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2 • Terre Haute Tribune-Star • November 13 - 19, 2022 Sylvester Stallone has dabbled in home- screen acting, but now, he's going all-in. The action icon who made Rocky Balboa and John Rambo household names tackles a new character tailored to his style in "Tulsa King," a Paramount+ drama that begins streaming Sunday, Nov. 13. Created by Taylor Sheridan ("Yellowstone") – also an executive producer of the series alongside Stallone and "The Sopranos" alum Terence Winter – the show gives the star his first continuing weekly role as Dwight "The General" Manfredi, who leaves a 25-year prison term expecting to be rewarded for literally having killed for his Mob boss. Instead, he's exiled from New York to Tulsa, Okla., where he builds a new "crew" of his own from some of the diverse people he encounters. The regular cast also includes Emmy winner Dana Delany, Martin Starr, Max Casella ("Doogie Howser, M.D."), Andrea Savage, Jay Will ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel") and Garrett Hedlund. Stallone's history with "Tulsa King" dates back to the start of his familiarity with Sheridan. "I met Taylor a while back, actually," the actor-filmmaker says, "riding horses in California. I wanted him to write the screenplay for 'Rambo,' because I was getting lazy. Anyway, we moved on. Then he became very, very successful with 'Yellowstone,' and one day, he just had this idea (for 'Tulsa King'), called me up and pitched it to me in, like, three seconds. And I went, 'I'm in.' " Having such an underworld role has been v"kind of a fantasy" for Stallone, he notes, "since I was rejected to be one of the 200 extras who basically stood behind a wedding cake in 'The Godfather.' I'd been trying to get in gangster films, and it just never happened. Everything comes to those who wait. "Also, I wanted to play a different interpretation of a gangster," adds Stallone. "This is a fellow who's very educated ... reads Marcus Aurelius, reads Plato. He's into Machiavelli. He's a different animal than you would normally see in a, quote, 'gangster film.' " Long after landing TV jobs on "Kojak" and "Police Story" in the mid-1970s, Stallone made appearances on "Las Vegas" and (as himself ) "This Is Us." As he now shoulders his own series, he deems it "harder, faster, and longer" than making a movie. "You really have to be quick. You have to work out of sync a lot of times, with sequences that don't follow the natural order of things. But most importantly, you have to keep your energy up. The amount of time we did ten episodes is the equivalent of doing five 'Rockys' in a row, with no break in-between. I have great respect for the crew in their diligence and endurance." Sylvester Stallone becomes the 'Tulsa King' for Paramount+ Sylvester Stallone stars in "Tulsa King," which begins streaming Sunday on Paramount+. BY JAY BOBBIN 6 x 3" ad