed for the airport, and Mr. Stallone’s private plane, which spirited them across the Atlantic for the premiere of “Creed” in London. “Sly was cracking us up the whole flight man,” Mr. Coogler recalled. “It’ll go down in history, something to tell my grandkids.”