Just gotta say, The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair is as swanky as all balls. It was within these opulent surroundings that Sky Sports and Warner Bros presented the press conference for GRUDGE MATCH (read our review here) starring Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone. It’s essentially the Rocky vs Raging Bull crossover that boxing/film fans have long since discussed and we lucky few were treated to an audience with Bobby, Sly and director Peter Segal (The Naked Gun 33 1/3, plus three Adam Sandler movies).
What drew you to this film?
SEGAL: Well I grew up in the era of great heavyweights and two of my favourite films were Raging Bull and Rocky. So when this script came along, it initially required just two elderly actors, and the more we worked on it the more we realise we could only make it with these two gentleman.
STALLONE: When I first heard about the movie I thought, this might be a of skit but Bobby kept calling and said, “C’mon! It’s Rocky and Raging Bull! It’s the battle of the Italian fighters!” Then I thought it would be nice to sort of revisit these characters.
Poor Peter doesn’t get asked much over the half hour session and Bobby doesn’t seem like he gives a monkey’s. But his cool demeanour reflects his on-screen persona, most of his time is spent nodding, down-turning his mouth, raising his eyebrows and declaring ‘Yeah, it’s good. It’s good.’ He also chuckles frequently at his friend’s anecdotes.
DE NIRO: I’ve trained from time to time for the Heck of it but we had a great trainer for this movie and the choreography was great.
Was it different to portraying Jake LaMotta?
DE NIRO: Well me and Marty Scorsese wanted to show our own take of the character. Putting on all that weight, it gets to a point where it’s no fun. Was it dangerous? Not really. I had my own doctor and I became a bit sluggish. That’s about it.
STALLONE: You’re saying the wrong things. You should be saying, ‘Oh I nearly died, I kept losing consciousness…‘
Bobby laughed, he laughed a lot throughout. Mainly because Sly is just so bloody funny. He is quite the showman and clearly loves his boxing, fielding many a question on his favourite feuds and training techniques. Bobby was less infused.
BOBBY: I’m not as into boxing as Sylvester here, but I have great respect for them and what they do.
Sly recounted so many of his boxing influences that I quite lost track. He could have been making them up for all I know. But he was at his best when going off piste;
Do you use social media at all?
DE NIRO: Nah, I can… Y’know, I can text, email, move my finger about. That’s about all I need to do.
STALLONE: George Clooney got it right when he said ‘You’re a celebrity and you’re on Twitter, you’re an idiot! Writing it at night you’re a genius but you wake up and your career’s over.’ I use a chalk and a blackboard.
I got to ask them a question myself. I looked directly into the wonderfully peculiar face of Sylvester Stallone and said:
Both of your characters refer to dancing in the film, there’s even a cameo from Len Goodman! Is there a chance that you’d ever do a dance film together?
STALLONE: Oh that’s a bad idea. I tried singing in a film once and I sounded like a haunted ship.
DE NIRO: Nah. I… Nah.
Sly: Oh come on, you’d be great! But I don’t think so. Real men don’t dance… That’s a joke by the way. I don’t want to be accosted by any dance societies or anything.
The big question of course was…
Who would win in a fight between Jake LaMotta and Rocky Balboa?
SLY: I do, but only because I’m writing the script. People always ask that. It’s difficult because one’s a heavyweight, one’s a middle weight. I’m always gonna go with the real fighter, LaMotta.
It wasn’t over until it was over. But when it was over, a mad dash was made to get some selfies with the two icons, and that was mainly the boxers sat in the first row. Seeing Robert De Niro in the flesh is a strange experience, like when I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. It’s just so gosh darn famous that you almost feel underwhelmed, like it can’t really be the real one really. I kept thinking, ‘That can’t be the actual Robert De Niro. Off of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver. That CAN’T be him here, among human people like us.‘ But when you see the great Sylvester Stallone in the (what I assume is his) flesh, you realise anything is possible.
The three Adam Sandler films directed by Peter Segal were 50 FIRST DATES, THE LONGEST YARD and ANGER MANAGEMENT. But he seemed like a lovely chap.
GRUDGE MATCH hits cinemas 24th January and you can read our review right here.
Images: AP & EPA
